Do Americans Workers Have Sufficient Rights?

Europeans are given notice before being fired. Several weeks per year of vacation time is mandatory by law, as is paid maternity and paternity leave. It's rare for a European to work more than forty hours in a week (and many work less), because Europeans earn a liveable salary.

Here's what one German posted on Reddit regarding his work life:

Why are we Americans still stuck in the 19th century with so many things?

And why are the Republicans hellbent on keeping us there?

 

Those things sound nice. I just don't see how it is the federal governments job. Maybe state government?

 

Only the federal govt. can take on big business. This is why big business hates Democrats and loves Republicans, and why they get Republican voters to vote against their own interests.

 

The reason why our employment laws are so pussified in the EU is because those that write and implement them have never been self employed.

Your rights start from the moment you send your application in. If you're not successful in securing an interview, you can request to see if your application was fairly considered. So the potential employer would keep a log of all applications, scored against a points list. I doubt most employers know this.

If an employee does something wrong, you have to give then written notice to an investigatory meeting to gather the facts, they are welcome to have a parent or colleague present to take notes. If you then wish to hold a disciplinary meeting, again with notice etc.. and you must adjourn the meeting to consider your verdict. You must consider past disciplinary record so for example, it might not be considered acceptable to go straight to dismissal with a clean record, depending on the incident under question.

Company guidelines often determine how long warnings last for.

If a sacked employee feels aggrieved, they can take their case to an Industrial Tribunal. You're not obliged to give them your job back but get your paperwork wrong, be prepared to pay a hefty fine.

And there's a ton of other things; maternity pay, paternity pay, sick pay, holidays, career breaks, pensions etc..

So the cost and hassle of all this just means people only employ if they really have to.

 

Why would you think the State governments cant take on big business? Due to our Constitution states have much broader power to enact laws that impact a company look to California as an example. Also plenty of big business support the Democrats especially the likes of Google and Microsoft.

 

I agree with your post.

 

And that's about it and they get highly taxed on that, I prefer much higher than a liveable salary and lower taxes on my income.

 

I wouldn't mind paying more taxes when it means truly free and universal healthcare and other social safety nets. Let's face it: America's military might be shiny and powerful, but our nation is rotting from the inside. We're wage slaves. Our infrastructure is crumbling. Our power grid is almost as bad as third-world nations'. Our universities are expensive and our public education system is a nightmare. We have too much gun violence. Religion and moral warriors have our culture gripped by the gonads. The divide between rich and poor only grows and the middle class is fading. Our people are obese. Racism is getting worse. Everyone wants to fight over politics. Etc, etc.

 

You want more government and willing to pay taxes for and then complain about how horrible the thinks government is involved in are. And guess what as long as we have a vibrant and growing economy the gap between the poorest and the riches will always expand, you can't go below zero but the sky's the limit. If it didn't we wouldn't have growth and expansion.

 

All these worker rights make it difficult for employers to hire in France. They are very reluctant to take on new hires, and won't do so until they're absolutely sure, because to do so involves a big commitment. It's not such an easy thing firing a worker there.

No doubt this contributes to the high youth unemployment rate.

 

But if you want to talk about worker rights, maybe one of the things you should talk about is employers that require workers to stand during the entire shift, even though their job could be performed just as easily sitting in a chair.

This is very common.

Probably excludes many older people from being able to work, since they may be unable to remain standing for several hours at a time. And we're talking about a situation where the employee remains standing in the same place, like at a register or packaging boxes.

I notice often times that the Left brings up an important broader issue, but then completely miss the point, or have a tendency to try to coopt the broader issue into something else.

 

I think all of us would agree with you on this point.

 

I read there is a move by the left to prohibit perspective employers asking about perspective employees about the wage/salary history now.

 

Earning a living salary is a responsibility of the citizen not an obligation of the government.

Just a passing thought .... Why in a country with such highly touted universal health care would the average worker need 6 weeks of sick pay?

 

Any serious health problem could eat that six weeks up very quickly. It's good to have that time as an insurance policy for the future.

 

That's true, we do love our insurances. We are so obsessed with shrouding ourselves in guarantees and contingencies its no wonder so many folks are so miserable. What if, what if, what if.

 

If you don't have enough money for 6 weeks, isn't it very likely you don't have enough money already right now, without taking those 6 weeks off?

Paid leave time seems entirely besides the point, to me.

 

No one works effectively when they are sick. Serious illness is even worse, because it lasts a lot longer. Paid sick leave definitely helps. I don't understand your logic when you question that highly evident fact.

 

Should they get an extra bonus if they are not sick and decide to work that year?

That might help you frame it in a more logical light.

 

Not for vacation becuase it might discourage folks from taking off but unused sick time yes.

 

Why would we not want to encourage folks from not taking all that sick time off, if they're not sick?

 

Why do you want people to take sick days if they're not sick?

 

Why should they take sick days if they're not sick, and they want to work and earn extra money?

 

Australia has that plus “Long Service Leave”. Which is roughly an extra weeks paid leave for every year you work, but it only kicks in after 10 years.

We get 4 weeks paid leave per year plus 17% “leave loading”

We also, because of a UHC are not bound to an employer for health benefits

We don’t tip wait staff because they get a minimum wage and tips are NOT included in any calculation of wage. However nearly every restaurant you attend will have either a “tip jar” or more commonly a charity box so ant tips can go straight to a charity

Ps you do not want to know what our minimum wage is compared to yours

 

Worse if they come to work sick they can infect the rest of the staff

Yes it can be abused with some taking “sickies” but that can be avoided by making sick leave cumulative. I currently have around 2 months owing