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- de la Porte, Caroline, et al.
(författare)
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An examination of ‘instrumental resources’ in earmarked parental leave : The case of the work-life balance directive
- 2023
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Ingår i: Journal of European Social Policy. - : Sage Publications. - 0958-9287 .- 1461-7269. ; 33:5, s. 525-539
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This article examines factors that could contribute to explaining variation in take-up of leave among fathers in the light of the EU’s Work–Life Balance Directive (WLBD). The WLBD seeks to equalize care responsibilities between fathers and mothers, especially through reserved leave, with high compensation. The article begins with a cross-country overview of take-up of leave among eligible fathers, considering earmarking and the degree of compensation. Our results show variation, which cannot fully be explained by policy design (presence of high compensation with reserved leave for fathers). The article then theorizes that instrumental resources – information and accessible administrative application procedures – could be a missing link to understand the actual shift from de jure to de facto social rights. The article then carries out embedded case studies on these two aspects of instrumental resources, using original qualitative data collected during the implementation of the WLBD. The most striking finding is that countries with similar formal implementation of earmarked paid parental leave, display significant differences in commitment to instrumental resources. Put differently, the WLBD is being implemented differently, not regarding formal social rights, but on instrumental resources. This finding is important because it means that EU-initiated legislation on parental leave, could lead to differences in outcomes, that is, take-up of leave among fathers. The implication of our findings is that decision-makers and policy actors at EU level and in member states, should focus more on instrumental resources in the implementation process. This is particularly important for enhancing the de facto legitimacy of the EU in social policy, given that EU social regulation is increasing via the European Pillar of Social Rights.
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| 2. |
- Ramos Martín, Nuria, et al.
(författare)
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Health and safety at work : achievements, shortcomings, and policy options
- 2023
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Rapport (refereegranskat)abstract
- This working paper presents a comparative study on the health and safety conditions workers face in two sectors (construction and PHS/domestic work) and concerning the extent to which workers in these sectors can effectively exercise their social rights concerning OSH. Also, it examines how the main EU acquis on occupational health and safety at work has been transposed and applied and what its impact has been in terms of available power resources for workers in the two sectors. It explains the way the respective Directives foster effective social rights for workers through legislation and collective agreements. The study includes seven EU member states, namely, Denmark, France, the Netherlands, Spain, Germany, Poland, and Ireland. We combine legal analysis with document analysis, semi-structured interviews, and descriptive statistics from national sources.According to our research, in general terms, the national transposing legislation of the OSH is in conformity with the studied EU OSH Directives. Our research also shows that, in many of the country cases, compliance with the OSH Directives minimum requirements is better in large establishments than in SMEs. However, there are some cases where the national legislation goes beyond the requirements of the EU framework directive. For example, in certain EU Member States domestic workers are included in the definition of ‘worker’ when transposing the Framework Directive, setting a broader personal scope of application than the Directive. But still, the workers in the two sectors face many health and safety problems and lack sufficient power resources to deal with them. Based on our analysis we present a series of policy recommendations that can help to improve this situation and strengthen the power resources of workers in the two sectors.
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