Ireland faces fines in EU court over flexible working

European Commission refers Ireland, Spain, and Belgium to the EU Court of Justice for not notifying it of measures to transpose the directive into domestic law

The Work-Life Balance Directive was adopted in 2019 as a means to allow working parents to better reconcile their professional and private lives. Stock picture

Ireland is facing the possibility of financial sanctions after the European Commission referred it to the EU Court of Justice over its failure to fully implement a directive on employment including flexible working.  

Along with Ireland, the commission is also referring Belgium and Spain to the court over the same issue.

The Work-Life Balance Directive was adopted in 2019 as a means to allow working parents to better reconcile their professional and private lives. The deadline for EU member states to transpose provisions in the directive into law was August 2 last year.

In September last year, the Commission sent letters of formal notice to 19 member states that had not completed the full transposition of the directive.

In April this year, the Commission sent reasoned opinions to 11 member states who were yet to notify full national transposition measures. Ireland, Belgium, and Spain have still not communicated transposition measures.

The Commission said that since these cases concern the failure to communicate transposition measures of a legislative directive, it will ask the Court of Justice to impose “financial sanctions on those member states”. 

A spokesman for the Department of Equality said Ireland has complied with much of the directive and only the provisions related to flexible working remain to be fully transposed.

“Ireland has informed the Commission of significant progress on the transposition of the Directive and of our intention to complete the final element requiring transposition at the earliest possible opportunity. Officials are working to address this issue as a matter of urgency,” the spokesman said.

The directive contained provisions for 10 paid days of paternity leave for new fathers; parental leave for at least four months, of which two would be paid; as well as the ability for parents with children aged eight and below to request reduced or flexible working hours. 

Also, all workers providing care or support to a relative or person living in the same household were also given the right to at least five working days of carers' leave per year.

The rules are meant to help people develop their careers and family life without having to sacrifice either.