The US federal government offers surprisingly little protection for workers' rights, especially when compared to other developed countries. The USA is the only industrialized country where there is no paid parental leave and where companies are not required to provide it at all. Some states have their own protective measures, including higher minimum wages and paid leave, but at the federal level, the United States lags behind the rest of the developed world. As a result, Americans work longer than people in Europe and Japan, and suffer from a high degree of fatigue from life. Minimum wage workers cannot afford to rent a double bed apartment in most of the United States, and a growing number of economic workers, such as Uber drivers, have even less rights than their regular customers.
Below are 7 stunning facts that show how little rights workers have in the United States and what their benefits are.
USA does not guarantee paid vacation or vacation
France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom offer employees more than 20 days of vacation. The United States does not provide employees with leave, and their 10 public holidays are considered business days. As a result, three out of four private companies paid vacation time, and on average a private industry worker received 10 paid days off after 1 year of work, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Even if the company provides leave, Americans rarely use it. In 2017, three out of ten employees did not go on vacation.
In the US, employers are not required to let employees take breaks during the day.
Federal law does not require companies to provide lunch or coffee breaks. U.S. law regarding lunch breaks is dramatically different from other countries. Italy and China have gone so far that their employees are entitled to a two-hour break. Americans also dine at their tables at a higher rate, although research says breaks in food stimulate team collaboration and creativity.
US does not provide paid maternity leave
In Italy, newly-minted parents are offered a 21-week paid leave after childbirth. In the UK, it is 39 weeks, in Greece it is 43. In the USA it is 0. The federal law on family and medical leave provides mothers with 12-week parental leave, but the law does not oblige companies to pay for it. The policy also applies only to full-time employees who have been working in the company for more than a year, which makes up only 60% of employees across the country.
Other UN states that do not provide paid leave to new parents include Papua New Guinea and Suriname.
The Ministry of Labor does not provide any flexible working hours.
In the US, there are no recommendations for companies on how to provide flexible work hours. A survey of employers in 2018 showed that only 23% of companies offer flexible or distance work schedules.
European countries give employees the right to a more convenient work schedule. For example, in the UK they have the right to demand it if they have worked for at least 26 weeks.
The minimum wage in the USA is lower than in other countries
Low-wage workers in the United States receive only a small fraction of the average wage of all full-time workers. If the federal minimum wage is $ 7.25, then this is only 34% of what an American worker does.
Other developed countries have much higher wages for the lowest paid workers compared to full-time wages. For example, in France, employees with a minimum salary receive 62% of the salary of a full-time employee.
However, given purchasing power, salaries in the United States are slightly higher than in other countries such as Australia and France.
At the beginning of this year, 21 states increased the minimum wage to $ 15. some economists believe that this could lead to job cuts and also save more Americans from poverty.
In the USA, they do not pay extra for a night shift
In this country, companies are not required to pay extra per night shift. In turn, Americans work at night and on weekends more often than Europeans. One in four Americans works night shifts from 10pm to 6am, while in France and the Netherlands only 1 in 14 employees agrees.