Basic workers' rights | British VS American!
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- čas přidán 31. 05. 2024
- Today we look into some basic workers' rights in the US and the UK!
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Video chapters:
0:00 Intro
0:52 Sick Leave
4:30 SPON
5:28 Holiday Pay
8:51 Unlimited Paid Time Off
10:02 Bereavement Leave
12:40 Maternity Leave
14:15 Conclusions Drawn
If you're new to my channel and videos, hi! I'm Evan Edinger, and I make weekly "comedy" videos every Sunday evening. As an American living in London I love noticing the funny differences between the cultures and one of my most popular video series is my British VS American one. I'm also known for making terrible puns so sorry in advance. Hope to see you around, and I'll see you next Sunday! :)
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Before I retired I was a senior manager in a UK company. We were bought over by an American corporation and not long afterwards the new US management decided that we needed to fall in line with their American working practices and stop paying sick leave, maternity pay, and the up to 28 days paid holidays we were entitled to. When we informed them that these benefits were mandatory in UK law they were apoplectic and then spent thousands on lawyers to try and find a way round it. They didn't.
It’s the law you don’t just, loophole your way around in The UK, dumb American company
As an American I agree with you. Those are your UK benefits which seem to fall in line with that which is acceptable in the UK. I also find it hard to believe. The purchasers and their consultants would have known this. It sounds like they loaded the transatlantic flight with an american management team that was clueless. Doesn't bode well for the business.
@@ShenandoahTim Just gently picking you up on your use of language there Tim - the use of the word 'benefits' would (at least in British English) imply a privilege granted by the company, when in fact they are 'rights' to which the employee in entitled as much as any other more general right like freedom of speech etc. People in the UK as well often forget that the employee rights we have were hard fought for, and never given willingly, until governments realised they would lose power if they did not support them - which ironically has made them non-political issues as the years have passed as they are universally supported, on both the left and right (in the vast majority), ^oo^
@@bernardthedisappointedowl6938 How interesting. We mix them into a confusing slurry in American english. I don't know how many times I've seen a healthcare plan, retirement plan, and vacation/sick leave plan offered by a company in the US, referred to as benefits, but knowing the government mandated their existence.
I've always envied you your 'holiday'. Usually Americans start out with 1 or two weeks of Vacation, then gradually accumulate more. It took me 15 years to get 4 weeks of vacation per year. This is not consistent throughout the US. It's theoretically possible for a person to work their entire life with no vacation.
@@ShenandoahTim There's a lot of great things about America - not least for originating nearly all of modern music since the 20th Century - though I'll confess I don't envy the health system or expectation to work through illness and take sick days as 'vacation' - Though some food for thought is that the UK's rights and laws are positively a libertarian's dream compared to the Nordic countries and Germany, France and Italy - great chatting with you, thanks my friend, appreciated, ^oo^
The UK certainly has its issues, but videos like these tell me that I'm actually quite lucky to live here.
Or in Ireland or in Europe in general.
Quite right 😊
Absolutely
I fully agree. I personally think all of New Zealand's politicians should be arrested and imprisoned for life for their crimes against the people of New Zealand and I'm paying what I think is practically highway robbery for a rented 3-bedroom house because our housing market is royally fucked - but then I see how much of a shit-show the USA is and want to build a time machine to go back to 1840 and personally thank my ancestors for deciding to brave Cape Horn to come to New Zealand rather than taking the cushy trip across the Atlantic to the USA.
If the price of free hospital care, paid sick/parental/funeral leave, mandatory minimum annual leave, 12 paid statutory holidays per year etc is criminal politicians and over-priced housing, it's still a better deal than what the USA has.
Now that the US just has the one vaguely democratic party and one nascent fascist party under Trumpolini the business sorry country is even further away from being more egalitarian no?
As a brazilian living in UK it's shocking to see how US working rights falls short when it is compared to Brazil, not even UK or any other European country. And Brazil it's not exactly the paradise concerning working rights, but US is unbelievable. I just didn't know my US colleagues were so badly treated. Btw, this is a very good channel, just subscribed. :) Cheers !
We also don't have free healthcare and let's say you lose a finger or two while on the job. In most states you can be denied healthcare even if you're bleeding out and urgent care is not required to treat you. Even if you go to a hospital. You have to wait. Then because private insurance is at play for worker's comp etc they'll require to pick which fingers to save. Most people are screaming and crying begging their employer to pay for their hands, and the boss will say, "Pick which fingers you shall keep.... Our insurance won't cover the whole hand." Thumbs, index, middle are fingers people pick pinkies and ring fingers go into the trash and you DO NOT get to save the hand unless you pay 100s of thousands of dollars. Many prefer suicide after being forced to pick what body parts they are allowed to continue to keep. Isn't American working conditions GREEAT?!
@@jalicea1650 HELL NO.
How many millionaires is Brazil producing? I'm sorry but why strive to become an average 'worker'
@@geraldyafchak4365 a society shouldn't produce millionaires, but avoid poverty. I'm totally ok to be an average worker and have health, education, housing and security for all. Millionaires stand for privileges which means inequality that produce poverty. I don't want this for me or my family even though nowadays too much average people think they might become millionaires. When the education fails to free the oppressed, it seeks to become the oppressor. Paulo Freire
@@geraldyafchak4365Why strive to be a millionaire? Don’t you prefer a happy life?
In Ireland, we didn't have a mandatory sick pay until this year, so the government proposed the legislation for it, only to find out that a big part of Irish employers were already paying sick leave, even though they didn't have to.
Probably to stop brain drain given NI is just a car trip away
@@jmurray1110 hahaha a brain drain is not happening towards NI
They need to make it statutory otherwise companies will, at some point, take advantage and stop paying it, it’s only the bottom line that matters to most companies.
@@jmurray1110 you do realise that Dublin hosts the EMEA headquarters for several massive companies?
