EU Directive on Work/Life Balance for Parents and Carers applicable from August 1st, 2019 to become law in EU countries by August 1st, 2022.
The imbalance of work-life policies between men and women reinforces gender stereotypes and differences between work and care. The EU has issued a directive in order to address the issues of stereotypes in both men’s and women’s occupations and roles.
What is the definition of Directive?
A ‘directive’ is a legislative act that sets out a goal that all EU countries must achieve. However, it is up to the individual countries to devise their own laws on how to reach these goals.
What is the Aim of the Directive?
The directive seeks to ensure gender equality with respect to employment opportunities and treatment at work throughout the EU through facilitating a work-life balance for working parents and carers. It sets out the minimum requirements for paternity, parental and carer’s leave, along with flexible working arrangements. This directive also seeks to increase women’s participation in employment through achieving better shared caring responsibilities between men and women. It aims to create paid paternity and parental leave, which is one of the reasons of low uptake on leave by fathers.
What is Contained in the Directive?
The directive provides for minimum individual rights in relation to paternity leave, parental leave and carer’s leave. Also included are rights in relation to flexible working arrangements for workers who are parents or carers. Thirdly, it provides for legal protection for those applying for or making use of family-related leave and flexible working arrangements.
Contained in the Directive:
Paternity Leave
Fathers or equivalent second parents have the right to take paternity leave of ten working days on the birth of a child and this leave is paid at the national sick pay benefit. However, this right to paternity leave must not be made subject to a period of work to qualify or specific length of service.
Parental Leave
Each worker has a right to four months parental leave, one month of which is non-transferable between the parents, and at least two months per parent must be paid at an adequate level. EU countries may make the right to parental leave subject to a period of work qualification or to a length of service which must not exceed one year. EU countries must also ensure that parental leave may be taken in a flexible manner.
Carer’s Leave
The EU directive introduces rules for carers, ie. workers caring for relatives requiring support due to serious medical reasons. Each carer is entitled to take five working days per year.
Flexible Working Arrangements
Carers and workers with children of up to at least eight years old under the directive, have the right to request a flexible working arrangement with their employer to include options for remote working or flexible working hours or reduced hours worked. Employers must address these requests within a reasonable time frame and provide reasons for refusal or postponement. EU countries may make the working arrangements subject to a qualifying period of work or length of service. This period must not exceed six months.
Legal Protection
Rules must be introduced by EU countries to ensure that workers are legally protected from discrimination or dismissal on the grounds that they have applied for, or have taken family related leave or flexible working arrangements.
