Maternity protection
During pregnancy
Working hours
As an expectant mother, you must not be obliged to work overtime. Daily working time must not exceed nine hours under any circumstances.
Workplace health risk assessment
During pregnancy, you and your baby have the right to special health protection. Therefore, as soon as you are aware that you are pregnant, get in touch with the Safety, Security, Health and Environment (SSHE) department so it can promptly arrange a risk assessment of your workplace. The purpose of a risk assessment is to eliminate any health risks to mother and baby through suitable protective measures. The risk assessment may also be carried out confidentially upon request.
Health risks to mother and baby
The SSHE Download factsheet on pregnancy and breastfeeding (PDF, 174 KB) provides detailed information about the potential health risks during this time. If you are exposed to any of these risks, please contact the SSHE department. You can also find a list of forbidden work in the external page brochure on maternity protection (German) published by the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs SECO.
After the birth
Prohibition of employment for eight weeks
Mothers are not permitted to return to work for the first eight weeks after the birth of their child. They must give their express consent if they wish to return to work between the ninth and 16th week.
Working hours and breastfeeding/pumping during labour
In the first year of the child's life, the time spent breastfeeding or expressing milk counts as paid working time to the following extent (Art. 60 para. 2 let. a-c ArGV 1):
- For a daily working time of up to 4 hours: at least 30 minutes
- For a daily working time of more than 4 hours: at least 60 minutes
- For a daily working time of more than 7 hours: at least 90 minutes
These provisions are only minimum times that are to be counted towards paid working time. The breastfeeding mother may also be absent from work for longer. In this case, the additional time required does not count as working time. The regular duration of daily work agreed in the employment contract may not be extended. For more information, see the SECO brochure external page "Maternity Protection" in German - from page 26.
The "With family at ETH" course gives a comprehensive overview of everything you need to know about family and maternity protection. Current course dates and registration are published in the course overview.
The course is also available in German ("Mit Familie an der ETH").