Introduction

This section looks at the extent of paid parental leave provision for people who work part-time, in the context of flexible work provisions for eligible employees on parental leave. In some cases the entitlement to work part-time while being on leave part-time is subsumed into the broader category of flexible working, rather than being available as a separate provision. Appendix 6 sets out a range of information on the flexible working arrangements in those countries where flexibility in parental leave-taking is permitted (or even encouraged).

The types of flexibility listed in the table in Appendix 6 include the option to take leave:

• full-time or part-time;
• in one block or in several blocks of time;
• for a shorter time with a higher level of payment, or for a longer time at a lower level of payment;
• transfer entitlement to a non-parent (e.g. grandparent);
• at any time until a child reaches a certain age; and
• other forms of flexible policy eg in the case of multiple births (usually double for twins, triple for triplets), and extending the leave or the paid proportion in cases of having a child with a disability or serious illness, or where the mother is seriously ill following the birth.

The table also contains further information about the opportunity leave-takers may have to work reduced hours in their first and subsequent years back at work, and where employees have the right to request flexible working arrangements.

In most countries, one or more forms of these aspects of flexibility are provided to leave-takers. The only country where no flexibility appears to be available is Australia (but Australians can request flexible working arrangements), and of course the United States where there is no federal statutory leave entitlement. The forms of flexibility most available are the opportunity to take the leave at any time before the child reaches a certain age, and the provisions regarding additional leave for multiple births, and sickness and disability. The transfer of leave to another person, and the choice of taking leave at higher pay for a shorter time are the least available forms of flexibility.

Entitlements to part-time paid parental leave

Paid, post-natal leave can be taken part-time in: Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France (although employers can refuse on business grounds), Germany (employer's agreement needed in SMEs), the Netherlands (where every employee has the right to work part-time of they want to), Portugal, Slovenia, and Sweden. In addition, in Hungary part-time work of up to 4 hours a day with no reduction in benefit is permitted after the child reaches 18 months.

In countries where parents can work part-time while taking paid parental leave part-time, parents have the opportunity to supplement a low-level or flat-rate benefit with earned income. For example in Germany in 2002, 8.5% of Childrearing Benefit recipients were working up to 30 hours a week - a proportion that has doubled since 2000. However, this 'unexpectedly low' proportion working part-time is explained by Deven and Moss (2005) as perhaps related to difficulties finding adequate childcare solutions. Other countries where a low rate of payment during parental leave combines with the opportunity to take leave part-time while working part-time are Belgium, the Czech Republic, Estonia and France. In Finland, a higher rate of payment combines with the part-time working option. The small number of parents receiving the part-time parental leave allowance has risen from 2003 to107 in 2005, showing a growing enthusiasm for the arrangement.

Another way to maintain a higher income but avoid reducing hours to a permanent or temporary part-time arrangement is available to parents in a few countries, where parents can reduce the duration of their parental leave in turn for receiving an increased level of payment. For example, in 2002, the option in Germany to take a higher benefit over a shorter time was chosen by 11.6% of recipients - reaching almost 30% in some parts of East Germany where unemployment was higher and attitudes to women working were more conservative. Countries where this is permitted are Canada, Denmark, Germany and Norway.

Interaction between part-time provisions and other aspects of flexible working

Appendix 6 shows that the opportunity for parents to reduce their hours of work during the first year back at work is a statutory provision in Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands (where all employees are eligible to work part-time), Norway, Portugal, Slovenia and Spain. To do the same during subsequent years until the child reaches a certain age is a statutory provision in Estonia (till 1 ½), Finland (8), Greece (2 ½), Iceland (8), Norway (10), Slovenia (3), and Sweden (8). Among those countries, earnings compensation is paid at a high rate in Estonia and Greece, at a low rate in Finland, and not at all in Iceland, Norway, Slovenia and Spain. It is interesting to see that among this group of countries, statutory provision to work part-time on return to work is associated with an earlier statutory right to take parental leave part-time in Estonia, Finland, Slovenia and Sweden making it possible for a parent to reduce hours following a return to work. The right to request flexible work until the child is at school or at a similar age is now provided by statute in Australia, Italy and the United Kingdom. In the Netherlands and Germany, most employees have the right to flexible work arrangements.

The intricacies of flexibility in leave and work arrangements, and in payments available for various combinations of arrangements once again demonstrate the individual combination of arrangements that characterises each country. There are almost no countries with identical arrangements, even in Scandinavia, from which any generalisations might be possible. The main factor determining each country's mix of statutory provisions is most likely to be the policy strategies that underlie them. This issue will be discussed in section 5 below.

Paid parental leave for part-time employees

Whether paid parental leave is available to part-time as well as to full-time employees is an important issue for countries where a substantial proportion of the workforce works part-time, or where a common response to the advent of parenting responsibilities is for one partner (usually the woman) to work part-time, at least for some of her subsequent career, if not all of it.

According to the country notes in Deven and Moss (2005) and in Moss and O'Brien (2006) some level of paid post-natal leave is available to at least some part-time workers Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom, as well as the payments in Australia via the modest lump sum to all mothers, irrespective of employment circumstances. Usually the eligibility for leave is specified in terms of 'all employees' or in terms of a minimum number of hours (i.e. less than full-time) to have been worked over a preceding period, or length/amount of contributions to a social insurance scheme, rather than specifying the leave is available to part-time workers.