Activities of Maria Gabriela ZOANĂ related to 2017/0085(COD)
Plenary speeches (1)
Work-life balance for parents and carers (debate) (debate)
Amendments (12)
Amendment 49 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 5
Recital 5
(5) Work-life balance policies should contribute to the achievement of gender equality by promoting the participation of women in the labour market, tackling gender stereotypes that assume women should take the role of carers for children and for elderly and dependent relatives, while men should be the breadwinner and support the family financially, making it easier for men to share caring responsibilities on an equal basis with women, and closing gender gaps in earnings and pay. Such policies should take into account demographic changes including the effects of an ageing population.
Amendment 68 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 7
Recital 7
(7) Work-life balance remains however a considerable challenge for many parents and workers with caring responsibilities, with a negative impact on female employment. A major factor contributing to the underrepresentation of women in the labour market is the difficulty of balancing work and family obligations. When they have children, women tend to work less hours in paid employment and spend more time fulfilling unpaid care responsibilities. Having an ill or dependent relative has also been shown to have a negative impact on female employment, leading some women to drop out of the labour market entirely. The lower participation of women in employment and the interruption of women’s careers due to their assumption of caring responsibilities exacerbate the gender gap in earnings and pay, putting women at higher risk of poverty or social exclusion.
Amendment 82 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 8
Recital 8
(8) The current Union legal framework provides limited incentives for men to assume an equal share of caring responsibilities. Lack of paid paternity and parental leave in many Member States contributes to the low take-up of such leave by fathers. The imbalance in the design of work-life balance policies between women and men reinforces gender differences between work and care, and gender stereotypes that women should take more family care responsibilities. Conversely, use of work-life balance arrangements by fathers, such as leave or flexible working arrangements, has been shown to have a positive impact in reducing the relative amount of unpaid family work undertaken by women and leaving them more time for paid employment.
Amendment 132 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 15
Recital 15
(15) In order to provide greater possibility for parents to use parental leave as their children grow up, the right to parental leave should be granted until the child is at least twelve years old. Member States should be able to specify the period of notice to be given by the worker to the employer when applying for parental leave and to decide whether the right to parental leave may be subject to a certain period of service. In view of the growing diversity of contractual arrangements, the sum of successive fixed-term contracts with the same employer should be taken into account for the purpose of calculating the period of service. To balance the needs of workers with those of employers, Member States should also be able to decide whether they define if the employer may be allowed to postpone the granting of parental leave under certain circumstances. In such cases, the employer should provide justification for the postponement in writing. Given that flexibility makes it more likely that second parents, in particular fathers, will take up their entitlement to such leave, workers should be able to request to take parental leave on a full-time or part-time basis or in other flexible forms. It should be up to the employer whether or not to accept such a request for parental leave in other flexible forms than full-time. Member States should also assess if the conditions and detailed arrangements of parental leave should be adapted to the specific needs of parents in particularly disadvantaged situations, such as single parents and parents with children with a disability, or a long-term or serious illness.
Amendment 186 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 23
Recital 23
(23) Workers exercising their rights to leave or to request flexible working arrangements should be protected against any form of discrimination or any less favourable treatment on that ground.
Amendment 240 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 3 – paragraph 1 – point a
Article 3 – paragraph 1 – point a
(a) “paternity leave” means paid leave from work for fathers to be taken on the occasion of the birth of a child;
Amendment 245 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 3 – paragraph 1 – point b
Article 3 – paragraph 1 – point b
(b) “parental leave” means paid leave from work on the grounds of the birth or adoption of a child to take care of that child;
Amendment 287 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 3 – paragraph 1 – point f a (new)
Article 3 – paragraph 1 – point f a (new)
(fa) “single parent” means a person who is neither married nor in a civil partnership and has sole parental responsibility for a child, which is granted by a national competent authority.
Amendment 312 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 5 – paragraph 1
Article 5 – paragraph 1
1. Member States shall take the necessary measures to ensure that workers have an individual right to paid parental leave of at least four months to be taken before the child reaches a given age which shall be at least twelve. That four-month period shall be extended for single parents and parents of a child with a disability, or a serious or long-term illness.
Amendment 357 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 5 – paragraph 7
Article 5 – paragraph 7
7. Member States shall assess the need for the conditions of access and detailed arrangements for the application of parental leave to be adapted to the needs of adoptive parents, parents having a disability, single parents and parents with children with a disability, or a long-term or serious illness.
Amendment 407 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 9 – paragraph 2
Article 9 – paragraph 2
2. Employers shall consider and respond to requests for flexible working arrangements referred to in paragraph 1, taking into account the needs of both employers and workers. Employers shall justify any refusal of such a request in writing.
Amendment 430 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 11 – paragraph 1
Article 11 – paragraph 1
Member States shall take the necessary measures to prohibit any form of discrimination and less favourable treatment of workers on the ground that they have applied for, or have taken, leave referred to in Article 4, 5 or 6, or on the ground that they have exercised their right to flexible working arrangements referred to in Article 9.