I used to have a manager (UK) who would be absolutely furious if somebody came in remotely sick, she didn't think they were troopers, she thought they were martyrs risking taking down the whole team so they could make a show of how dedicated they were. And this was working for a company who at the time had superb sick pay conditions, so you'd be fully paid for not coming in, it wasn't like she was sending you home to lose out on pay you needed. I always think about her whenever I'm debating if I'm well enough to go into work.
That's funny because Ireland actually does not have mandated sick pay either! Quite regressive for an EU country.
Here it also really is not appriciated if you come to work sick.
yeah im from the us... got contagious strep throat from working, tried to call out, they forced me to work, my throat had halfway closed due to swelling and i was wheezing and the supervisor asked me if I could stop making dying noises. I handled food and drinks... with a communicable illness. I ended up needed a steroid shot so the swelling in my throat and tonsils would go down.
This is why I dont want to work another food job, not worth it. that combined with the health and safety corners cut, and not respecting that some people are in school and that their schedule changes every semester.
I’m a manager in the UK. I’ve always told people to get the hell away from me and go back home if they look at all sick. 🤷♂️
Been doing that for years.
A lot of employees are taking the piss in the Uk as well.
My friends lost their son in a car wreck in 2017. They were separated, Lillian, the mother, was working in London, and Andrew, the father, was working alongside his Son in Florida. Lillian's employer, upon hearing the news, did the following:
Immediately gave her a forward on her next monthly paycheck to pay to fly out to Florida.
Organised logistical details. Hotel accommodation, rental car, travel insurance including health care, kennels for her dogs and cat, and cover for her work.
They booked 12 hours of bereavement counselling with a private firm (usable in person or via a phone service for emergencies) with a rolling tab after that.
They offered, though Lillian didn't accept, to pay for a companion to go with her for moral support.
They gave her a mandatory 90 days bereavement leave (meaning they wouldn't let her return to work other than as a visitor) fully paid.
They paid for a funeral wreath for the burial and helped finance the funeral, covering the costs and then recouping the costs from Lillian's wages over the next 18 months.
Finally, Lillian was automatically given the week of the anniversary of the death off, each year.
Lillian works for a small business management consultancy firm, has a background in teaching and was a training consultant at the time on around 60k a year.
Andrew was a depot manager for an electrical goods retailer in Florida, his Son Evan worked under him as a logistics and stock operator, so one step above delivery driver or warehouse worker. Evan had rented a car to travel down to Miami where he was supposed to recover a repaired delivery vehicle the next day and drive it home. It was as he was returning the rental that he was t-boned by a drunk friver at a red light. Evan, the drunk driver and two bystanders were killed instantly.
The police AND the car rental company contacted Andrew and Evan's employer as his emergency contact. The company didn't inform Andrew for two days, contacting Lillian first. When they DID contact Andrew, it was as Evan's boss, not as his father.
Andrew had to be told by Lillian as she called to arrange details of her arrival in Florida. Upon finding out his son was dead, Andrew began making arrangements to go to Miami to identify and recover the remains. Once he contacted regional head office, they got agitated. He was forbidden leave to go to Miami. He was told that it had nothing to do with the company as Evan was there on his own time, not working for the company.
Despite Evan having been sent to Miami on short notice to pick up the rogue delivery van, they insisted Evan wasn't there on work. This seems to have been to avoid a work related claim on life insurance and potentially increasing premiums.
The company seemed intent on viewing Andrew as Evan's manager, not his father, phrasing all correspondence and communications in that manner and seemingly viewing Andrew's requests for time off and such in that light.
Eventually, Andrew managed to convince the company to let him go to Miami, but only to recover the delivery van. Lillian and Andrew met in Miami and at one point thought they may have to bring Evan home IN the unrefrigerated van until Lillian's firm organised appropriate transport.
The company refused to release Evan's final month of pay due to 'discrepancies' around his final hours total. This may have been due to someone ìn regional head office TRYING to include hours associated with final trip to Miami but the result was a wait of almost four months to close down Evan's financial affairs.
Andrew was initially denied permission to attend his own son's funeral because two other members of staff had already applied for time off to attend. It was only when one gave up his 'spot' that Andrew was allowed to attend.
Through his role as Evan's manager, Andrew discovered the company had provided two life insurance policies on Evan. One, with the next of kin as beneficiary, was for 50,000 dollars and the company had fought to keep it classified as unrelated to work. The second policy, with the company as beneficiary, was for 120,000 dollars and the company claimed the death was work related, increasing the payout to well over 200,000 dollars.
Andrew received a total of two and a half days of unpaid bereavement leave. Total, including the funeral. His attempts to claim counselling on his work based health insurance was frustrated entirely due to fine print. When seeking counselling independently, he was refused all time off to attend sessions.
Evan's final pay was reduced due to the destruction of company property, (a phone, uniform and laptop) that were in his possession during the car wreck.
Andrew resigned from the company eight months later due to the company's actions surrounding his son's death. In doing so, the company insisted, to release his severance package (a year's continuance of benefits, favouable references and pension contributions) that Andrew sign an NDA which was so broad it forbade him even mentioning his son's death. He refused and lost the entire package.
In 2021 the company tried to sue Andrew for breach of the NDA he didn't sign after a memorial event which other staff members attended. They claimed that speech given, and general comments made were in violation of an implied NDA that came into being when he accepted the job and that, because he didn't sign the NDA when he left, the prior arrangement still held and he was in violation. This lasted almost a year and though the case was thrown out, legal fees were not awarded meaning Andrew spent nearly 45k dollars defending his right to mourn his son.
Andrew won't move back to the UK without the exhumation and reburial of Evan's remains. Something he cannot currently afford.
Fuck US corporations.
Awful.
Holy f-ck.... Money grabbing bastards. 😡🤬😡🤬
Name and shame those bast%&rds! Boycott their product or service. Hit them in the pocket!
Sounds very fanciful and fictitious.
@@ericadavenport2039 Let's hope so!
