Documents Torres-Revenga, Yolanda 2 results

"The Maternity Leave Directive (92/85/EEC) is concerned with improvements in the safety and health at work of women who are pregnant, have recently given birth or who are breastfeeding. This report finds that nearly all Member States comply with the directive's provision of granting at least two weeks' mandatory maternity leave before and/or after childbirth; a majority exceed this requirement. And in the majority of Member States, replacement rates stand at 100% of the former salary – at least for a certain period of time. Asked by the Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality of the European Parliament (FEMM) to conduct a study on national regulations regarding maternity leave against the background of the possible revision of the directive, Eurofound drew upon recent information provided by its Network of European correspondents to produce the report."

"The European Working Time Directive lays down minimum safety and health requirements for the organisation of working time in the EU by, for example, establishing that all workers have the right to a limit to weekly working time of 48 hours. However, it also contains the possibility for Member States to allow for the opting out of that maximum as long as the individual workers agree. This report looks at how the Member States make use of the possibility of opting out, the extent of its use and its main impacts. Although national data about its use are scarce, the opt-out and long working hours continue to be the subject of heated debates involving governments and social partners across the EU. According to the research currently available, there are strong reasons to think that the limitation of working time is beneficial for everyone, including workers, employers, patients and clients."