Under new rules agreed by EU ministers at the beginning of December, parents will have the right to longer parental leave.
The revised Directive on Parental Leave will give each working parent the right to at least four months leave after the birth or adoption of a child (up from the current entitlement of 13 weeks). At least one of the four months cannot be transferred to the other parent – meaning it will be lost if not taken - in order to encourage fathers to take their leave.
Other main changes include:
- Employees applying for or taking parental leave will be protected from any less favourable treatment for doing so
Employees returning from parental leave will have the right to request changes to their working hours for a limited period. Employers must consider the needs of the employee as well as the company when considering their request
Governments and employers will be obliged to assess the specific needs of parents of adopted children and children with a disability or long-term illness
The new rights will apply to all workers including fixed-term, part-time and agency workers, although member states can impose a one year qualification period.
The issue of pay during parental leave has been left to member states to resolve.
The Framework Agreement on parental leave, on which the Directive is based, was signed by the European social partners (businesses and unions) on 18 June 2009 (see Weekly LELR 122) and revises an earlier agreement from 1995.
Once the new Directive has been formally adopted (sometime in the next few months), member states will then have two years to transpose the new rights into national law.