Filenews 3 July 2022
A law is expected to facilitate the effort for work-life balance in the near future, as Cyprus is preparing to harmonize with a European directive in this direction, as announced last year by the former Minister of Labour Zeta Emilianidou.
The country's obligation is to incorporate this directive into national law by August, without of course excluding delays, as is often the case with the adoption of EU directives.
This is the Directive on work-life balance for parents and carers, published in the EU Official Journal on 12 July 2019 and to be adopted by all Member States by 2 August 2022.
On Tuesday at the Presidential
The relevant directive provides, among other things, for paid parental leave, which in our country, although provided for by law, is unpaid and is rarely taken by parents. The need to align with the directive makes it easier for the government to implement another commitment it made before the presidential elections of 2018, as in his then program President Anastasiades had set the goal of establishing paid parental leave.
The same programme also aimed to launch a dialogue "on the establishment of the national minimum wage, in all professions".
It is for this reason that both the efforts that began a long time ago by the hopeful minister for the establishment of a national minimum wage and for paid parental leave will be discussed together the day after tomorrow Tuesday, at the meeting convened by President Anastasiades at the Presidential Palace with the social partners (guilds and employers' organizations). This is an important meeting, at a critical juncture with many open issues of an economic nature, during which, and with the contribution of the President of the Republic and the new Minister of Labour Kyriakos Kousios, the effort will be made to finalize decisions.
For the adoption of the European directive and under the guidance of Zeta Emilianidou, a relevant draft bill has been prepared, entitled "The Leave (Paternity, Parental, Care, Force Majeure) and Flexible Working Arrangements for work-life balance Law of 2022", which is presented today in summary by "F".
The direction of the settings
The purpose of the bill, as noted, is to facilitate the reconciliation of work and family life for working parents or carers, through the establishment of individual rights and in particular: (a) paternity leave, parental leave, and carers' leave (b) flexible working arrangements for working parents or carers. The draft "interprets" as a caregiver the employee who provides personal care or support to a relative or person who lives in the same household as the employee and who is in need of care or support for a serious medical reason. The law, as it states, will apply to all employees in accordance with the applicable legislation, collective agreements or practice in force in the territory of the Republic taking into account the case law of the Court.
Parental leave with allowance
On the basis of what the Ministry of Labour has prepared, any working parent who has completed a continuous employment of six months with the same employer is entitled to take parental leave. The maximum duration of parental leave is 17 weeks for each child, however the paid parental leave will be for eight weeks. As is clear from the draft that has been prepared, the remuneration for parental leave will essentially relate to the provision of an allowance, as is currently the case with the maternity allowance. Specifically, the bill states that "during the eight weeks of parental leave, the working parent receives parental leave allowance, in compliance with the provisions of the Marriage Law and the Civil Cohabitation Law, provided that on the day of submission of the application he/she has completed twelve (12) months of employment within the last twenty-four (24) months". It also notes that the parental leave allowance is taken provided that the terms and conditions provided for by the Social Insurance Law are met from time to time. Therefore, there is expected to be an amendment of the Social Insurance Law, in order for the parental leave allowance to be added to the allowances of the TCA but also in order to determine the amount of the benefit and the possible imposition of contributions, an issue for which, as we are informed, an actuarial study is being carried out. Parental leave will be taken between the period of time between the end of the maternity/paternity leave taken, up to the eighth year of age of the child and may be taken in instalments with a minimum duration of one week and a maximum duration of four weeks per calendar year.