As someone from the UK this absolutely baffling to me. I can’t even comprehend how much unnecessary and ridiculous stress this creates for workers. For the champion of the free world this is appealing. As much as we have our problems in the UK I am now that much more thankful for our basic human rights.
Well, about that, when Mr Johnson and the Brexit mob "took back control" what do you think they wanted to do with it?
Not only that but now, they have taken back roe v wade (access to abortion) and left it up to states to decide. Many states have already done a full ban of abortion, and now they are going after contraception. I don’t care whether a person believes abortion should be legal or not, but as a country, banning abortion and trying to ban contraceptives, and refusing to provide maternity/paternity leave. It’s sickening. It’s a dangerous situation that leads to poverty.
Us over in 'Murica are all about using up employees until they break, because there will be another to take their place. Or at least it was this way. It's shifting slightly but I don't think it's going to go far enough.
@Bercilak de hautdesert You spelled "it's never been" wrong.
@@leadpaintchips9461 It's shifting because younger people like myself are aware of how shit is in other countries and that this is bullshit lol.
American here who moved to the UK about a year ago and started working for the NHS: I had to break the habit of going to work when feeling unwell (still trying to tell myself it is actually ok to call out if I feel sick.) It was so ingrained in my brain that calling out = bad when I was working in the States. I still kind of get really anxious when calling out of work due to being unwell just because it was so discouraged to call out in the States. I worked for the food service industry back when I lived in the States, and if you tried calling out - you would get guilt tripped (ie "are you really sure you're too sick to come to work? Try coming in for a bit and then see how you feel, etc.)
I talked to my colleagues at work about this and they think it's so crazy how some people in America will go in ill. I even got told one time by my manager here that I should not feel bad at all for calling in and that it is rather encouraged to actually wait and get better rather than trying to force yourself to go in.
This is crazy to me.... especially if you're working in the NHS. I don't understand how US employers don't see how it benefits the rest of the work force because you're not going in and getting everyone else sick
Please help me. How did you manage to move out of the US?
@@heatherfeather1293 My husband is a British Citizen - I applied for and got approved for my spouse visa.
@@ashleygirvin1740 Oh wow! That is awesome
Ew. I wouldn’t want people handling my food if they are sick. I feel like if you’re working in the healthcare industry or with food. It’s your moral duty to stay home and not infect others unnecessarily with whatever’s made you ill. I
Dutch person here: I have recently battled cancer, and many times I've thought about how lucky I am to not live in the US. My treatments took well over a year, and working wasn't an option. I got paid 100% of my salary for the first 12 months, got assigned a company doctor who would check in on me every couple of weeks and told me to get well, and if I wanted to, drop by my work for a coffee, but not pressure. It's been over a year now, and now my income has been reduced to 70%, which is common practice over here. You usually receive full pay for the first year, then after that year the 70% rule often applies. Another thing that is not allowed here when you're on sick leave, is getting fired. You can only be fired after 2 years of sick leave, and ONLY when the company can prove they did everything in their power to help you get back to work etc...OR when it's clear that it's impossible for you to return to that job. And even then you still receive some kind of income.
I work in the US. We don't get the same social benefits people who live in europe get, but any decent employer will give you more than Evan says he got, he must have had the employer from hell. So if i put myself in your shoes. I would get disability as part of my company benefits. that is 60% of my pay, the government pension plan would pay me a government disability also. I'm not sure it would be 100%, but it would be close. My health insurance would cover the cancer. We didn't have a company doctor, and our rules say we can not return to work to perfom any part of our job until we are better. If we do our benefits stop. You all have much better social benefits than we do, but if it was as bad as Evan says. There would be 330 million americans in europe applying for a job. :-)
I'm also Dutch. For me, both sick time and vacation comes out of my verlof. But I also get something like 2 months or so of verlof. Basically, when HBO level students are on holiday, I am as well. I get a LOT of paid leave.
@@ShenandoahTim the problem with saying "my health insurance would cover the cancer" is that most people's health insurance is tied to their job, and as soon as they're off long-term sick plenty of employers will be searching for an excuse to fire them. That ends the insurance benefit and you'd have to pay more under COBRA, and you now have a lower income.
@@ShenandoahTim I don't think you understand that the people living in poverty and getting screwed over by the system cannot just apply for EU citizenship. They don't have the money nor the resources to get out of their situation. 64% of Americans are living paycheck-to-paycheck and during the pandemic over 40 million were on the brink of homelessness if it wasn't for the rent memorandum.
If you have a comfy middle management job then of course you get company benefits if you can be competitive, but if you are a low wage worker then you have almost no protections and then have to deal with "right to work" laws that allow your employee to fire you for any reason they please.
The US is a country built for the wealthy elite and that gives out enough crumbs to those whose families were able to be lifted out of poverty post-WWII. If it wasn't for the US's commercial hegemony in the wake of Europe and Asia's commercial infrastructure collapsing and needing to be rebuilt off of loans from the US government and companies, then they wouldn't have even gotten this chance to outcompete the rest of the world. And it was the militant labour rights movement on the ground in the early 20th century that even allowed for those basic rights to be established that permitted the rise of the US middle class as its wealth grew into the heavens.
We can look at the extreme success of the computer revolution in the '80s and '90s in comparison, where productivity and profits skyrocketed but the base pay of your average worker grew to a minimum. This was largely caused by the collapse of unions and the labour movement with the economic progressive old guard dying out and retiring and the corporate baby boomer new guard, who only knew of the golden age of the '50s and '60s, replacing them and blaming inflation (that was largely caused by crises occurring the Middle East that cut off oil to the US) on workers and unions who made companies "no longer competitive" in the '70s. This revolution in technology should have seen wages and benefit rise just like they did in the post-war era but instead that money went back into the businesses, into stock buybacks, and into executive's pockets.
Since the rise of Reaganomics and a reliance of financialization and Wall St. to steer the US economy to success, a large chunk of future generations who weren't invest before that time have slowly been seeing costs continue to rise without real growth in their income as it became detached from rates of productivity.
