The Work-Life Balance Directive and its impact on Spanish legislation

The new Directive 2019/1158 on work-life balance for parents and carers modernises some of the existing workers’ rights at European level, namely parental leave and the right to request flexible working arrangements, and creates new rights, i.e. paternity leave and carers’ leave. The ultimate objective of this Directive is to improve the situation of women in the labour market through better reconciliation measures and by increasing the involvement of men in family responsibilities. With this aim in mind, the Directive adopts two main strands of reform: emphasis on men and a life-cycle approach. First of all, the Directive on work-life balance, for the first time at European level, provides for rules which contribute effectively to the co-responsibility between men and women in caring for children. These rules include the new paternity leave and the new rules on parental leave. In particular, the Directive creates a specific right for fathers (2 weeks of paternity leave) and effective incentives to encourage fathers to use the already existing parental leave (2 «daddy months» and 2 «mommy months» which cannot be transferred to the other parent and which must be adequately remunerated are created). Secondly, the Directive adopts a life-cycle approach, recognising that the reconciliation of work and family life is not limited to the time when children are raised, but also includes other vital moments, such as those in which a dependent ascendant or a sick spouse needs care or support. The new carers’ leave and the strengthening of the right to request flexible working arrangements reflect this approach. Under the Directive, workers are entitled to a leave of 5 working days per year in order to provide care or support to a close relative who is in need of significant care or support for a serious medical reason. In addition, such workers-carers and parents with a child up to 8 years old have the right to request flexible working arrangements to look after their relatives, including flexible schedules, reduced working hours and teleworking. The Directive on work-life balance will only have a relative impact on Spanish legislation, as many of its measures already exist, thanks largely to the recent reform carried out by the Royal Decree-Law 6/2019. The changes introduced by this Royal Decree-Law follow very closely the major reform lines of the Directive on the co-responsibility between men and women and the life-cycle approach. More specifically, it is remarkable the gradual individualisation and extension of maternity, paternity and adoption leave, which from 1 January 2021 will consist of 16 non-transferable weeks at 100% of earnings for each parent or adopter. This way, on 1 January 2021 Spain will not only fully equalise maternity and paternity leave, thus becoming the first EU country to carry out this daring but necessary reform, but it will in all likelihood be the country with more well-paid «daddy months», ranking even above Sweden. Paradoxically, the new Directive will oblige Spain to increase the paid leave for biological mothers. This will put the legislator in the position of choosing between a longer leave for these mothers or an equivalent increase of the leave for biological fathers (and for adoptive mothers and fathers) in order to continue to offer each biological (and adoptive) parent a leave of equal duration.

Jaar van publicatie:2020

Toegankelijkheid:Open