LL.M. (Labour Law) / This minor dissertation critically evaluates the legal position of employees’ rights regarding parental leave. The right to maternity, paternity and parental leave dramatically varies between many countries, namely the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Norway, Namibia, Kenya and South Africa. The fact that only women can give birth to a child has stereotypically created a view that only women should be entitled to parental leave. The argument that is presented in this dissertation is fathers are not treated as women’s equal when it comes to parental leave, specifically in South African legislation. The question that this dissertation aims to address is why women are primarily given the responsibility of caregiver, through parental leave, while men are excluded from any rights to parental leave. The aim of this research is to compare and evaluate the legal position of parental leave in a South African with other foreign countries.

Abstract   Title: How parental leave policies influence employee engagement   Level: Student thesis, final assignment for Bachelor Degree in Business Administration   Author: Patrick Hammer and Rickard Palmgren   Supervisor: Tomas Källquist and Pär Vilhelmsson   Date: 2019 – June     Aim: Several studies have found that perceived flexibility and the ability to manage the demands of work and personal life are related to higher levels of employee engagement and expected retention. However, little research have been done to explore the relationship between parental leave (a component of work-life balance) and employee engagement and retention. The aim of this study is to increase the understanding about how parental leave influence employee engagement, and subsequent employee retention.   Method: This study is based on a social constructive and hermeneutic perspective. Empirical data was collected through 18 semi-structured interviews with employees in Sweden and the United States. The findings were compared to previous research with an abductive approach. Theoretical and empirical findings were combined and resulted in a new model based on the aim of this study.   Result & Conclusions: Our model illustrates how parental leave influence employee engagement and retention from an employee perspective. Parental leave was found to influence employee engagement and retention in four main ways (themes), which are relationship with manager, salary and career opportunities, alignment of values, and well-being.   Contribution of the thesis: From a theoretical perspective, the model we developed is useful as it highlights how employee engagement is influenced by parental leave policies. From a practical perspective, this model can be used by managers and leaders in organizations worldwide that are looking to understand drivers of employee engagement and how to increase employee retention.   Suggestions for future research: Further research is needed to test this model in different contexts to confirm its accuracy. For future research, this model can be tested from the manager or management perspective, which could identify new components that can be added to the model.   Key words: Parental leave, employee engagement, employee retention, work-life balance, family friendly policies

Legal status of persons taking care of children in the labor market This dissertation deals with the legal status of persons taking care of children with respect to their participation in the labor market. The dissertation provides a comprehensive analysis of the legal status of these persons, focusing especially on the employees' work-life balance. The dissertation deals in particular with the issues of working conditions of pregnant women, breastfeeding employees and employed mothers in the period of nine months after childbirth, and employees taking care of a child. The dissertation analyses the legal regulations of individual labor law institutes in relation to person taking care of children such as part-time work. The dissertation analyses atypical employment relationships resulting from the need to care of a child. In addition to providing an analysis of the current legislative framework, the dissertation also deals with contemporary case law, in particular the judicial decisions concerning part-time work. The dissertation describes overlaps with other areas of law, i.e. social security law and tax law, and identifies new trends such as the development of childcare services, in particular for children under three years of age, and process getting shorter parental leave resulting from changes...