Each new generation is just ending up in a worse predicament and are becoming heavily reliant on the money their parents were able to save to afford a decent education and a middle class job that offers enough for them to live and have kids (and largely those people have been white due to racism in that economic Golden Age for the US).
@@fang_xianfu Mostly True. Europe has a much better social services package than the US. You would leave Cobra after a time and move to Obama-care, or Medicare if u were considered disabled. This would cost less money. My employer would probably terminate me at the point where I exhausted all leave and my short term disability (what they pay for, 6 months) ended. For me that would mean I've been off for about 8 months. I don't have a problem with people losing their job when they move to long term disability. It could create hardship for the company if they had to hold your job open in perpetuity.
Mainly the reason I respond to some of these posts is many people, including US citizens, paint the US as a hell hole, where if you get sick you go bankrupt and live out your life in a debtors prison. If that were the case why would people live here and why would the US be so rich. There are economic tradeoffs. I became a pensioner this year, during my lifetime I had a medical condition where I had to leave my job for months, my company never fired me because they wanted me back. They were growing and even if I had been gone for months. I still had job skills they wanted.
"if you're from any other country and you're like 'why the heck americans are like that'" I find myself wondering that way too often
All the time nowdays
i wonder that too and i'm american
From Canada, and it’s more like why do Americans not know that they have the most fucked up country in the western world? There was an attempted coup. Whaaa? No way! Highest number of deaths due to gun violence, not in a dictatorship. Whaaa? No we aren’t! No rights for women over their OWN BODIES! We are men. We know best! Canada wants a wall! Save us from NOT the greatest country. That long border is now super scary!
Welcome to the club.
🙋♀️ yep! Mind blowing really.
It's not perfect here in the UK but watching this makes me feel so so grateful I'm not a worker in the US. Those people have it so rough 😞
You have no idea how rough and cruel American bosses treat their employees.
Yes its very rough and takes a toll in your life
It sucks. I hate it here.
my job treats me like i'm nothing
I've got a job in London, with 2 of the richest Boroughs in the county. They perks and care taken with those who experience health problems including mental health, is wonderful to see. We have a free book club, free yoga, free swimming, trips to museums, places of interest.I did part of my induction, on am open topped London bus. I love going in 2 days a week, the views of the London Eye are magnificent. I'm living the dream ❤❤❤. Thanks you Lord shiva .
As a manager myself I have told members of my team over the years "this is only work, life is far more important." I despair when I read about the lack of rights in the USA. Mass membership of trade unions, along with a political party that backs them, are the only way that will change.
I live in the UK and have recently adopted the "it's just work" approach. I don't care about it, don't care about my career. It's just pointless theatre that does a great job of giving me a comfortable home life... and a home to begin with.
People get so uptight about things like written reports etc. It's just words on a page, who really gives a fuck. 99.99% of that is of zero consequence.
the problem here is a combination of Corporate anti-union propaganda and some unions have ended up more harmful then helpful
helps skew public perception.
I'm in the UK. I was allowed to take a few weeks off when I found out my Dad has terminal cancer. Dude didn't even die. I was just given the time I needed.
A couple years ago, I was sick for a whole month. I had to get a doctors note, but I took no loss to my earnings and my job was waiting and ready for me when I recovered.
Same here in the netherlands. Never had any issues with any employers.
Fucker fired me when I needed hip replacement lol
I had to go to work with Covid in Texas💀
@@sit-insforsithis1568
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@@aj4909
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I feel you sold Paternity Leave a bit short by not going into Shared Parental Leave. Parents as a couple can take leave up to a combined 50 weeks and 37 weeks of pay which is an excellent option to give both parents a significant period off.
It’s also worth noting that Annual Leave is still accrued during periods of sickness or maternity which is important.
Things have improved in the UK. Back when my kid was born (20 odd years ago) I was allowed one day off, the day he was born and that was mostly because I said I have been up all night so I will not be coming in today. They wouldn't give me anything else unless I took it as leave. These things really need to be enshrined in law (as we have) to ensure fairness. In our company back then it was at the managers discretion. Someone from an adjacent department had a kid soon after and was given two weeks by their manager. Really nothing different about our roles, both in the IT space -except they were a team leader so weren't needed as much I guess???
I was going to mention SPL too, since it's also a fair option for couples adopting, no matter what gender or sex the parents are.
The pay for my job in USA IS double that in the UK. IF I pay health insurance and a 401k it worked out about the same.
shared parental leave doesnt really work out that well though. like for me, i had paid maternity leave at almost the rate of my normal pay for about 9 months (half pay plus statutory so because i didnt earn that high it was almost full pay). my partner did not get any paid leave other than statutory. so in theory he couldve taken time off with me, but in practice we wouldnt have enough money. and it isnt clear whether you get the occupational pay if you take shared leave, so i wasnt sure if i would even get the extra pay from my work.
its not currently accessible for a lot of people because its just too confusing and not enough companies offer more than minimums. i got lucky in the nhs, but i purposely chose to work for the nhs knowing i wanted a child in a few years (among one of many reasons i wanted to work for the nhs, not just that 😅)
does anyone else realise how untrue the American anthem is? it hits me in the face every time I watch Evan Edinger.
In the UK NHS, staff are not permitted to take holiday when sick.
If you are off sick while on holiday, you should ring your manager, who will change the record to sick leave, so your holidays are for rest :)
That's not specific to the NHS
That's the law
I moved to aus from the usa in 2004 when I was just 21. My wife is an aussie. I feel more and more blessed everyday I've been here. Unless you have moved away from there you just have no idea. For a country that looks so wealthy sure likes to treat their citizens like crap. Zero health care, little time off... There's major issues stemming from the top and you see the consequences each week. It's a hard place to get by
Slavery is alive and well in the US.
So glad I moved back to the UK
I always felt the US was a tough driven country and if you happened to have some bad luck in your life you were out.
