Part-time work in the European Community

Eurofound — European Foundation For The Improvement Of Living And Working Conditions

Description

Laws and regulations
Employment policy
Social policy

Informations

• Publié par: EUROFOUND-EUROPEAN-FOUNDATION-FOR-THE-IMPROVEMENT-OF-LIVING-AND-WORKING-CONDITIO
• Nombre de lectures: 10
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 7 Mo

Extrait

m-twsm W(DÄ M tüte
* r=^ *• European Foundation
* for the Improvement of
* •• Living and Working Conditions It is the aim of the Foundation
to contribute to the planning
and development of the
improvement of living and
working conditions in the
future, through action designed
to increase and disseminate
knowledge likely to assist these
ideas. With this aim in view
the task of the Foundation is to
develop and pursue ideas on
the medium and long term
improvement of living and
working conditions in the light
of practical factors leading to
change (Council Regulation
[EEC] No. 1365/75
of 26 May 1975, Article 2).
European Foundation
for the Improvement of
Living and Working Conditions
ir ~k Loughlinstown House, Shankill,
*^^ * Co. Dublin. Ireland.
• 151 * Telephone: [phone]
• *■!• Telex: 30726 EURF EI
* * * Fax: [phone] Part-Time Work in the
European Community:
Laws and Regulations Part-Time Work in the
European Community:
Laws and Regulations
*Í¿L* EUROPEAN FOUNDATION
• LSI * FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF
**^* LIVING AND WORKING CONDITIONS Text:
Eric Dederichs (Ronn) and
Eberhard Köhler (European Foundation) (see page 6)
Original language: German
Translated by: Olive McKinley (Dublin)
Production:
Foundation's Publications Officer: Susan Ryan-Sheridan
Design: Maurice Sweeney, Dublin
Typesetting: Printset & Design Ltd., Dublin
Printing: Criterion Press Ltd., Dublin
Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the
European Communities, 1991
ISBN 92-826-2294-0
Catalogue number: SY-60-91-870-EN-C
Copyright: European Foundation for
the Improvement of Living and
Working Conditions, 1991. For rights of
translation or reproduction,
applications should be made to the
Director, European Foundation for the
Improvement of Living and Working
Conditions, Loughlinstown House,
Shankill, Co. Dublin, Ireland. CONTENTS
Introduction 9
Labour Law > 15
Belgium6
Denmark9
France 24
Federal Republic of Germany 26
Greece 30
Ireland 32
Italy 34
The Netherlands 37
Portugal 39
Spain 41
United Kingdom 44
Summary 48
The Social Security System 51
Unemployment Benefit4
Illness and Pregnancy 60
Accidents at Work 64
Family-Related Benefits 66
Pensions 66
Activities of the European Foundation 71
European Community Initiatives > 75
Relevant European Research Studies 81 Erich Dederichs was born in 1949, trained as a
primary school teacher, diploma in pedagogy, worked for
six years with a large charitable organisation, since 1979
official advisor with the press and information office of
the Federal German Government in Bonn. Member of the
executive committee of the German Public Relations
Association. Has published extensively in professional
periodicals, author and co-author of two previous
Foundation information booklets, "Visual Display Unit
Workplaces" and "New Technology in the Manufacturing
Industry".
Eberhard Köhler, Μ.Α., born in 1944, trained as a
political scientist, worked as university lecturer and
researcher in the U.S.A., Canada and the Federal
Republic of Germany before taking up his position in the
European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and
Working Conditions in 1977. Presently heading the
Foundation's research programme "Restructuring Working
Life". In 1988/89 Visiting Research Fellow at INSEAD,
Fontainebleau, France. Has published extensively in
several languages on work-organisation issues. PREFACE
Working time as a research topic of
the Foundation
Through its work programme, the Foundation has been
building up an understanding of how our societies and
economies adjust to new forms of work organisation, to
changes in demand for products and services, to new
expectations and aspirations, and to continuous
technological development. These issues, together with
continuing high unemployment rates, have forced us to
take into consideration the fact that for many people the
term "work" has lost its original meaning of full-time
gainful employment.
In 1985, the Foundation initated research, firstly to
investigate the ways in which the labour market is
reacting to these changed conditions and to the new forms
of work which are attracting growing attention, and
secondly to evaluate their social and economic
implications.
Research to date has covered the following areas:
- labour markets and employment flexibility;
- job-sharing;
- telework;
- impact on families and social organisation;
- psychological impact of new forms of work and
activity;
- issues in labour law and social security legislation;
- work organisation in co-operative undertakings;
- changing patterns of time use;
- issues in working time.
The discussion on working-time issues has many facets:
- reduction of individual working time;
- adaptation of working time to plant operating time; - development of new individual and collective working-
time patterns.
This information booklet deals with part-time work.
Part-time work is probably the most widely practised form
of "non-full-time" work and should therefore be of interest
to many of those individuals and companies already
practising it or considering it as a future option.
This booklet looks at part-time work from a number of
perspectives:
- its position in labour law;
- its coverage in social security systems;
- the position of part-time workers in relation to other
social issues (illness and pregnancy, accidents at work,
family-related income, pensions).
As prime information sources, the authors have used
data from EUROSTAT and two reference publications of
the Foundation:
New Forms of Work: Labour Law and Social Security
Aspects in the European Community (Yota Kravaritou-
Manitakis, Dublin 1988); Legal and Contractual
Limitations to Working Time in the European
Community Member States (edited by Roger Blanpain and
Eberhard Kohler, Luxembourg and Deventer/NL, 1988).
This booklet is aimed at a wide audience, many of
whom are not labour lawyers. The authors have avoided
the use of jargon and have maintained a clear and
accurate presentation of the facts and issues involved. It is
hoped that it will help those interested in part-time work
to judge for themselves the benefits and disadvantages of
part-time work for individuals and firms.
Clive Purkiss,
Director
Eric Verborgh,
Deputy Director
August, 1990
8