Should the U.S. Require Minimum Time Off?

[05 Roush]

You guessed it. The good 'ole US of A is one of the only countries in the world which doesn't require time off of work. Even China mandates employees must take 10 days off a year.

Do you think the U.S. should do the same???

 

[01cobravortech]

Absolutely. We are burned out as people and are being wound so tight that we are at each other's throats. Well, at least thats the case here in the Northeast coastlands.

 

[tvguy]

How many "holidays" do many US Citizens have off each year?
pacotaco

 

[05 Roush]

How many "holidays" do many US Citizens have off each year?
pacotaco

None. Your employer elects to give you time off. I may be wrong, but I believe this is the case.

 

[tvguy]

None. Your employer elects to give you time off. I may be wrong, but I believe this is the case.

I didn't say they were mandated days off. Just days off for holidays. Not every company does this of course, but many do. This is an interesting thread as I do not know how many "vacation" days are "required" by law. I cannot fathom a company can employ a person for 5 days a week with only two days off for the weekends for 52 weeks a year. Something to research.
pacotaco

EDIT: Guess not in California. This is from a CA Gov. site. Still looking into "personal and sick" days. Interesting

There is no legal requirement in California that an employer provide its employees with either paid or unpaid vacation time.

 

[crew_dawg16]

I don't think so. If someone wants time off work, then take vacation days. Most real jobs earn you so many days a month of paid vacation. Federal jobs are where it's at if you want days off work.

 

[05 Roush]

It's crazy. There are very few laws mandating maximum TTW. I know of people who work at least 75 hours a week at the same job. Most are in construction, health care, or a related field.

It's nuts. There comes a time and a place where regulations are there to help keep balance and protect ourselves from ourselves.

There's even talk of a new drug which will allow us to not sleep for 5 days. Insanity.

 

[tvguy]

I don't think so. If someone wants time off work, then take vacation days. Most real jobs earn you so many days a month of paid vacation. Federal jobs are where it's at if you want days off work.

Read my "edit". If you're an employer in California you are not required to provide paid or unpaid vacation days.
pacotaco

 

[crew_dawg16]

Read my "edit". If you're an employer in California you are not required to provide paid or unpaid vacation days.
pacotaco

I hate California.

 

[tvguy]

I hate California.

Haha, I can check other states too. I doubt California is the only state with no mandated vacation days. We might find all 50 states in the same boat. Interesting for sure.
pacotaco

 

[NIT2WN]

The only rule I know of is you can legally only work for 16 hrs, in a row after that you're suppose to be off the clock at least 4 hrs. There's got to be a way around that even because some jobs are 24 on 24 off and such.

 

[05 Roush]

The only rule I know of is you can legally only work for 16 hrs, in a row after that you're suppose to be off the clock at least 4 hrs. There's got to be a way around that even because some jobs are 24 on 24 off and such.

I don't recall a law like that. It must be a state-specific or non-exempt employee status thing.

 

[NIT2WN]

I think it's an OSHA rule. I know where I used to work they would "write you up" and treaten to fire you bacause it would get them in trouble. I worked 18 hrs on one job for a lumber company and they had to divide it up over the 2 days to hide it. I was young and didn't know any better. The evening supervisor didn't realize I come in at 7a.m. one day and didn't leave until 3a.m. the following morning.

 

[OCSnk]

Synopsis of Law

Covered employers must grant an eligible employee up to a total of 12 workweeks of unpaid leave during any 12-month period for one or more of the following reasons:

for the birth and care of the newborn child of the employee;
for placement with the employee of a son or daughter for adoption or foster care;
to care for an immediate family member (spouse, child, or parent) with a serious health condition; or
to take medical leave when the employee is unable to work because of a serious health condition.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Hours Worked Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)

This fact sheet provides general information concerning what constitutes compensable time under the FLSA. The Act requires that employees must receive at least the minimum wage and may not be employed for more than 40 hours in a week without receiving at least one and one-half times their regular rates of pay for the overtime hours. The amount employees should receive cannot be determined without knowing the number of hours worked.

Definition of "Employ"
By statutory definition the term "employ" includes "to suffer or permit to work." The workweek ordinarily includes all time during which an employee is necessarily required to be on the employer's premises, on duty or at a prescribed work place. "Workday", in general, means the period between the time on any particular day when such employee commences his/her "principal activity" and the time on that day at which he/she ceases such principal activity or activities. The workday may therefore be longer than the employee's scheduled shift, hours, tour of duty, or production line time.

Application of Principles
Employees "Suffered or Permitted" to work: Work not requested but suffered or permitted to be performed is work time that must be paid for by the employer. For example, an employee may voluntarily continue to work at the end of the shift to finish an assigned task or to correct errors. The reason is immaterial. The hours are work time and are compensable.

Waiting Time: Whether waiting time is time worked under the Act depends upon the particular circumstances. Generally, the facts may show that the employee was engaged to wait (which is work time) or the facts may show that the employee was waiting to be engaged (which is not work time). For example, a secretary who reads a book while waiting for dictation or a fireman who plays checkers while waiting for an alarm is working during such periods of inactivity. These employee have been "engaged to wait."

