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« on: May 16, 2007, 07:50:11 PM » |
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Here is an interesti ng article about paid vacations in the USA vs. the other countries . Are we getting the time off we deserve or not? You decide. I did a quick search and find that being given paid vacations and holidays does not fall under the federal guideline s of the DOL( Dept. of Labor). It is up to the employer whether they want to give their employees paid time off. Some states do have their own regulatio ns in this matter, so do some investiga ting and see what you come up with within your own state.
Paid vacation? U.S. workers have no guarantee s
Wed May 16, 5:40 PM ET
When it comes to guarantee d paid vacation, U.S. workers don't seem to get a break.
While the French get 30 days of paid leave and most other Europeans receive at least 20, the country with the world's biggest economy does not guarantee workers a single day, researche rs said on Wednesday .
Most U.S. firms do in fact give employees vacations, but the lack of governmen t guarantee s means one in four private-sector workers do not get paid leave, said researche rs for the Center for Economic and Policy Research, a Washingto n think tank.
"The United States is the only advanced economy in the world that does not guarantee its workers paid vacation days and paid holidays," said economist John Schmitt.
"Relying on businesse s to voluntari ly provide paid leave just hasn't worked," he added. "It's a national embarrass ment that 28 million Americans don't get any paid vacation or paid holidays."
Workers in Finland had one of the best annual leave packages among developed countries, a study by the center found. Finnish workers received 30 days of paid vacation plus another nine paid holidays.
French workers were guarantee d 30 days of paid annual leave, but only one paid holiday. Most European workers were guarantee d at least 20 days of vacation, and some also received as many as 13 paid holidays.
Canadian workers were guarantee d 10 days of vacation plus another eight paid holidays, while Japanese laborers only were guarantee d 10 days of annual leave, the study found.
U.S. workers were guarantee d neither paid vacations nor paid holidays.
Despite the lack of governmen t guarantee s, 90 percent of U.S. employers offered vacation, the study found. Workers received an average of nine days of paid vacation and six paid holidays, a total of 15 days off per year.
"The sum of the average paid vacation and paid holidays provided to U.S. workers in the private sector -- 15 in total -- would not meet even the minimum required by law in 19 other rich countries," Schmitt said.
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