Swine Flu: Stay Home

[FayeforCure]

With the swine flu alert sweeping the country, President Obama and the Centers for Disease Control urge people with flu symptoms to stay home. This is a common sense measure to limit the spread of what might be a dangerous virus.

Only one problem, as the New York Times reminds us in an editorial this morning. About 60 million Americans don't have paid sick leave. Many can be fired if they stay home. And if not fired, many simply can't afford to lose the hours.

43% of private sector American workers have no paid sick days at all. And needless to say the most vulnerable have the least protection. A 2007 EPI study showed that workers at the bottom of the wage scale, those making less than $7.38 an hour, are five times less likely to have sick days than workers at the top of the scale, those making greater than $29.47 an hour. Only 16% of low-wage workers have access to paid sick days.

This is a barbarity that is dangerous to your health. Women -- who tend still to be disproportionately in part-time and low wage work -- are particularly at risk.

More than 160 countries, the Times tells us, have laws that ensure all their citizens receive paid sick leave and more than 110 of them guarantee paid leave from the first day of illness. The US does not. The reason goes no further than the influence of money on politics.

We once provided much of our social contract through the corporation rather than the Congress. Strong unions could negotiate a family wage, health care, overtime pay, paid sick leave, paid vacations, and pensions. Many non-union employers offered benefits similar to those provided by union companies. But over the last decades of this conservative era, as unions grew weaker under attack, more and more corporations simply shredded those agreements.

Now we'll have to enact these basic guarantees -- central to what Franklin Roosevelt called the Economic Bill of Rights -- in law. But each reform will have to overcome the resistance of entrenched lobbies, buying the protection of compromised legislators.

In 2005, Senator Ted Kennedy and Rep. Rosa DeLauro introduced a bill entitled the Health Families Act that would mandate up to seven paid sick days for employees in firms with more than 15 employees (and pro-rated leave for part-time employees). You'd think this would be a no brainer. It never came to a vote in the Senate. Obama pledged to support seven day paid sick leave in his campaign.

http://www.ourfuture.org/blog-entry/2009051906/corruption-dangerous-your-health

[CrysG]

Here's a list of countries. Places like Colombia,Pakistan and Saudi Arabia give their workers days off.



