A recent Wall Street Journal article — an actual article, in the workplace/lifestyle section, not even an op-ed! — laments the recent trend of horrible, lazy workers who, umm … *checks notes* … tak…
He - because his workplace was offering bonuses for employees who weren’t taking sick days
Good god is that illegal in Europe. Employees are entitled to sick pay if they’re sick, if no reason other than to ensure they don’t come into the office and get everyone else ill as well. Also employees are actually required to take holiday pay, last year I got called into a meeting and got told I had to take more holidays because I wasn’t taking enough.
She - because she already took all her sick days as PTO, without actually being sick.
Again illegal in Europe, PTO and sick pay are independent of each other. There’s no limit on the number of sick days you can have, although if you go beyond a certain number you do require a doctor’s note, but as long as you have that you’re golden. In theory this is abusable, but because everyone gets PTO anyway, and actually get a decent number of days, there isn’t really the incentive to do that.
Also employees are actually required to take holiday pay, last year I got called into a meeting and got told I had to take more holidays because I wasn’t taking enough.
Huh. Similar thing in post-Soviet with vacations. If you are not taking vacations for too long, employer will get nervous, if you are not taking vacations for two years, employer required to send you to vacation no matter what.
Also what is holiday pay? Quick search says that it is extra pay for working during holidays. Well, here holidays are non-working days, so working during them counts as overtime.
It’s literally you just being paid even though you’re not working. Employers are required to do it in Europe. The pay is the same rate as if you were working but it’s got a different name for tax purposes so companies can differentiate between employees being compensated for working and employees just being paid to be off.
Also you have what are called “unsociable working hours compensation” Which means nights, and weekends. And “unsociable working dates compensation” which means national holidays.
Unsociable working hours is usually 1.5x base rate, and unsocial working dates is 2x base rate. So a night shift over the Christmas period would be both so it would be 2.5x base rate. So in other words if you work for 1 hour, you get paid as if you’d worked 2 hours 30 minutes.
The United States operates a different system and companies can get out of it sometimes which isn’t really possible in Europe.
Good god is that illegal in Europe. Employees are entitled to sick pay if they’re sick, if no reason other than to ensure they don’t come into the office and get everyone else ill as well. Also employees are actually required to take holiday pay, last year I got called into a meeting and got told I had to take more holidays because I wasn’t taking enough.
Again illegal in Europe, PTO and sick pay are independent of each other. There’s no limit on the number of sick days you can have, although if you go beyond a certain number you do require a doctor’s note, but as long as you have that you’re golden. In theory this is abusable, but because everyone gets PTO anyway, and actually get a decent number of days, there isn’t really the incentive to do that.
It’s bizarre the way the United States operates.
Huh. Similar thing in post-Soviet with vacations. If you are not taking vacations for too long, employer will get nervous, if you are not taking vacations for two years, employer required to send you to vacation no matter what.
Also what is holiday pay? Quick search says that it is extra pay for working during holidays. Well, here holidays are non-working days, so working during them counts as overtime.
It’s literally you just being paid even though you’re not working. Employers are required to do it in Europe. The pay is the same rate as if you were working but it’s got a different name for tax purposes so companies can differentiate between employees being compensated for working and employees just being paid to be off.
Also you have what are called “unsociable working hours compensation” Which means nights, and weekends. And “unsociable working dates compensation” which means national holidays.
Unsociable working hours is usually 1.5x base rate, and unsocial working dates is 2x base rate. So a night shift over the Christmas period would be both so it would be 2.5x base rate. So in other words if you work for 1 hour, you get paid as if you’d worked 2 hours 30 minutes.
The United States operates a different system and companies can get out of it sometimes which isn’t really possible in Europe.