Leave policy in the time of pandemic: new developments and lessons learned

Abstract

Leave policies have played a role alongside other measures in helping parents and other carers to manage increased care demands created by COVID-19 containment policy response. Based on information collected through the Annual Review of Leave Policies and Research 2020, this chapter explores where and what (new) leave legislation has been enacted to support parents and other carers during the early phase of the pandemic. Five leave-related policy responses are identified using the empirical information available. Then, three country case studies (Belgium, Germany and Slovenia) are used to present in more depth the variety and complexity of country responses. The chapter contributes to the research on increasing gender inequalities in the wake of the pandemic, noting that little consideration has been given to gender-related aspects of pandemic-related leave policy design. More positively, it also highlights the role that widening the entitlement base to leave policies has played in supporting parents, which will hopefully be a lesson learned by policymakers to be maintained in future leave policy developments.