Country    Legally required minimum leave
Argentina    14 calendar days (from 0 to 5 years seniority), 21 calendar days (from 5 to 10), 28 calendar days (from 10 to 20) and 35 calendar days (from 20)
Australia    As of 27 March 2006, 20 work days (4 weeks). 2 weeks can be "sold" to employer. Additional Long service leave is also payable. 10 public holidays as well are payable to employees.
Austria    5 weeks
The Bahamas    14 days after 1 year employment, 21 day after 5 years employment
Belgium    20 days, premium pay
Brazil    30 consecutive days after 1 year employment, of which 10 can be sold back to the employer
Bulgaria    minimum 20 working days
Canada    Determined by provincial law. 10-15 working days depending on province. In addition, 5-10 public holidays depending on province.
Chile    15 working days
Colombia    15 working days for every year, vacations can be accumulated for up to 4 years (up to 60 working days of vacations)
Costa Rica    2 weeks after 1 year employment.
China    11 working days.
Croatia    18 working days. Saturdays can be included even if company offices are not open on Saturdays. This is left for employers and employees to agree.
Czech Republic    4 weeks
Denmark    25 work days minimum + 5 "special days"
Dominican Republic    14 work days after one year employment, 20 work days after 5 years employment.
Estonia    28 calendar days
European Union    4 weeks, more in some countries
Ecuador    14 days
Finland    5 weeks (30 days with Saturdays, but not Sundays counted as holidays) is the minimum mandated by law. More precisely: vacation is accrued between 1.4. - 31.3. each year and used primarily during the following summer holiday period. During each such full period 2,5 vacation days are accrued per month. When taking up a new job, only 2 days are accrued until the start of the first full period. Many trade unions have been able to agree for more vacation time for their profession
France    5 weeks[1] (+ 2 weeks of RTT (Reduction du Temps de Travail, in English : Reduction of Working Time) according to the contract)
Germany    4 working weeks
Greece    20 working days or more depending on the years in the company
Guatemala    2 working weeks
Hong Kong    7 days
Hungary    20 working days (increasing up to 30 with age)
Ireland    4 working weeks (20 days if working full time), plus 9 public holidays
India    60 Days
Israel    from 12 working days for the first year to 24 days for 14-th year and on, not including official holidays, sick leave, etc.
Italy    20-32 working days (exact amount depends on contract details) plus 12 public holidays
Japan    including sick leave: 18 days paid time off;
officially, five weeks (in reaction to the karoshi problem)
Jersey    2 weeks[2]
Korea, South    10 working days
Latvia    4 weeks
Lithuania    4 weeks (20 working days)
Malaysia    Starts at 8 days for first 2 years employment with an employer. Increases to 12 days for between 2 and 5 years employment and 16 days for 5 or more years. Plus, depending on which state, around 14 public holidays.
Mexico    Starts at minimum 6 days for the 1 year of employment. Increases to 8 days after the second year, to 10 days after the third year, 12 days after the fourth year and to 14 days from year 5 o year 9; then every 5 years increases two days.
Netherlands    4 weeks
New Zealand    4 weeks as of April 1, 2007, plus 11 paid public holidays.
Norway    25 working days
Pakistan    15 working days
Paraguay    14 days
Peru    14 days
Philippines    5 days, rendered at least 1 year of service is entitled to a yearly service incentive leave.
Poland    20 business days, 26 business days after 10 years of employment
Portugal    22 working days, up to 25 without work absences in previous year.
Puerto Rico    15 days
Romania    minimum 21 working days
Russia    28 calendar days[3]
Saudi Arabia    30 days
Serbia    20 working days minimum
Singapore    14 days (executive and above); 7 days with 1 additional day per year up to a maximum of 14 days (non-executive)
Slovakia    20 days, 25 days after 15 years of employment
South Africa    21 consecutive days
Spain    30 calendar days
Sweden    25 work days minimum
Switzerland    28 calendar days (= 20 work days)
Taiwan    7 days
Turkey    12 work days
Tunisia    30 work days
Ukraine    24 calendar days
United Kingdom    As of 1 October 2007, 4.8 weeks (24 work days) with no additional entitlement for bank holidays and 5.6 weeks (28 work days) from 1 April 2009.[4]
United States    none[5]
Uruguay    14 days
Venezuela    15 paid days for the first year + 1 day extra for every year of service until reaching 30 days. In addition, a maximum of 12 public holidays provided every holiday falls on a weekday.
Vietnam    10 working days.


http://www.cepr.net/documents/publications/2007-05-no-vacation-nation.pdf
http://www.cepr.net/index.php/publications/reports/no-vacation-nation/

[BridgeTroll]

A previous thread on work weeks and paid vacation...

http://www.metrojacksonville.com/forum/index.php/topic,4513.0.html

[urbanlibertarian]

Here's an excerpt from an article by Steve Chapman for reason.com about the swine flu and sick days:

The epidemic has been a boon to supporters of a bill called the Healthy Families Act, which would require companies with 15 or more employees to provide each of them with seven paid sick days a year. Public health authorities ask those who are sick to stay home, but "they don't give any thought to the half of workers who don't have paid sick days," laments Karen Minatelli of the National Partnership for Women and Families.

But she overstates the problem. Data from the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics indicate that 86 percent of full-time employees have paid time off that they can use when illness strikes them or their children.

Supporters of the measure forget that if companies are forced to provide paid leave, they will compensate, sooner or later, by reducing wages. Given the tradeoff, some workers (particularly those who rarely get sick) would rather have the cash. This legislation attempts to make them better off by depriving them of that option, all in the name of sparing their fellow citizens an attack of swine flu.

Most of us are likely to escape that virus. But no inoculation can rescue us from the fever gripping Washington.

The whole article is at: http://www.reason.com/news/show/133276.html

[FayeforCure]

Here's a list of countries. Places like Colombia,Pakistan and Saudi Arabia give their workers days off.



