EQUAL RIGHTS OF WORKING SPOUSES AND OTHER PERSONS WHO FULFIL FAMILY RESPONSIBILITIES AND THE MAINTENANCE OF THE BALANCE BETWEEN WORK AND FAMILY LIFE

Abstract

The improvement in the quality of life of an employed person and his/her sustainable development are the basis of the concept of work-life balance. In this concept, the professional and private spheres are of equal importance and should complement and strengthen each other. The objective of ILO Convention 156 and ILO recommendation 165 related to it, is to ensure equal treatment and equal opportunities in the scope of employment and professional activity of working women and men who fulfill family responsibilities. Art. 33 section 2 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union and the European pillar of social rights provides accordingly. The permanence of marriage and equal rights of spouses are among the basic principles of Polish family law. Equal rights of women and men in the context of equal rights of persons carrying out parental and care responsibilities are a fundamental constitutional principle in our country. Therefore, new legal regulations at the EU and national level concerning the balance between the professional and private life of parents and guardians are necessary. It should be de lege ferenda called for the inclusion of the concept of balance between professional and private life of working people who perform parental and guardian functions in labor law and family and guardianship law in a wider scope. It seems that nowadays the most important problem is the introduction of legal solutions in the field of work exemptions, employee holidays and more flexible working hours for employees who have care responsibilities towards the elderly or chronically ill (parents, parents-in-law, siblings) to the Labor Code