Improved parental leave. The text to be adopted grants parental leave of at least four months – instead of three – until the child is eight. The current directive provides that this right is individual and cannot be transferred to the other parent. This is aimed at encouraging fathers to take a parental leave which would otherwise be lost. The draft keeps this principle and adds a condition for Member States which derogate from it: they have to make sure that at least one month can be transferred to the other parent. Another novelty is that the draft directive asks Member States to “assess the need to adjust the conditions for access and modalities of application of parental leave to the needs of parents of children with a disability or a long-term illness” as well as “the specific needs of adoptive parents.” This right is improved because more workers are entitled to it. To that end, the draft provides that people with a fixed-term contract, part-time and workers cannot be deprived of it. In addition, it states that the number of successive fixed-term contracts performed by a worker should be taken into account for the purpose of calculating the qualifying period. A recital and a provision ask the Member States to take into account the “income among other factors in the take-up of parental leave when implementing this agreement”, which is an indirect way of addressing the issue of compensation of this leave without defining clear rules.
ext to be adopted grants parental leave of at least four months – instead of three – until the child is eight. The current directive provides that this right is individual and cannot be transferred to the other parent. This is aimed at encouraging fathers to take a parental leave which would otherwise be lost.
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