Minister O'Gorman welcomes approval by the Government of the drafting of a Work Life Balance and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill

Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Roderic O’Gorman, has today (April 21) welcomed approval by the Government of the drafting of a Work Life Balance and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill.

The legislation, which will transpose elements of the EU Work Life Balance Directives, will provide new rights to parents and carers in order to help support a better work life balance.

Under the proposed legislation, parents and carers will see:

A right to request flexible working, including the right to request compressed or reduced hours.
The introduction of five days leave per year for serious medical care.
The extension of current entitlement to breastfeeding/lactation breaks under the Maternity Protection Acts from six months to two years.

Speaking today, Minister O’Gorman said:

“I want to ensure that parents and carers can be supported to balance their working and family lives. Through the Work Life Balance Bill, they can have peace of mind that work will allow time for the responsibilities that caring brings. The proposals I have brought to Government today will complement family leave and other entitlements already in place and will provide additional flexibility.”

With regard to the extension of the entitlement to breastfeeding breaks, Minister O’Gorman went on to say:

“The Bill will also meet commitments under the First Five Strategy and the National Strategy for Women and Girls to extend the entitlement to breastfeeding breaks and will provide additional support to women returning to work after maternity leave.”

The General Scheme will now be referred to the Office of the Attorney General for drafting of the Bill. It is intended that the legislation will be passed and enacted prior to summer recess.

ENDS

Notes to the Editor:

The General Scheme of the Bill approved by the Government addresses a number of Articles in the EU Work Life Balance Directive which require additional legislation in order to transpose the Directive by 2 August 2022.

These are:

Article 6 – Member States shall take the necessary measures to ensure that each worker has the right to carer’s leave of five working days per year.
Article 9 - Member States shall take the necessary measures to ensure that workers with up to a specified age, and carers, have the right to request flexible working arrangements for caring purposes.

The General Scheme proposes the following amendments to the Parental Leave Act 1998:

A new section 6A “Right to request flexible working arrangements for caring purposes” will be inserted into the Act, to provide for the right for employees with children up to age 12, and carers as defined under the Directive, with the right to request flexible working arrangements for caring purposes.
A new section 13A “Leave for medical care purposes” will be inserted into the Act, to provide for 5 days of unpaid leave, per year, per employee, as set out in the Directive. This is in addition to existing entitlements under the Carer’s Leave Act 2001.
The General Scheme also provides for the extension of the period of calculable breastfeeding, for an entitlement to time off from work or a reduction of working hours, from 26 weeks post confinement to 104 weeks post confinement. Under Section 9 of the Maternity Protection (Amendment) Act 2004, women in employment who are breastfeeding are entitled to take time off work each day in order to breastfeed. The provision applies to all women in employment who have given birth within the previous 6 months (26 weeks).
Further provisions in the General Scheme address legislative anomalies which have been identified in the Maternity Protection Acts 1994-2004, the Adoptive Leave Act 1995 and arising from the enactment of the Children and Family Relationships Act 2015.

General Scheme of a Work Life Balance and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2022