Country    Legally required minimum leave
Argentina    14 calendar days (from 0 to 5 years seniority), 21 calendar days (from 5 to 10), 28 calendar days (from 10 to 20) and 35 calendar days (from 20)
Australia    As of 27 March 2006, 20 work days (4 weeks). 2 weeks can be "sold" to employer. Additional Long service leave is also payable. 10 public holidays as well are payable to employees.
Austria    5 weeks
The Bahamas    14 days after 1 year employment, 21 day after 5 years employment
Belgium    20 days, premium pay
Brazil    30 consecutive days after 1 year employment, of which 10 can be sold back to the employer
Bulgaria    minimum 20 working days
Canada    Determined by provincial law. 10-15 working days depending on province. In addition, 5-10 public holidays depending on province.
Chile    15 working days
Colombia    15 working days for every year, vacations can be accumulated for up to 4 years (up to 60 working days of vacations)
Costa Rica    2 weeks after 1 year employment.
China    11 working days.
Croatia    18 working days. Saturdays can be included even if company offices are not open on Saturdays. This is left for employers and employees to agree.
Czech Republic    4 weeks
Denmark    25 work days minimum + 5 "special days"
Dominican Republic    14 work days after one year employment, 20 work days after 5 years employment.
Estonia    28 calendar days
European Union    4 weeks, more in some countries
Ecuador    14 days
Finland    5 weeks (30 days with Saturdays, but not Sundays counted as holidays) is the minimum mandated by law. More precisely: vacation is accrued between 1.4. - 31.3. each year and used primarily during the following summer holiday period. During each such full period 2,5 vacation days are accrued per month. When taking up a new job, only 2 days are accrued until the start of the first full period. Many trade unions have been able to agree for more vacation time for their profession
France    5 weeks[1] (+ 2 weeks of RTT (Reduction du Temps de Travail, in English : Reduction of Working Time) according to the contract)
Germany    4 working weeks
Greece    20 working days or more depending on the years in the company
Guatemala    2 working weeks
Hong Kong    7 days
Hungary    20 working days (increasing up to 30 with age)
Ireland    4 working weeks (20 days if working full time), plus 9 public holidays
India    60 Days
Israel    from 12 working days for the first year to 24 days for 14-th year and on, not including official holidays, sick leave, etc.
Italy    20-32 working days (exact amount depends on contract details) plus 12 public holidays
Japan    including sick leave: 18 days paid time off;
officially, five weeks (in reaction to the karoshi problem)
Jersey    2 weeks[2]
Korea, South    10 working days
Latvia    4 weeks
Lithuania    4 weeks (20 working days)
Malaysia    Starts at 8 days for first 2 years employment with an employer. Increases to 12 days for between 2 and 5 years employment and 16 days for 5 or more years. Plus, depending on which state, around 14 public holidays.
Mexico    Starts at minimum 6 days for the 1 year of employment. Increases to 8 days after the second year, to 10 days after the third year, 12 days after the fourth year and to 14 days from year 5 o year 9; then every 5 years increases two days.
Netherlands    4 weeks
New Zealand    4 weeks as of April 1, 2007, plus 11 paid public holidays.
Norway    25 working days
Pakistan    15 working days
Paraguay    14 days
Peru    14 days
Philippines    5 days, rendered at least 1 year of service is entitled to a yearly service incentive leave.
Poland    20 business days, 26 business days after 10 years of employment
Portugal    22 working days, up to 25 without work absences in previous year.
Puerto Rico    15 days
Romania    minimum 21 working days
Russia    28 calendar days[3]
Saudi Arabia    30 days
Serbia    20 working days minimum
Singapore    14 days (executive and above); 7 days with 1 additional day per year up to a maximum of 14 days (non-executive)
Slovakia    20 days, 25 days after 15 years of employment
South Africa    21 consecutive days
Spain    30 calendar days
Sweden    25 work days minimum
Switzerland    28 calendar days (= 20 work days)
Taiwan    7 days
Turkey    12 work days
Tunisia    30 work days
Ukraine    24 calendar days
United Kingdom    As of 1 October 2007, 4.8 weeks (24 work days) with no additional entitlement for bank holidays and 5.6 weeks (28 work days) from 1 April 2009.[4]
United States    none[5]
Uruguay    14 days
Venezuela    15 paid days for the first year + 1 day extra for every year of service until reaching 30 days. In addition, a maximum of 12 public holidays provided every holiday falls on a weekday.
Vietnam    10 working days.


http://www.cepr.net/documents/publications/2007-05-no-vacation-nation.pdf
http://www.cepr.net/index.php/publications/reports/no-vacation-nation/

HMMM, it seems the norm is 4 weeks of sick coverage per year in asdvanced nations, and 7 days per year in developing nations.