Syftet med kandidatuppsatsen är att undersöka hur kvinnliga och manliga chefer upplever möjligheten att kombinera föräldraskapet och chefskapet samt hur könsrelaterade mönster kan förstås i förhållande till föräldraledighet och karriäravancemang utifrån ett genusperspektiv. Resultaten visar på att chefer uppfattar svårigheter med att kombinera föräldraskap och chefskap genom den höga grad av tillgänglighet som krävs av chefskapet. Vidare fastställer resultatet att flertalet chefer som intervjuats ångrar omfånget av sin uttagna föräldraledighet och skulle vid ett nytt ställningstagande tagit ut en längre sammansatt period av föräldraledighet. Resultatet påvisar vidare att könsrelaterade mönster framkommer i form av hur föräldraledigheten tagits ut samt vilka förutsättningar män och kvinnor anses är nödvändiga för att kunna kombinera chefskapet och föräldraskapet. För att förklara de könsrelaterade skillnaderna används genusrelaterade teorier som ett teoretiskt verktyg. Studien genomförs med en kvalitativ forskning där tio semistrukturerade intervjuer representerar en jämn uppdelning av kvinnor och män då ett jämförande perspektiv genomförs i analysen av det empiriska materialet. På svenska stora företag vittnar tidigare forskning om att en ekonomisk aspekt är en av orsakerna till att arbetsgivare inte arbetar främjande för att underlätta föräldraledigheten. Genom detta kan resultatet av denna kandidatuppsats verka som ett komplement till den tidigare forskningen genom att denna studie har fokuserat på små och medelstora företag. Vidare kan uppsatsen användas som ett praktiskt underlag vilket beskriver de ekonomiska, etiska och strukturella överväganden som kan uppkomma vid situationer som rekrytering, kompetensförsörjning och organisatoriska besluttaganden i förhållande till föräldraledighet. / The essay aims to examine how male and female managers experience the possibilities to combine parenting with their manager positions; as well as examining how patterns between their relationships to parental leave and career advancement can be explained based on gender studies. The result presents that parents holding a manager level position are experiencing difficulties with combining this with parenting, especially based on the high level of accessibility required at such position. Furthermore, the results states that the majority of managers who were interviewed regret their scope of parental leave taken and, in the case of a new position, would have taken a longer subsequent period of parental leave. The results also presented that the gender related pattern is attendant in terms of how the parental leave has been utilized; and what prerequisites women and men are considered essential in order to be able to combine managerial advancement with parenting. Gender related theories has been used to analyze and explain the gender related differences. The study was conducted with a qualitative research where ten semi structured interviews were conducted. Both genders were equally represented in the interviews, as a comparative perspective was implemented in the analysis of the empirical material. Previous research on large Swedish corporations, has shown that the financial aspect is one of the underlying factors for why employers are not promoting to facilitate parental leave. The results presented in this essay, can operate as a complement to the previous research; since this study has focused on small and medium-sized companies. Furthermore, this thesis can be used as a practical basis, which describes the financial, ethical, and structural considerations that may arise during recruitment, provision of skills, and organizational decisions in relationship to parental leave.

Thesis advisor: Rebekah L. Coley / The goal of this dissertation was to delineate the repercussions of early maternal employment for children's early developmental competencies in the U.S., Australia, and the U.K. and to test economic and psychological theories regarding potential mechanisms linking maternal employment with children's development, including time, money, and stress. Prior research has focused on older, non-representative cohorts of American children, with results suggesting full-time employment in the first year after childbirth is linked with lower cognitive and behavioral skills. It is unclear if these same patterns exist in more recent cohorts and in other countries with differing cultural expectations and policy environments for families, most notably more comprehensive parental leave policies. Data came from representative samples of children born in each country between 2000 and 2004: (1) the U.S.'s Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort (N=10,100), (2) Australia's Longitudinal Study of Australian Children-Birth Cohort (N=5,093), and (3) the U.K.'s Millennium Cohort Study (N= 18,497). In each dataset, mother's employment data were coded to assess the month of entry into employment following childbirth. Extensive, well-validated direct assessment, mother report, and teacher report measures assessed children's cognitive and behavioral skills following entry into formal schooling. Descriptive data showed very different patterns of entry into employment: American mothers entered employment the earliest and at the highest intensity with more gradual, lower intensity returns by Australian and British mothers. OLS regression models weighted with propensity scores and controlling for a rich array of child and maternal characteristics suggested that early movements into employment had few associations with children's cognitive or behavioral skills in any of the countries. These neutral associations were not differentiated by maternal time, stress, or wages. However, as non-maternal household income decreased, early employment was linked with higher cognitive skills in the U.S. while employment begun before two years was linked with higher behavioral skills in Australia. There was no evidence of moderation by non-maternal household income in the U.K. Findings are discussed in terms of their implications for work family policy. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2013. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Counseling, Developmental, and Educational Psychology.

