Mandatory paid time off

Legislation finally going up before congress for this

I've always wondered at Americans strange attitudes towards this. America is the only wealthy country that doesn't mandate any paid time off at your job. You rarely hear about it.
I had to do a web search to find the article above. Problem is even if it passes it isn't going to mandate much. One week after one year and 2 weeks after 3...that isn't enough.

I'm not advocating 30 days right out of the gate like in France, but I don't think 10 days immediately progressing up to 30 after 20 years or so on the job is out of line.

I've found some discussion around the net on this and many are calling it socialism which is hardly the case. Why don't Americans realize that there's more to life than just work.

The US needs mandatory paid time off...and not just 1 or 2 weeks.

The company is forced to give paid time off or people are forced to take the time off?

In either event I don't see how it would stimulate the economy to reduce productivity.

Nothing against time off but making it mandatory seems . . . extreme.

Shouldn't this be dealt with in a contract between employer and employee, rather than under the authority of a totally contextually irrelevant body?

Originally posted by inimalist
Shouldn't this be dealt with in a contract between employer and employee, rather than under the authority of a totally contextually irrelevant body?

No, most employees don't have a contract. Vacation time built up over the years can be taken away under a new owner if your company is bought out.

Like I said, Americans get far less time off than people in any other developed nation. It's time to change that.

Originally posted by The Dark Cloud
No, most employees don't have a contract. Vacation time built up over the years can be taken away under a new owner if your company is bought out.

Like I said, Americans get far less time off than people in any other developed nation. It's time to change that.

most employees don't have a contract?

are you talking about temp work? afaik I had to sign a contract to work at McDonalds...

Originally posted by inimalist
most employees don't have a contract?

I recall someone telling me the same thing and looking at Google it seems pretty widely accepted. However, I can't seem to find any statistic to back it up except that apparently US Govt employees never have contracts.

wow

/insert foot to mouth

Originally posted by inimalist
most employees don't have a contract?

are you talking about temp work? afaik I had to sign a contract to work at McDonalds...

No, I'm referring to full time permanant workers. In the US only upper level management and union employees have contracts. Everyone else's employment is subject to company policy and whatever state laws are in place. Federal laws regarding employment are very few.

I already get 30+ days off a year...I just don't take the days off.

I cash out my PTO (Paid Time Off). I get 10 days a year, paid for, by my employer, outside of PTO. (Paid holidays.) I usually take of 3-5 days for vacation, a year. More days than that is just a tad excessive for me.

In other words, Nya Nya. 😛

This legistlation won't do anything for me.

I don't think this legislation should exist, though.

You don't like the vacation options you have? Work for someone else.

Can't get a job that has those vacation options? Tough shit. 😐

What we need, especially right now is kurzarbeit

Originally posted by Darth Jello
What we need, especially right now is kurzarbeit

What is kursabeit? I don't know what that is.

If I were to guess, I would say that expertus (Latin) would be a better way to express that, as more people would understand it. 😠

Of course, I could be wrong about the context of whatever "kurzabeit" means. 🙁

Originally posted by Darth Jello
What we need, especially right now is kurzarbeit

Guzuntheit.

[QUOTE=11882433]Originally posted by Symmetric Chaos
Guzuntheit. [/QUOT 😆 E]

This legislation is a fantastic thing. Wonderful. Just closes off one more way companies can screw their workers.

Originally posted by dadudemon
[QUOTE=11882433]Originally posted by Symmetric Chaos
[B]Guzuntheit. [/QUOT 😆 E] [/B]

WTF?

😆

Originally posted by King Kandy
This legislation is a fantastic thing. Wonderful. Just closes off one more way companies can screw their workers.

hmm

Originally posted by Symmetric Chaos
hmm

Originally posted by King Kandy
What?

You phrased it as though you were being sarcastic. Was I wrong?

No, I was serious. That's what I believe.

instead of laying you off workers temporarily or permanently during tough economic times, you tell them not to come to work or to come to work at reduced hours and don't pay them. Instead, the government pays them two thirds of their previous wages so that they can keep living and consuming and once the economy picks up and business gets better (something that happens in a more quick and equitable way since instead of a direct bailout or subsidy, laid off consumers still participate in the market so market forces determine the fate of business), those same workers come back to their old jobs at their previous wages. If the business fails or more than 24 months pass, people move to the unemployment system, collect less money, and look for jobs. This is thought of as both a social safety net, a more fair and competitive socialism, and as an insurance policy against political extremism. Germany is the world's fourth largest economy and so the depression and the failure of AIG have set it's economy in free fall and in a position almost as bad as the last years of the Weimar Republic with the unemployment rate (which actually counts everybody who doesn't have work over there including kurzarbeiters) is at 8.5%. And yet the economy is starting to turn around faster than America's and there isn't the kind of depression and misery as there is in the United States where so many companies are just taking advantage of the situation and looting to the degree that in some polls, 35% of Americans are now identifying themselves as socialist or communist.