Malta is one of the Member States that will see the greatest increase in rights for parents and carers as a result of new legislation being discussed by the European Parliament that will introduce leave benefits for new parents with the aim of achieving an improvement in the balance between work and family life.

“This legislation will introduce a minimum of 10 days leave for fathers at around the time of the birth of a child and the right to paid leave for each parent in the early years of their children’s lives,” said PN Head of Delegation David Casa who led the fifth round of negotiations between EU institutions on the Work-Life Balance Directive.

The directive is designed to foster a better sharing of caring responsibilities between men and women, which will help address gender pay and employment gaps, and enable the work force to reach its full potential, while bringing about an improvement in the balance between work and family life. It will also see the introduction of a new right – ‘carers’ leave’.

The concerns and realities of employers, and SMEs in particular, were also taken into account in the drafting of the directive. Casa said he was “cautiously optimistic” that negotiations will be successfully concluded within a few weeks.