Lithuania is getting ready to transpose the EU directive on work-life balance. The Ministry of Social Security and Labour proposed two models of implementation and asked the public and experts to decide which would be the best.

The European Parliament and the Council adopted the new Directive on 20 June 2019, laying down minimum requirements across all EU Member States in order to achieve equality between men and women in the labour market through “the reconciliation of work and family life for workers who are parents or carers”. The Directive establishes an individual right to parental leave of at least 4 months, that is to be taken before the child reaches a specified age, according to the national legislation, up to the age of eight. Out of these 4 months, Member States will have to ensure in the transposition legislation that two months of parental leave cannot be transferred between parents, and will be paid. A deadline of 2 August 2022 was set for the transposition of provisions of the Directive into the national legislations of the EU Member States[1].

In Lithuania, the Ministry of Social Security and Labour started consultations with society on transposition of the Directive into national legislation by providing two proposals[2] on 29 June 2020. The main innovation of both proposals is that both the mother and the father would be entitled to 2 months of non-simultaneous paid parental leave after the birth of the child, which they will not be able to transfer to each other. If, for example, the father does not want to take his 2-month parental leave, the mother will not be able to take it, so the total term of parental leave will be 2-month shorter.

For the remaining months of parental leave, during which benefits are also paid, parents will be able to share them as they wish.

The provision on non-transferable months of parental leave will not apply to those cases when the child has only one parent.

The main difference between the proposed alternatives is the extent of parental leave period and the amount of childcare benefit payment during the transferable months.

Under the first alternative, the maximum duration of parental leave would be 24 months, 2 of which would be non-transferable and granted for each parent individually, while the remaining 20 months would be shared as parents wish. In the non-transferable period, a benefit of 78% of the previous salary would be paid, which can be reduced if a person is both working and keeping this benefit at the same time. In the remaining months, a benefit payment of 45% of the salary before the child reaches the age of 12 months and a benefit payment of 25% of the salary before the child reaches the age of 24 months would be paid. During this period, it would be possible to work and the benefit would not be reduced if the amount of the benefit and additional income does not exceed 100% of the previous salary.

Under the second alternative, the maximum duration of parental leave would be 18 months, 2 of which would be non-transferable and granted for each parent, while the remaining 14 months could be transferred to any parent by the agreement in the family or shared proportionally. In the non-transferable period, a benefit payment of 78% of the previous salary would be paid, which is reduced if the employment opportunity is exercised. In the remaining months, a benefit payment of 60%of the salary would be paid. During this period, it would be possible to work and the benefit would not be reduced if the amount of the benefit and additional income does not exceed 100 percent of the previous salary.

Both proposals have common principles:

• For a non-transferable period of parental leave, a payment of 78% of the salary is paid. If the carer is employed, then benefit would be reduced;
• During the transferable period of parental leave, it is possible to work and the benefit would not be reduced if the amount of the benefit and additional income does not exceed 100 percent of the previous salary;
• If parents cannot take care of children for important reasons (i.e. parents are employed, officially registered as unemployed, missing, imprisoned, on leave to take care for another child, etc.), parental leave benefit can be paid to grandparents during the transferable parental leave period. During the non-transferable period, the benefit is paid only to the person who has been caring for the child for those two months. The benefit is subject to 15%personal income tax and 6%compulsory health insurance tax.

Currently, paid parental leave can last either until the child reaches the age of 12 months or the age of 24 months. Parents are free to decide which of them will take care of the child and which will work – there are no non-transferable months of parental leave. According to the statement of the Ministry of Social Security and Labour, this means that in most cases children are cared for only by their mothers, and parents are not inclined to share the childcare.

If family choose to take parental leave up to 12 months, 77.58%of the salary is paid for all this time. Benefit payment is reduced if the employment opportunity is exercised.

If family choose to take care of a child up to 24 months, the parental leave benefit for the first year is 54.31% of the salary, while for the second – 31.03%. In both cases benefits are subject to compulsory health insurance and personal income tax.

Income from work during the first year of childcare reduces the benefit by the same amount, while in the second year of childcare there is a possibility to both work and receive the full benefit. Such a system means that in the second year, the benefit is often paid to the father who does not take look after the child because he remains in work, while the mother continues to take care of the child and no longer receives the benefit payments for that. This situation does not encourage women to return to the labour market faster and men to become involved in family life.

