Motherhood and childcare are major destabilizing factors in the career path of an employee. The topic of this chapter is the management of maternity and parental leave, which is one of the key measures affecting the reconciliation of work and family life of employees. Some of the key factors affecting the work-life balance of an employee include the issue of leaving the workplace and taking maternity and parental leave, communication between employer and employee during maternity and parental leave and return after maternity and parental leave. Given the broad scope of the chosen topic, the chapter will specifically focus on the issue of support for employees during maternity and parental leave in terms of the length of maternity and parental leave and material support for employees during maternity and parental leave. Although this is an issue that has consistently attracted significant attention and attention from the European Union and is the subject of EU legislation, it is known that there are significant differences in this area across the Member States, arising from a different historical developments, traditions and experiences of national legislation. This is an area of great social importance as it relates to issues such as declining birth rates, the loss of employees’ potential, the gender pay gap, declining public budgets, loss of role models and more. The aim of this chapter is to look back at the development of maternity and parental leave legislation in the European Union, to analyse current trends and legislation in selected member states, and to outline the challenges and prospects that lie ahead in this area.