Work-life Balance in EU Member States: considerable work still to be done
On International Women’s day 2024, the European Equality Law Network, with several Utrecht University researchers in its team, publishes its second report on the transposition of the Work-life Balance Directive in EU Member States. The findings of the report are essential for the European Commission who has, based on these outcomes, taken formal steps against those countries that have not entirely transposed the Directive within the given deadline.
The Work-life Balance Directive has created new rights for EU workers, both men and women, to help them conciliate their professional and family responsibilities. These rights include 2 weeks of paid paternity leave for fathers and second parents; 4 months of parental leave, 2 of which are paid and reserved for each biological and adoptive mother and father (no transfer to the other parent is allowed); a carers’ leave of 5 working days per year per worker-carer, who looks after a seriously ill family member; and a right to request flexible working arrangements, namely part-time, flexible schedules and telework, for parents with children under 8 years old and carers.
The rights mentioned should have been implemented by Member States and therefore become a reality for EU workers by 2 August 2022. However, the report reveals that there is still considerable work to be done by Member States. Many EU workers are not benefitting from the rights created by the Directive yet, especially parental leave and flexible working arrangements.
What is the European Equality Law Network
Over the past 20 years, Utrecht University has successfully managed the gender equality strand of the European Equality Law Network, which counts among the biggest projects managed at Utrecht Law School. The current coordination team consists of Linda Senden, Franka van Hoof, Alexandra Timmer and Birte Böök . The Network consists of legal experts from 36 European states who gather independent, expert information on legislation, case law and national developments to support the European Commission in fulfilling its role as guardian of the treaties, responding to new challenges and setting agendas for law- and policy-making in the field of gender equality and non-discrimination. For further information on the network and its publications please visit our website https://www.equalitylaw.eu/.
Download the report
The transposition of the Work-Life Balance Directive in EU Member States (II): Considerable work still to be done: 6048-the-transposition-of-the-work-life-balance-directive-in-eu-member-states-ii-considerable-work-still-to-be-done (equalitylaw.eu)