Caring for Balance? Legal Approaches to Those Who Struggle to Juggle Work and Adult Care

Abstract

The provision of informal (family) care is one of the key work–life balance (WLB) issues to be addressed by social policies. So far, both legislative approaches and legal research have focused mainly on childcare-related issues. This is particularly true for the labour law component of policy measures. Considering current demographic trends, it seems crucial to enhance attention on care for older persons and people with disabilities. This article identifies four basic aims of WLB-enhancing social policies – availability, affordability, discouraging ‘too much’ informal care provision, and countering gender inequality – and explores the strategies developed in different legal systems and at the international level to address them. It then examines the degree to which such strategies exist also for adult care, the extent to which ‘transfers’ of childcare-related approaches are conceivable, and the particularities of adult care that call for new approaches to pursue the same aims. It concludes with a discussion of the most important elements of social policy and labour law approaches to promoting the WLB of workers providing informal care for adults. Work–Life Balance, Family Care, Informal Care, Care Leave, Comparative Law, International Law, Gender Equality, Labour Law, Social Security, Flexible Working Conditions.