Foreign
THE European Commission is sending notices to Germany and 18 other EU countries for failing to implement new rules on parental leave, the commission announced on Wednesday.
The new legislation “aims to ensure equality in labour market participation by encouraging equal sharing of care responsibilities between parents,’’ the commission statement said.
The statement added that under the Work-Life Balance Directive, the father or second parent had the right to take at least 10 days off work around the time of the birth, which was currently not the case in Germany.
The rules also foresaw at least four months of parental leave, two months of which could not be transferred from one parent to the other.
However,German legislation was more generous, allowing parents up to three years of parental leave, of which up to 14 months were paid.
The bloc’s 27 member states had until Aug. 2, to transpose the legislation into national law, but 19 had not done so, according to the commission.
It said that these countries now had two months to respond to the commission’s infringement notices.
However, if the capitals did not implement EU law they had approved, the commission could ultimately take those member states to the European Court of Justice, the bloc’s most senior legal body, which could impose fines until legislation was enacted. (dpa/NAN)
A.I
Tags: European Commission