The aim of the thesis is to describe factors influencing the stress of mothers on parental leave from returning to work. According to the aim of the thesis, the research question was set: What socio-demographic factors affect the stress of mothers on parental leave from returning to work? The following hypotheses were established based on the research question: H1: Mothers with lower educational attainment are more stressed than mothers with higher educational attainment. H2: Mothers living in the village are more stressed than mothers living in the city or town. H3: Younger mothers on parental leave are more stressed by returning to work than older mothers on parental leave. A quantitative research strategy was chosen to achieve the aim of the thesis. The research was carried out by means of a survey method using a standardized questionnaire consisting of questions created by the researcher and a Czech version of the Perceived Stress Scale. The questionnaire was published only in electronic form on a website where women on parental leave associate. The research group consisted of 714 mothers on parental leave living in Vlašim and surroundings. Data analysis was evaluated using descriptive statistics in MS Excel program. Subsequent hypothesis testing was performed in the SPSS Statistics program. The research shows that the first hypothesis results in low correlation. The hypothesis is therefore supported. Mothers with lower educational attainment are more stressed than mothers with higher educational attainment. In the second hypothesis, a t-test was used for the evaluation of two independent research groups. The results show no statistically significant relationship. In the last - third hypothesis, two variables were tested, and the result shows no significant relationship in statistics. The research outcomes could contribute to a greater understanding of mothers on parental leave, which are stressed by returning to work. Women should be more aware of the opportunities that employers can adapt their working conditions and allow mothers to work part-time while on parental leave so their return into employment after parental leave is easier. The research could also serve as a feedback for Labor Offices, which register these mothers, or for the respondents themselves or for other entities dealing with the Act on State Social Support and the Labor Code.

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Sweden is known to have one of the world's most generous parental insurances, both in length and flexibility which has led to a high maternity rate and more women in paid work. The political work on equality in Sweden has the goal that women and men shall have the same power to shape society and their own lives. This has led to legislation aimed at getting fathers to stay more at home with their children. There has been plenty of research on this subject so this study goes off the main track and looks at how legislation around parenthood works for same-sex couples and if paternal leave is shared more equally between same-sex parents than heterosexual parents. Discourse analysis of the legislation and a survey with same-sex families followed by interviews indicate that samesex couples share parental leave more equally than heterosexual couples. Legislation works well for most same-sex families except for the process of related adoption. Reasons for more equal sharing of parental leave is hard to find but could depend on the fact that same-sex couples have been couples for a longer time, than heterosexual couples, before deciding to have children. Wage gap between men and women is a reason why heterosexual couples do not share equally and it could be vice versa for same-sex couples.

<p>Mothers and fathers in Sweden receive an earnings-related benefit of 80 percent of their income when they take parental leave. There exists a ceiling in the allowance though, meaning that some people with high earnings don’t receive fully 80 percent of their ordinary salary. The length of the parental leave varies between women and men and also among men and women. Various reasons are used to explain this; one of them is economical. This study investigates the economics reasons further by studying how additional compensations from the employer affect the length of the parental leave. The empirical material that is used in this study is called Time and money and it was collected in 2003 by Statistics Sweden. It consists of a survey of parents of 3164 children, born in 1993 or 1999.The used method for the study is regression analysis. Women and men are studied separately and also in different income-brackets. This proceeding makes it possible to detect if the effect of additional compensation vary by income. The result shows that mothers and fathers with high earnings are effected by the additional compensation from the employer, implying that economical reasons can’t be overlooked in explaining why the length of parental leave vary. No significant results are found for parents with low income.</p>

Mothers and fathers in Sweden receive an earnings-related benefit of 80 percent of their income when they take parental leave. There exists a ceiling in the allowance though, meaning that some people with high earnings don’t receive fully 80 percent of their ordinary salary. The length of the parental leave varies between women and men and also among men and women. Various reasons are used to explain this; one of them is economical. This study investigates the economics reasons further by studying how additional compensations from the employer affect the length of the parental leave. The empirical material that is used in this study is called Time and money and it was collected in 2003 by Statistics Sweden. It consists of a survey of parents of 3164 children, born in 1993 or 1999.The used method for the study is regression analysis. Women and men are studied separately and also in different income-brackets. This proceeding makes it possible to detect if the effect of additional compensation vary by income. The result shows that mothers and fathers with high earnings are effected by the additional compensation from the employer, implying that economical reasons can’t be overlooked in explaining why the length of parental leave vary. No significant results are found for parents with low income.