Take Two Aspirin's And Go To Hell
Article in Washington Post about sick leave, paid and unpaid, most people don't think about sick leave, it's simply understood that if your sick or say a child is sick or injured you can pick up the phone and call in sick, simple as that, but for 3 out of 4 low wage workers its not so simple, 3 out of 4 lack any type of paid sick leave, so if you get sick or injured you either a) come to work anyway or b) stay out home, lose a days wages and possibly your job. Pretty screwed up huh?, especially when you take into account that in other countries paid sick leave isn't a privilege of the elite but a basic human right, "A 2004 Harvard University study reported that 139 countries provide paid leave for short- or long-term illnesses. And 117 of those nations guarantee workers a week or more of paid sick days per year", wow, that doesn't make the old US of A look so hot, being one of the countries that doesn't offer sick leave and all, I guess we get lumped together with Haiti and Estonia or some shit, I guess in the US we're just a little tougher then those pussy European countries, if we get a leg amputated the night before we're still in the office at 8 the next morning, wow, makes your chest just swell with pride, well hopefully that's pride.
Some More Fun Facts:
Courtesy of the Harvard Project On Global Working Families
-139 countries provide paid leave for short- or long-term illnesses, with 117 providing a week or more annually. The U.S. provides only unpaid leave for serious illnesses through the FMLA, which does not cover all workers.
- 163 countries around the world offer guaranteed paid leave to women in connection with childbirth. The U.S. does not.
-At least 96 countries around the world in all geographic regions and at all economic levels mandate paid annual leave. The U.S. does not require employers to provide paid annual leave.
-40 countries have government-mandated evening and night wage premiums. The U.S. does not.
- At least 98 countries require employers to provide a mandatory day of rest: a period of at least 24 hours off each week. The U.S. does not guarantee workers this weekly break.
-At least 84 countries have laws that fix the maximum length of the work week. The U.S. does not have a maximum length of the work week or a limit on mandatory overtime per week.
-The U.S. is tied with Ecuador and Suriname for 39th in enrollment in early childhood care and education for 3–5 year olds. Nearly all European countries perform better. A wide range of developing and transitioning countries had higher enrollment rates than the U.S., despite being poorer.
-The only other industrialized country which does not have paid maternity or parental leave for women, Australia, guarantees a full year of unpaid leave to all women in the country. In contrast, the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) in the U.S. provides only 12 weeks of unpaid leave to approximately half of mothers in the U.S. and nothing for the remainder.
- At least 37 countries have policies guaranteeing parents some type of paid leave specifically for when their children are ill. Of these countries, two-thirds guarantee more than a week of paid leave, and more than one-third guarantee 11 or more days. Not us.
- 42 countries guarantee leave for major family events; in 37 of these countries, the leave is paid. Not us.
...wow...thats some bullshit huh? probably makes the libertarians happy, freaking libertarians.
READ MORE
Washington Post "Caught the Flu, but No Sick Leave"
Report From Harvard "THE WORK, FAMILY, AND EQUITY INDEX"