Another candidate would be the unnamed company for which Dilbert works.
Lazy or working too hard?
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The Centre for Economic and Policy Research came out with the following report:
http://www.cepr.net/documents/publications/working_time_2007_05.pdf
The United States is the only advanced economy in the world that does not guarantee its workers
paid vacation. European countries establish legal rights to at least 20 days of paid vacation per year,
with legal requirement of 25 and even 30 or more days in some countries. Australia and New
Zealand both require employers to grant at least 20 vacation days per year; Canada and Japan
mandate at least 10 paid days off. The gap between paid time off in the United States and the rest of
the world is even larger if we include legally mandated paid holidays, where the United States offers
none, but most of the rest of the world’s rich countries offer between five and 13 paid holidays per
year.France and Finland at 30 seems like a lot of vacation, but the US at 0 is pretty ridiculous. Thoughts?
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lazzy europeans. if you don’t work hard you don’t deserve vacation.
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Do you believe US citizens work hard enough to deserve vacation? Because your government doesn’t.
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Do you believe US citizens work hard enough to deserve vacation? Because your government doesn’t.
There’s probably an answer in the middle. I think full time employees deserve vacations. I think part timers should get them as well. A happy worker is a better worker. Employment is a relationship more than anything else, and I think we forget that…
But the US government has been selling out to big business since its inception. Just look at how the overtime laws changed a couple of years ago…it really screwed over the workers.
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Virtually every job offers vacation. We do not need Uncle Sam to make laws telling us to do something if we are already doing it.
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I don’t know about any one else, but if I had 6 weeks vacation I would have to get a second job to pay for my vacations!
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Tell me about it. I get 6 weeks off per year (10 paid holidays, 5 sick days, 15 vacation days… 30 work days is 6 work weeks off).
As a commissioned employee, taking off 3 days every pay period would DESTROY my income, not to mention the cost of doing things while on vacation…
So I take my vacations in months when I am already losing days, sacrifice one pay check, and then work like hell (and try to not get sick) for the other months to preserve my income.
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@M36:
Virtually every job offers vacation. We do not need Uncle Sam to make laws telling us to do something if we are already doing it.
From the report, “90% of full-time jobs in the US have paid vacation”. That means 10% don’t. That’s hardly virtually every job.
But hey, if it doesn’t bother you guys (the citizens) then why change it? I know it would bother me. I know that EVERYONE that I work with looks forward to their vacation and holidays each year, and there would be hell to pay if anyone ever hinted that they would lose even one day of those.
I guess we’re just lazy.
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yes. america became the greatest nation because you could acheive anything you worked hard for.
thats why we are #1 8-)
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@ncscswitch:
I get 6 weeks off per year (10 paid holidays, 5 sick days, 15 vacation days… 30 work days is 6 work weeks off).
How come you count sick days as your time off? Do you take 5 sick days every year?
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some jobs give an amount of sick days per year. after you have used those up, dont get sick.
this is a good idea, b/c employees will always use the sick card to go do something fun for a day. you cant have employees doing that all the time. its bad for business, and then the employees get fired. this isnt france, where the employee can do nothing for a month and still not get fired. this is rational america, where we decided that you dont get any rewards/benefit from doing nothing.
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@ncscswitch:
I get 6 weeks off per year (10 paid holidays, 5 sick days, 15 vacation days… 30 work days is 6 work weeks off).
How come you count sick days as your time off? Do you take 5 sick days every year?
That is what I have AVAILABLE.
You will note I said “take my VACATION” and “Try to not get sick” -
Do you believe US citizens work hard enough to deserve vacation? Because your government doesn’t.
This is the problem with you Canucks/Euros – you think prosperity is something that can be legislated. Have you noticed that US unemployment is around 4.4% whereas France has been stuck above 9% for over ten years? Can you say EXCESSIVE GOVERNMENT REGULATION, anyone?
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Generally, the government just makes problems bigger. Like President Reagan said, if a problem cant be solved, enlarge it.
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this is a good idea, b/c employees will always use the sick card to go do something fun for a day.
Maybe this wouldn’t happen if they were given a reasonable amount of vacation time? We have sick days at my work too, but there is no set number that each employee is allowed to take. The managers and supervisors monitor it and if it looks like any employee is abusing the system those situations are addressed on an individual basis. I asked Switch about that because I would never include my sick days in the same list as my vacation & holidays. They are for a different purpose entirely.
I look at legislating vacation the same way I look at legislating minimum wage. Please tell me the US has a minimum wage?
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@M36:
Generally, the government just makes problems bigger. Like President Reagan said, if a problem cant be solved, enlarge it.
Alzheimer’s is a hell of a disease…
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Please tell me the US has a minimum wage?
yes it does a lowly $5 something an hour is fedaeral(like 5 and alf dollars canadian) but most states raise it in thier state, i’m pretty sure Conneticut is $7 something and they want ot raise it agian. but there are a few states that keep it at the bare minnimal( like georgia). I personally think minnimal wage shoud only be for full time employment and not part time.
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Minimum wage in Connecticut is $7.55 an hour. You don’t find many jobs that actually pay that though, most employers pay at least eight.
Please inform me why a minimum wage is necessary again?
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I’ll quote Jeff who posted this on another site:
In our blather about the minimum wage on both sides of the debate, shouldn’t we at least think about why there is a minimum in the first place?
As I recall, and I am not old ehought o have been there, the minimum was established by FDR as a means to guarantee the American worker an honest days pay for an honest days work. At that time, the Depression, many employers exploited their employees by making them work extremely long hours and shorting them pay. The migrants in California come to mind, along with many immigrant meatpackers in the city of Chicago.
This debate hinges on your view of the world today. Is it like 1933, or has it fundementally changed?
http://macroblog.typepad.com/macroblog/2006/12/modern_labor_ec.html
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I’ll quote Jeff who posted this on another site:
In our blather about the minimum wage on both sides of the debate, shouldn’t we at least think about why there is a minimum in the first place?
As I recall, and I am not old ehought o have been there, the minimum was established by FDR as a means to guarantee the American worker an honest days pay for an honest days work. At that time, the Depression, many employers exploited their employees by making them work extremely long hours and shorting them pay. The migrants in California come to mind, along with many immigrant meatpackers in the city of Chicago.
This debate hinges on your view of the world today. Is it like 1933, or has it fundementally changed?
http://macroblog.typepad.com/macroblog/2006/12/modern_labor_ec.html
then why do people get paid the bare minnimal wage if we don’t need one?
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