Last year I took a month off work (uk). Honestly I was near suicidal at first. All my work knew was I needed time off for my mental health. I got full pay. my boss encouraged me to take my time, enjoy the sun and only come back when I’m ready. I’m generally a work horse but that 4 weeks off really saved me and thank god I was enabled to take the time.
Take care of yourself and take time off again if needed
That would never happen in the US. They just do not care.
I was in the same position as you last year. I had to take 5 months off to recover after a mental health crisis. My employer was so supportive of me and provided me with additional help. I waltzed back into my role once I’d recovered with no issues. We are blessed on this side of the Atlantic
Speaking of bereavement, my girlfriend called up to say that she was too emotional to go into work on the day after her guinea pig died ad the company couldn't have been nicer about it. They had no problem with letting her have some time to sort her self out.
I couldn't imagine that happening in America.
America just says "Suck it up and come to work"
When I worked for defense contractors I got 2 days personal leave ever year on top of all other benefits. Sick pay, vacation, holidays, bereavement. And of course you could accrue vacation time. You have to play your cards right as to when you take vacation time.
Bereavement for a guinea pig? 😆 Come on. Workers need to be dependable. Imagine a surgeon calling off because his guinea pig died. I guess if your girlfriend's job wasn't that important it wouldn't be surprising it was approved.
@@ericadavenport2039 A pet is a pet, whether it's a guinea pig, a dog or a horse. A surgeon should get it off even more. You wouldn't want someone being distracted by sadness when operating on you.
That's not uncommon in the UK if you've got a good manager. I had to take an ill pet cat for his final trip to the vet, and my manager just told me to take the day to be with them. I turned up at the office the next day, was immediately pulled aside and asked if I was ok to be in or if I needed more time. I chose to stay and work - for my personal grief distracting myself with work was how I wanted to handle it, but if another day or two was necessary it would have been given freely.
Pay in the States is massively more in some areas than the UK but if you've got health issues you're screwed. It's why I'll never move. Great analysis.
I live in Zimbabwe in Southern Africa...According to Zim law, all workers are entitled to 2.5 days of paid leave per month...which you can accumulate and sell back to the company if you want to. You also get 2 days of paid sick leave per month. Any other sick days after that require a doctor's note, or they will be deducted from your official leave days. If you are a mother, you get 2 months of paid maternity leave. Then finally, compassionate leave is on a case-by-case basis, however, most companies usually give up to 2 weeks of paid compassionate leave. I'm surprised that US law doesn't have these basic labour laws...damn!
To be fair, they are the largest economy on this planet.
They couldn't possibly finance something like that.
American companies won't do anything that not legally required of them, and even then their good at skirting the law
in practice the only right we have is not to be whipped while we work
What's worse than all of this is that in the US your employer can fire you for no reason after you give in your two-week notice. So he can legally damage any potential job offers for you after quiting
Yeeess!! This comment is the one. It SUUUCCKKSS
an employer or employee can terminate employment at anytime for any legal reason in the US. There are no workers contracts in the US, not just when you give your two weeks.
Exactly. Apart from theft/embezzlement/just not coming to work for a few weeks it's really hard to fire an employee in my country, at least not without giving them severance pay. Unless the company is going belly-up, redundancy is a whole other thing.
My HR manager keeps badgering me to turn in my notice when I'm quitting in a month, and I'm like...uh no, I'm not giving you the one thing legally guaranteeing my job until I absolutely have to.
@@jj-if6it They can fire you before the 2 week notice is up for no reason. If you have healthcare thru you job you will also lose that
I went through a mental break down a few years back. In the UK my job was protected for 6-7 months. I think they would have just kept me on the staff indefinitely. Eventually I realised that working within the care sector was causing my mental health issue and let them know I wasn't coming back. They were kind and understanding about it and wished me luck. I'm a year into therapy now and getting close to returning to work, but without all the protections the UK offers I don't think I would have survived. I know for a fact if the same thing happened in the US I would be royally f'ed.
I'm glad you're doing better at least I hope you do and therapy helps. :) the US is really going back to the 1800 now that they banned abortion too. It's saddens me to see what "the greatest country in the world" has become.
And they wonder why there are so many shootings...
@@Nr.1Mimir Thank you so much. It's been a long process but I'm getting there. The medical fields have a habit of burning people out and the pandemic burned me hard. Add on an undiagnosed mental health issue that I had been denying for years and yeah, therapy and time off was needed. The abortion ruling in the Us has blown the minds of every medical worker I know, it pretty much goes against everything that we have trained for and stand for. I hope your government takes a long hard second look at this.
@@jackoh991 Thank you Jack. I miss looking after people in need and it was a hard lesson to learn that if I didn't look after myself, looking after other people wasn't an option. I'm looking into getting a nursing degree once my health gets to a better place :)
Had mental breakdown at work they did nothing to aid with no FMLA inspite my 12 months with them before this they fired me by raising the qoutas so I'd be priced out by being unable to do the job I was going insane trying to do for another year while I asked them constantly to move me to a quieter job that I was entitled to apply for they just told me I was not allowed to do it and they'd not give me time off nor was I allowed to be on/in the system once work was done to do it on my own I'd be fired btw. I was entitled by ADA & the company's own internal workings to be allowed to apply to that job and to be put on that team due to it would aid me as a work accommodation but I was denied and forced to stay in place or quit.
As an expat living in Britain, I never use all of my holiday time. I am so not used to having 28 days leave. It is Mid-december and I still have 8 days I need to take. I have been in the UK since 2008 and I still can't get used or stop feeling guilty in taking time off.
