Pregnancy, maternity, and leave related to work-life balance for workers (Directive 92/85, relevant provisions of Directives 2006/54, 2010/18 and 2019/1158)

AuthorIustina Ionescu
Pages31-41
31
5 Pregnancy, maternity, and leave related to work-life balance for workers
(Directive 92/85, relevant provisions of Directives 2006/54, 2010/18 and
2019/1158)130
5.1 General (legal) context
5.1.1 Surveys and reports on the practical difficulties linked to work -life balance
No surveys and/or reports have been published in Romania over the last fiv e years which
provide insights into difficulties that workers face in practice in relation to work-life balance
issues.
5.1.2 Other issues
Only one in three children under the age of four attends childcare facilities in urban
Romania, according to a 2018 study by the National Institute of Statistics (Instit utul
Naional de Statistic (INS)), while the situation is probably more dramatic in rural
areas.131 The stu dy does not assess the reasons why p arents choose t o raise their small
children at home, it only suggests that cultural concepts and the distance to childcare
facilities could be significant reasons, in addition to insufficient childcare facilities.132
However, the author of this report point s to the stat istics that show a dramatic decrease
in the number of childcare facilities over the last 20 years, which hav e fallen much faster
than birth rates.133 Therefore, it is rather the infrastru cture and economic conditions that
are influencing cultural choices, women taking parental leave to raise their children at
home being a cultural choice.
5.1.3 Overview of national acts on work-life balance issues
The laws that define the main concepts of work-li fe balance are OUG No.96/2003 on the
protection of maternity in the workplace and OUG 111/2010 regarding parental leave and
the monthly allowance for parental leave. In addition, OUG N o. 158/2005 on leaves and
allowances fr om social health insurance complements the legal framework with general
provisions regarding leave and the Gender Equality L aw stipulates the main guarantees
against discrimination for leave-takers.
5.1.4 Political and societal debate and pending legislative proposals
The political and societal debate s in this field focus on the level of the monthly allowan ce
for parental care leave, in particul ar whether or not there should b e an upper limit to the
85 % of income rate. On the one hand , there are women’s groups which point t o middle-
class women who feel discouraged from having children because they will see a significant
decrease in their income during parental leave. On the other hand, the Government
130 See Masselot, A. (2018) Family leave: enforcement of the protection against dismissal and unfavourable
treatment, European network of legal experts in gender equality and non-discrimination, available at:
www.equalitylaw.eu/downloads/4808-family-leave-enforcement-of-the-protection-against-dismissal-and-
unfavourable-treatment-pdf-962-kb and McColgan, A. (2015) Measures to address the challenges of work-
life balance in the EU Member States, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, European network of legal
experts in gender equality and non-discrimination, available at: www.equalitylaw.eu/downloads/3631-
reconciliation.
131 National Institute of Statistics (Institutul Naional de Statistic (INS)), 2018 Urban Audit, p. 26, available
at: https://media.hotnews.ro/media_server1/document-2018-09-10-22694071-0-audit-urban-2018.pdf.
132 National Institute of Statistics (Institutul Naional de Statistic (INS)), 2018 Urban Audit, p. 26, available
at: https://media.hotnews.ro/media_server1/document-2018-09-10-22694071-0-audit-urban-2018.pdf.
133 Pascari, M. (2016) ‘Numrul de grdinie din România a sczut de zece ori în ultimii 20 de ani. Scderea
ratei natalitii şi depopularea unor regiuni au pus lactul pe mii de grdinie’ (The number of kindergartens
in Romania has decreased 10 times in the last 20 years. The drop in the birth rate and the depopulation of
certain regions has caused thousands of kindergartens to close) in Ziarul Financiar, 10.12.16, available at:
www.zf.ro/profesii/numarul-de-gradinite-din-romania-a-scazut-de-zece-ori-in-ultimii-20-de-ani-scaderea-
ratei-natalitatii-si-depopularea-unor-regiuni-au-pus-lacatul-pe-mii-de-gradinite-16015100.

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