And we are bickering over a mandate for up to 7 days?

We are so far behind......

[urbanlibertarian]

We libertarian freaks are always going to bicker about mandates.  We're pro choice on almost everything.

[whitey]

Yay, more federal gov't, yay

If you don't like the benefits given by your employer

A) find a new job
B) start a company and take as many days off as you wish (let me know how effective your company is when you are paying people who don't show up for a week or four per year)

[jaxnative]

Yepper, just what we need, more mommy government.

A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have.

�Thomas Jefferson

[CrysG]

Yay, more federal gov't, yay

If you don't like the benefits given by your employer

A) find a new job
B) start a company and take as many days off as you wish (let me know how effective your company is when you are paying people who don't show up for a week or four per year)

Every other developed country can give their workers paid mandatory day off but America.....Lord no.....we like having sick co workers cough all over us. We LOVE forcing parents to worry about if they can afford to take a day off for sick child.


In semi related news.
http://tinyurl.com/omxf5u

[urbanlibertarian]

So, if the government chooses not to mandate paid sick days they are "forcing parents to worry about if they can afford to take a day off for sick child"?
Please.  As pointed out in the article excerpt I posted above, such a mandate would eventually result in lower wages to compensate for the cost and healthy workers might prefer the cash to the sick days.  Lets not have "one size fits all" government mandates that take choices away from workers and employers.

[CrysG]

I think what's interesting with that argument is that every other country on that list has mandatory time off. Do you think that all those employee are having to struggle with a low wage? Do you think the people of England are standing in the bread line because their government puts people first? Nope.

And what is this choice you speak of? You ever get paid days off or you don't. You can't go to your boss and say I'll take my paid days off now, thank you.

[CrysG]

Another story on this problem.

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/SwineFlu/story?id=7480732&page=1

[kramer2k]

Yay, more federal gov't, yay

If you don't like the benefits given by your employer

A) find a new job
B) start a company and take as many days off as you wish (let me know how effective your company is when you are paying people who don't show up for a week or four per year)

Werd.

[FayeforCure]

Well it seems some do have lots of paid sick leave!!!!

The fired chief executive of Visit Florida will get a $536,637.36 severance package, acccording to Richard Goldman, chairman of the marketing agency's board of directors.

The package for Bud Nocera includes $476,668 in remaining salarly, $17,500 in car allowance, $41,876.35 in accrued vacation time and sick leave and $593.01 in expenses. Nocera will not get any pro-rated bonus, Goldman said. He will get health and retirement benefits for the next two years and one month.

Goldman, responding to criticism from state Sen. Mike Fasano, said Visit Florida will pay Nocera's severance package with funds from private sources. "We certainly are not going to spend state tax dollars on the severance of Mr. Nocera," Goldman said.

Of course, critics say that's a distinction without a difference, noting that Visit Florida has historically mixed public and private money together.

http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/news_politics/2009/05/total-exit-package-for-visit-florida-boss-537000.html

Economic security for a select few,......but no economic security for most of us.

[mtraininjax]

Only one problem, as the New York Times reminds us in an editorial this morning. About 60 million Americans don't have paid sick leave. Many can be fired if they stay home. And if not fired, many simply can't afford to lose the hours.

43% of private sector American workers have no paid sick days at all.

Who said it was the right of every American to have a job? Is everyone complaining about not getting a raise this year or is it now sick leave? Fine walk out, there are 5.7 million americans who have lost a job since the fall of 2007, who will be looking for the job you walked out of.

It is a privelidge to have a job, people should be happy to have one, if not happy, go find another one.