On-Call Time: An employee who is required to remain on call on the employer's premises is working while "on call." An employee who is required to remain on call at home, or who is allowed to leave a message where he/she can be reached, is not working (in most cases) while on call. Additional constraints on the employee's freedom could require this time to be compensated.

Rest and Meal Periods: Rest periods of short duration, usually 20 minutes or less, are common in industry (and promote the efficiency of the employee) and are customarily paid for as working time. These short periods must be counted as hours worked. Unauthorized extensions of authorized work breaks need not be counted as hours worked when the employer has expressly and unambiguously communicated to the employee that the authorized break may only last for a specific length of time, that any extension of the break is contrary to the employer's rules, and any extension of the break will be punished. Bona fide meal periods (typically 30 minutes or more) generally need not be compensated as work time. The employee must be completely relieved from duty for the purpose of eating regular meals. The employee is not relieved if he/she is required to perform any duties, whether active or inactive, while eating.

Sleeping Time and Certain Other Activities: An employee who is required to be on duty for less than 24 hours is working even though he/she is permitted to sleep or engage in other personal activities when not busy. An employee required to be on duty for 24 hours or more may agree with the employer to exclude from hours worked bona fide regularly scheduled sleeping periods of not more than 8 hours, provided adequate sleeping facilities are furnished by the employer and the employee can usually enjoy an uninterrupted night's sleep. No reduction is permitted unless at least 5 hours of sleep is taken.

Lectures, Meetings and Training Programs: Attendance at lectures, meetings, training programs and similar activities need not be counted as working time only if four criteria are met, namely: it is outside normal hours, it is voluntary, not job related, and no other work is concurrently performed.

Travel Time: The principles which apply in determining whether time spent in travel is compensable time depends upon the kind of travel involved.

Home To Work Travel: An employee who travels from home before the regular workday and returns to his/her home at the end of the workday is engaged in ordinary home to work travel, which is not work time.

Home to Work on a Special One Day Assignment in Another City: An employee who regularly works at a fixed location in one city is given a special one day assignment in another city and returns home the same day. The time spent in traveling to and returning from the other city is work time, except that the employer may deduct/not count that time the employee would normally spend commuting to the regular work site.

Travel That is All in the Day's Work: Time spent by an employee in travel as part of his/her principal activity, such as travel from job site to job site during the workday, is work time and must be counted as hours worked.

Travel Away from Home Community: Travel that keeps an employee away from home overnight is travel away from home. Travel away from home is clearly work time when it cuts across the employee's workday. The time is not only hours worked on regular working days during normal working hours but also during corresponding hours on nonworking days. As an enforcement policy the Division will not consider as work time that time spent in travel away from home outside of regular working hours as a passenger on an airplane, train, boat, bus, or automobile.


Typical Problems
Problems arise when employers fail to recognize and count certain hours worked as compensable hours. For example, an employee who remains at his/her desk while eating lunch and regularly answers the telephone and refers callers is working. This time must be counted and paid as compensable hours worked because the employee has not been completely relieved from duty

___________________________________________________________

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[CobraGirlSVT]

I get two weeks off per year, after three years it goes up to three weeks, after five years, four weeks.

If I wasn't happy with that I'd find another job. It's a free country.

I'm a self-sufficient adult, I don't need Big Daddy Government to make sure my vacation needs are met.

 

[1Day-ACobra]

in europe the work-week is like 35 hours, and they get tons of vacation time. could we be as efficient with that type of setup? don't know. guess it depends on the occupation. employees with less stress tend to work better. We have people working 11, 12 hours a day 5 days or more in this country.

 

[NIT2WN]

Let's put it this way, I think part of the reason put a plant in the U.S. Is they can avoid import duties on the SUV'S we make here and we can, will, and do work a lot of overtime. We average 9+ hours a day of production and we are trying to run 6 days every other week. I don't think they do that at the Germany plants.

 

[Mo Boost]

Mandatory time off?

I always thought getting a job and earning a benefit was preferable to being handed an entitlement....then again, no socialist BS for me.

I work in a competitive contract environment where the pay can be extremely good. If you are willing to do what the next guy WON'T consider doing, you have a competitive advantage.
You get paid because you got the job, and were willing to strive harder.....meanwhile, the competition is catching up on beauty rest.

Management, if staffed with good people, will recognize your effort. Sometimes, they may not say thank you....but lately, the people I'm with raised my annual salary 3.9% the last 2 years, given me bonuses, and opportunities for more work (typical reward for reliability, it seems).
They even gave me 1 month's paid vacation at my hourly rate without charging me vacation time....now I have a surplus of over 120 hours Paid Time Off (if I want it). epper:
If I don't take it, I get paid my hourly rate X excess hours.
1 week's free pay will be SWEET! epper:

 

[RidnRodsLightng]

There's even talk of a new drug which will allow us to not sleep for 5 days. Insanity.

Isn't that called Crystal Meth?

For those comparing the US to Europe...you could always go live there if you don't like it here :shrug: oke:

 

[FordSVTFan]

When you accept a job you should know the benefits and the downfalls of that job. If you choose to work for an employer that gives you no vacation time, that is your decision.