The comparison table of both proposals and current regulation is presented below:

Both proposed alternatives have been criticized by NGOs working in the field of gender equality. According to the Center for Equality Advancement, the most problematic issue of the proposed alternatives is the provision that allows to work during the non-transferable part of parental leave. It is often the case that the father is formally on parental leave and receives benefits, but the child is actually cared for by the mother, who does not receive benefits. Similar comments were made by the Women’s Information Center (MIC). The MIC emphasized that the proposed regulation was contrary to the principles of social security, as the meaning of social security is the granting insurance in the case of incapacity to work, rather than providing additional income in addition to wage. The MIC points out that reducing parental leave from 24 to 18 months, as proposed in the second option, would cause additional problems for families, as Lithuania does not have a developed network of available kindergartens, especially of those caring for very young children.

The Lithuanian Parents’ Forum also spoke out against reducing the period of parental leave. In the Forum’s view, the second alternative runs counter to the principle enshrined in the Directive that the existing conditions for parental leave must not be adversely affected by the implementation of the Directive, and therefore, the parental leave cannot be reduced to 18 months. The Forum suggests a more flexible period of parental leave so that the leave could be divided into parts until the child reaches the age of 8 years old.

The positions of non-governmental organizations differ on the possibility to take parental leave by both parents at the same time. According to MIC and the Center for Equality Advancement, such regulation would not achieve the objectives of the directive, as it would in fact maintain the situation when a father works and formally receives benefits and a mother cares for children without receiving benefits. This practice of obtaining maximum social security benefits is common in the second year of childcare under the current legal regulation. Such regulation nor encourage men to become effectively involved in childcare, neither women to return to the labour market. The Parents’ Forum expressed opinion that the implementation of the Directive should focus on maintaining the current level of benefits. The Forum proposes to allow parental leave for both parents at the same time for 2 months providing possibility to work while on parental leave. According to the Forum, otherwise the implementation of the Directive would have adverse effect on women comparing to the current situation due ineligibility to receive benefits for parental leave for whole 24 months.

Summarizing the NGO proposals, it can be seen that the organizations have different approaches to the objectives of the Directive itself: the MIC and the Center for Equality Advancement criticize the proposed alternatives for failing to increase men’s participation in childcare, the goal set in the Directive. The Lithuanian Parents Forum holds the position that the implementation of the Directive should be focused on benefits and not on the declared objectives of the Directive.

The Directive also provides for the Member States the obligation to comply with another deadline (2 August 2027) for communicating information to the European Commission on the implementation of the Directive, based on which the Commission will draft an assessment report.

Currently 8 countries provide the incentives for men take parental leave in the European Union. Those countries are Austria, Croatia, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal and Romania.

In Romania, at least one of the 12 months of parental leave must be taken by the child’s father, otherwise the parental leave is reduced by one month.

In Croatia, each parent can take 4 months of parental leave and can transfer 2 months to the other parent. However, parents must take at least two months of parental leave in order to take advantage of the maximum period of parental leave.

In France the duration of the parental leave benefit period is reduced from 36 to 24 months if the leave is taken by only one of the parents for a second and further child. For the first child, the duration of paid leave is of 6 months for each parent[3].

In Austria and Germany, if parental leave is shared by both parents, the paid parental leave is extended by two months.

In most states, full-time work is not allowed during parental leave. Prohibiting parents from taking all or part of parental leave at the same time is more the exception than the rule.

Prepared on the basis of information provided by the Ministry of Social Security and Labour, the Assessment of current provision on Paternity and Parental leave policies across the European Union by the European Commission, European Platform for Investing in Children, OECD Family database, International Network of Leave Policies and Research, International Lawyers Network .and responses provided to the Office of the Equal Opportunities Ombudsperson by the Center for Equality Advancement, the Women’s Information Center and Lithuanian Parents’ Forum.

[1] Aron Cosmina, Better work-life balance for EU parents and carers, 30 October 2019. https://www.ilntoday.com/2019/10/better-work-life-balance-for-eu-parents-and-carers/

[2] Tėčių įtraukimas į vaikų auginimą: 2 alternatyvos, Ministry of Social Security and Labour, 29 June 2020, https://socmin.lrv.lt/lt/naujienos/vaiko-prieziuros-atostogos-pateikti-du-siulymai-kurie-skatintu-tevus-dalintis-vaiko-prieziura.

[3] EPIC, Country profiles – France: Policies and progress towards investing in children, https://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=1248&langId=en&intPageId=3641