I work in UK and my mum in Poland was having very serious surgery many years back. I told my boss 3 weeks prior that I have to go and she said 'family is priority' and after 2 weeks holiday I've run out of holiday days but mum was still unwell and not home so I called them 4 days prior, apologiesed and said that I will be away another week. Not only they said that I shouldn't apologise but they paid me sick leave for it so I can get anything paid. Wellbeing is important here and my boss was checking on me to see if I'm ok
Watching this makes me so grateful I live in the U.K. I have 5 months full sick pay with my employer as well as 31.5 paid holiday days plus 8 bank holidays = 39.5 days holiday per year. I also have 9 months full paid maternity leave plus 3 months government funded maternity leave
WOW that’s amazing!!
Just make sure you don't vote Tory. They would/will kill that if they can.
@@studio_beasty I never do
Wow where do you work. At the company I'm starting at (I live in the UK too), I'm getting 25 days holiday plus 8 bank holidays. And I think it's 1 week sick leave to start rising to more as you work for the company longer
The current British government changed the law around holiday entitlement for agency workers where agencies do not have to pay their workers for public holidays. Guess what agencies now don’t do.
My son passed away 2 yrs ago and I was only paid for 3 days and could use my vacation time but was made to feel like I was out an excessive amount of time since I took 2 vacation time. It just seemed barbaric that I was expected to return to work after my son passed away within a week. This is terrible. The US employers treat employees so bad.
@@queenofquick4024 So glad you are cancer free! A testament to your strength! I will do my small part and not rent a car from them ever again. I wish you success in everything you do!
I’m so sorry for the loss of your son.
@@jostanford6613 Thank you so much
That's so sad. As if losing your son wasn't enough your employer had to pile extra pressure on you like that as well. I am sorry for your loss.
It seemed barbaric, because it was. Your grief must have been compounded by such wicked, callous pressure; it's appalling! My heart goes out to you.
I'm in the UK and attitudes to holiday and sick vary from manager to manager. My boss phoned me on my annual leave after I've been signed off sick telling me how I'd made life harder for my colleagues.
Your employer Amazon by any chance?
Surprisingly no. It is worth noting my bosses attitude does not reflect the company attitude. My boss is simply a tosser.
Is there a way to report them for that kind of behavior? That's got to be some kind of harassment.
@@WouldntULikeToKnow. he’s had 3 staff report him already but getting evidence is hard as my boss doesn’t leave a paper trail
Just come back with how if you’d come in and infected everyone he wouldn’t have had anyone working. You don’t need a paper trail if you have 3/4 different reports, get together and take it higher.
American here. I've come to realize a lot of these things in the past 6 months about the USA, which are 100% true and I'm doubtful they'll ever change and if they do, I'll likely be a wrinkled old lady in her 90s - if I make it that far, or I'll be long dead. That's why I'm researching as much as I can about moving to another country that has the human rights that the USA doesn't. Anywhere in the UK seems easiest in terms of language which I'd still have to adjust to. I'm aware American English and UK English are different enough to cause some confusion but it's nothing that watching UK shows and movies won't easily prepare any english speaker before the move. Biggest hurdle is getting past leaving family. Maybe one day, especially if it's an english speaking country, some family will consider moving to the UK too for their own sakes and actual freedom and rights the US won't give. The US is the biggest LIE of the world in terms of what's it's like as a country. If someone foreign asked me for advice on moving to America, it would be 'Don't do it - many other countries are FAR better in many humane ways'.
I used to be a zookeeper (in the UK) and I got physically hurt doing my job, and thanks to the rights we have in the UK I was able to take off the full 2-3 months it took for me to recuperate. With a job so dependant on me being physically able to do things, I have no idea what I would have done under the American system
You would have got short term disability.
You can be fired!
@@luga718 not in the UK you can't. The employer probably said "take enough time off until you feel better", especially if OP was working for a zoo. No use having someone at work that is bogging down the process, just find someone else to replace them until they can come back.
I'm a European living in the US ( please send help), I've hit the jackpot when it comes to employers, as mine gives me 12 days paid sick leave and 21 paid vacation pay. I'll be at this company until I can return to Europe, or retire, whichever comes first.
Why did you move to that shit hole. I'm sorry for my language but dear God why would anyone want to live there now that abortion is banned too.
Pls do the right decision and LEAVE AS SOON AS YOU CAN LMAOOOO
Edit: I'm glad you have a nice employer even if it should be your right
Wow! From a U.S. point of view, that is a jackpot. Where I live in Ohio the average is 10 vacation days after you have been employed for a certain number of years. If you are lucky they might even throw in three unpaid sick days that don't count against your attendance in a year.
Another European living in the USA. I have 4 sick days and two personal. Because I have been working forever at the same company I have 4 weeks vacation. Can’t wait to be able to return to Europe! The fist company I worked for gave me one week vacation a year!!! This started me off at two weeks (10 days). After five years three weeks and after 10 four. The new company that acquired the old one only gives you 4 weeks after 20 years employment. I claim I am grandfathered in and is a right I fight to the death to maintain!
This is funny, comparing the US and the UK. Basically it's comparing the lack of workers rights in the worst industrialised rich country in the world to those of the worst country in Europe.
That’s pretty standard for a lot of higher paid jobs.
About 30 years ago I got TUPE'd (transferred employment) from a really good UK employer to a pretty reasonable US employer. I had, with long service, 34 days leave per year. My first meeting with my new American manager who had been shipped over to the UK was really funny, he just could not understand the amount of leave we had here. Even though he had been with the company a long time I had more than twice the annual leave he had.
Doesn't the UK have issues with low productivity though? There is really nothing aspirational about the country.
So what? What's the use of having high productivity if only the superrich are benefitting from it? The US is too focused on its economy which benefits only the top companies, their CEOs and a few multi-billionaires. I'd rather have a less affluent country where the worker has more rights and is happier.
@@zuzanazuscinova5209you might want to look really hard at your supposed great country that has no drive to actually help it’s people before coming at the uk like that
@@gregshearer423 I have lived in both countries. In the US one can easily double even triple their income within a couple of years in certain industries. In the UK? Why even bother working. The same goes for most of Europe. There's a reason the US economy vastly outperforms the UK, because people are more motivated.
