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VAM-Velferd, arbeid og migrasjon

Life and Work in Balance: Legal responses to working life in times of change and crisis (LaW-BALANCE)

Alternative title: Liv og arbeid i balanse: Rettslige svar på et arbeidsliv i endring og i krisetider (LaW-BALANCE)

Awarded: NOK 10.0 mill.

Project Number:

335194

Application Type:

Project Period:

2023 - 2028

Funding received from:

Partner countries:

Two challenges in modern society have inspired the LaW-BALANCE-project: an aging population and the development of new forms of organization of work. Does labour and social law meet these challenges? LaW-BALANCE will analyze the current legal framework of a working life in transition. How can law be used as an instrument to achieve an inclusive working life and a well-functioning welfare state? The project centers around the concept of ‘work-life balance’, understood as an individual’s evaluation of their satisfaction with the fit of work and private life. Such a balance is beneficial to the health and well-being of employees, as well as to work outcomes. It may reduce sickness absence and turnover and promote employee engagement and performance. Key instruments in achieving work-life balance are flexible work arrangements and the availability of paid leave. To the first instrument belong for example arrangements concerning remote work. But how do we draw the line between work and private sphere? Should the employee be enshrined with an explicit right to ‘disconnect’? What happens in case of accidents in the ‘workplace’? The second instrument includes paid leave rights for parents and for carers of other family members. The population is ageing, leading to an increasing need to enable employees to take care of older relatives. The demographic changes also make it necessary to adjust working conditions to ageing workers, including working time rights. The project will also look at the protection against discrimination when claiming and enforcing these rights. Through in-depth analyses of Norwegian labour and social law (including the impact of EU and EEA law on the selected areas), combined with comparative legal analyses of selected countries in the EU, LaW-BALANCE will break new ground in providing a better understanding of the legal framework that regulates modern working-life. Web: https://www.uib.no/en/jur/law-balance

An aging population and the development of new forms of organization of work raises challenges concerning whether labour and social law meet the needs of employees. A departure point for LaW-BALANCE is the desire to understand the current legal framework of working life in transition, and to explore the role of law as an instrument to achieve an inclusive working life and a well-functioning welfare state. The project centers around the concept of work-life balance, understood as an individual’s evaluation of their satisfaction with the fit of work and private life. A balance is beneficial to the health and the well-being of employees, as well as to work outcomes by reducing sickness absence and turnover and promote employee engagement and performance. LaW-BALANCE focuses on two key instruments related to work-life balance: flexible work arrangements and the availability of paid leave. The project will also look at the protection against discrimination when claiming and enforcing these rights. Through in-depth analyses of Norwegian labour and social law (incl. studies on the impact of EU and EEA law on the selected areas), combined with comparative legal analyses of selected countries in the EU, LaW-BALANCE will break new ground in providing a better understanding of the legal framework that regulates modern working-life.

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Funding scheme:

VAM-Velferd, arbeid og migrasjon