@@Acadia26 Not only the super rich. I have benefited greatly since I moved here. Just a regular person.
One thing not mentioned in regards to workers rights in the UK is that every company is legally bound to pay into a pension pot for each employee. So if i pay in for example £40 into my pension, the employer puts in £30, but they get a £10 tax relief so i get £80 into my pension.
I'm a nursery nurse and it's illegal to accept children under 3 months into childcare here. We were discussing at work the other day how none of us have cared for a 3 month old who didn't have an American mum.
Heh I always look at that 3months to 5 years on private nursery's and am filled with horror. 3 months!!
With my first daughter, I went back to work at 6 weeks. I didn't have any paid days off beyond that. I was lucky to live in a state that paid anything.
I was able to add my saved vacation time to add to my 6 weeks with my 2nd child.
@@Angie_King_Bens_Grandma here you get a year i think. With the option of another year at half pay. And as a dad you get a month
I’m a childcare worker and here in Australia early education and care services take from 6 weeks to 5 years old. There is a child in the room I work in who has been coming to the centre five days a week since he was 6 weeks old.
@@Angie_King_Bens_Grandma From an eastern european country here
you get 2 weeks paid at 100% and 2 years paid at 80% of your salary.
So you can have children, spend the first 2 years with them as a stay-at-home mother and then send them to kindergarden for 4 years (which costs $100 a month out of an average income of $1000 a month).
As someone who watches videos on a separate tab while working on other things, I really really appreciate the sound effects that you put in this video when you put in an infographic, it helps me go over and check to see what you've added real quick, idk just a random little thing I appreciated from this video
Thanks! Keyframing them all in takes ages but I like the effect
Yeah, I used to work for alot of call centers in the US. My first job being StarTek, when my stepfather had died I fit the qualifications for bereavement pay but they tried tooth and nail to find some kind of exception and tried to wriggle out of letting me mourn my father in peace. I had to call above HR, which HR was 1 agent. Damn near 500 people managed by 1 person. I started showing up at her office on my lunch break to ask for the bereavement process. After about 3 days she finally started it.
In Canada, it's like we have both worlds - the UK and US.
I work in a hospital and as such, am unionized. So I get sick time, holiday pay, stats, etc.
My co-worker - security guard - for most of his time there was a minimum wage earner, having to save up for vacation pay he never took (seriously, until he had a heart attack the man only had ONE day off in 15 years and that was due to a different medical issue; AND during this time he spent a summer working continually, all night shifts, with no compensation really in the end for doing it; all because the guards at the time were not unionized). And they got no sick time. Then a year and a bit ago they got unionized. While it hasn't changed much, they at least get sick time now.
And when I worked in the service industry, the place I worked at had no sick time and vacation you had to save up on your own.
So in Canada, it all depends on what job you work, what benefits you get.
I live in Portland Oregon and a few years ago the city passed a sick pay law that requires companies with 20+ employees to provide 40 hours of paid sick time. Other cities in the state don't have this. It helps but it is still not always enough.
***Murican Corporations in Portland, Or*** I'mma just head out.
Time to move to Portland I guess
If I'm sick I'm sick and can take as long as needed to recover. This is in the UK. And I get full pay, my 29 days annual leave is separate, plus I get 8 days back holiday. Also, I don't worry about medical bills, I pay for the NHS via my taxes.
@@mylife2022 I really wish American politicians and Corporations understood that the healthier their workers are the more work they can do and less turnover but they never will as we don't actually exist to these type of people
40. Hours xD the average of sick days went up from 11 to 14 in corona times here ... Makes an average of 112 sick hours here
Given this week's Supreme Court decision, no, rights will never improve in the United States
Yeah I would say that the US is more likely to transition into a fascist theocracy long before it ever starts caring about workers rights.
@@simonorourke4465 are you saying it isnt one already?
Sounds like somebody didn't read the ruling. Authority was returned to the states. So if you live in a blue state chances are nothing has changed or in some cases access has increased. Our country was never meant to be ruled on high from the beltway of Washington DC. Given the endemic corruption I hope more powers are relinquished by the Federal govt. and given over to the states.
@@Daeon108 yeah you mean it will go back to the religious states where they will allow it to happen, come on, pull the other one,
@@Daeon108 I find it ironic - states are not allowed to make their own gun laws because 'violates constitution' but they're fine with overturning the constitutional right to privacy by allowing states to control women's pregnancy choices.....
Also in the UK, if you're ill while on annual leave you can change it to paid sick leave and take your annual leave again when you're well. 😊
On the topic of bereavement - I worked a job once that has a point based system for being tardy or being off of work for any reason. This was on of my first office jobs and I was struggling at little bit with getting there on time. Now it wasn’t like I was an hour late every day, closer to like 5-10 minutes once a week, I had started wracking up some points.If you were off for an entire day without it being approved, it was 2 points. After you hit like 8 points, you were let go. Well I had like 6 points, which I understand is completely my fault and by this point, I had really got my butt into gear about being there on time - but then my grandma died - I needed to take 2 bereavement days since I had to travel out of state. My manager even approved it. And when I came back, they fired me a few days later because apparently I was only allowed one bereavement day since she wasn’t my parent, sibling, spouse or child.
ya, companies are so obsessed with squeezing work out of you, they put systems and machine in place to clock you down to the second.
they would rather train a new employee rather then accept that people won't be *exactly* on time
Maternity leave is in fact mandatory in the UK. You have to have two weeks off (three if you work in a factory).
It's 4 weeks if you work in a factory.
And yet, in the US, there is a list of infectious illnesses employees with a diagnosis/symptoms of and who also work in food service and/or child care are required by their state governments to stay home until recovered. If we're going to require this, we NEED to also require paid sick leave. Naively hoped that might change with the pandemic, but here we are...
No, the Boomers need everyone to live in a Cyberpunk utopia.
I work for a local authority in the UK, I get 6 months full pay and another 6 months half pay if I'm ill. God willing I never need this.
We pay for health care via taxation and never gets bills. We are a highly capitalist society and a member of the G7, so it can also be done in the USA, but big business and your politicians want to keep you down.
If any employee in the UK went to work in a food based place of work with anything like gastroenteritis, or any form of D&V - their employer would be liable. Here it's pretty much mandated that if you have any of those symptoms you are NOT allowed in work until 48 hours have passed since the last major symptom. Of course, being in the UK you do get it paid off. I had a bout of this a few weeks ago. Not allowed in work for 2 days which was annoying as I had loads to do and hadn't taken my laptop home. Ah well.
Side note.. I was sick for a week once, ended up in hospital a week later and was off and on the next 3 weeks with medication reactions. Bosses were just like - hope you feel better soon. See you when this is sorted out. No issue with pay
Companies in the US used to offer 5-6 days a year sick leave in addition to vacation time. However, during the late 90’s PTO became popular and many companies used it to reduce the number of days off. So employees were penalized by losing vacation time if they were sick. I do think employment laws in the US have been ignored by corporations to the point of non-existence.
I lived and worked in Malaysia for a long while
The system is modelled after the one in the UK, so I got 14 days of sick leave, goes up to 18 days after 2 years of service.
60 days of hospitalisation.
Oh and a certain amount of medical coverage is given for clinic visits as well- either co pay (so little, like MYR5), or paying nothing if we went to the corporate hospital.
Sure I had personal insurance as well but rarely used that.
Now I live in Australia and medicate and private health… is a different ballgame.
It is mind boggling how the American system works and why my sister decided to live there and become a US citizen just blows my mind.
In Malaysia I also had 25 days of PAID holiday (minimum compulsory by law is 8 days but my company was AMAZING). And if I didn’t use it all, I could carry 50 percent of it forward to use in the following year.
Congratulations Evan, you just did more research about this topic than my new American parent company did before purchasing my company (with over 50 uk based employees)
I take it they tried to immediately remove your working rights? Bet that went down like a lead balloon...
Please tell us more....
You can't just write that and not give us the full story! Spill the tea!
@@scootbenet It was just really embarrassing for them, they came to a company-wide meeting (about our new contracts) without knowing what SSP is, without knowing our employer had been paying for up to 15 days consecutive sick days up until that point, without understanding that our former employers paid us for our unused holidays if we really insisted on not taking them.
And yes, they also tried to take over our whole lives, asking for up to 13 hours extra work unpaid per week for junior staff and unlimited for managers and above - they even asked us to waive our right to the 48-hour maximum work week without even offering to pay us for the extra hours, let alone overtime.
We are now 3 months in and despite taking our pension contributions out of our paychecks they still haven't appeared in our pension pots 🤡🤡🤡
@@clsisman , I suggest you contact the labor relations organisation or tax dept ( sorry I’m not British, so don’t know the exact name of these). They maybe defrauding or doing something illegal. Maybe anonymously report some concerns.
Each time you do a comparison video I feel I need to thank you. So, thank you! Moving away from the US was the best decision I’ve ever made.
As an American I have thousands of stories about the messed up healthcare and work situation in our country.
The most recent one was that a friend that was a manager at a retail store. She had a heart attack and was rushed to the hospital. While she was in the ambulance the overhead of the company kept calling her to get back to work. When she woke up the next day from the heart attack she found out the company dropped her from her health Insurance. They then told her she could get her health insurance back the day she comes back to work. My friend was able to cover her shift for a week but the corporation made sure she didn’t have health insurance. Her total hospital bill ended up being $100,000 with a 9% interest rate.
The day she came back the corporation she worked for refused to cover her medical bills and sued her “thief” of corporation resources.
The only reason my friend is ok today is because she sued the corporation for the event. It turned into a class action lawsuit involving over 10,000 people that went through the same situation in the past 5 years. My friend is ironically blacklisted from retail in the United States.
Paternity leave is extremely rare in the US. One of my husband's ex employers called my husband into work while I was in the hospital in labor, and was told if he wasn't there within 30 minutes he would be fired.
I've only ever had one job with maternity leave (it was unpaid). I was only allowed this because they wouldn't allow me to sit or have breaks at all during my 12 hour shifts, thus I would start having contractions and they would have to send me home. During the maternity leave I was called in 3 times out of the 5 days I had, and it was show up or be fired. On the 5th day they induced labor as my job was making the pregnancy unsafe. My employer tried calling me in while I was in labor and fired me because I didn't cover the shift. The baby was born less than an hour after I was called in. With my 2nd born I was in labor at work. Once I finished my shift I headed to the hospital. Baby was born 2 hours later. Baby and I were discharge 24 hours after that. And I was at work 6 hours after that. In the US many businesses don't look at employees as people, and if you can't contribute to the company above your job requirements on demand then they'll find someone who can.
After this week I have ZERO hope that America will ever take care of the basic needs of its people :(
never has and never will unfortunately
My thoughts exactly. Country is going backwards 100 mph. ( or should I say kph )
I'm stunned, and stand with you.
Have you ever even been to the US? The land of opportunity? The land that most people flock to? Have you noticed how the current presidency is destroying the nation and the world economy is toppling with it?
@@ericadavenport2039 I think you are missing the point entirely.
And please don't sprout this old rhetoric, land of opportunity that the rest of the world wants to go to. Its getting pretty old and tired. I think you would be very surprised, if you actually talked to people around the world, just how little most people actually wish for this.
Yes, some people from war torn or poor countries want to leave for a better life. They chose countries from around the world, not just the U.S.
Paternity leave is 2 weeks and can then have shared parental leave as well for fathers - I took 10 weeks and my husband used the rest of the leave until our daughter was 1 (apart from school holidays where he worked and was paid as I was on holiday from work)
My son in law was off for 7 weeks after his baby was born last November. He works for a large insurance group.
My daughter will be returning to work after her maternity leave, in January. That’s one year , plus holidays due. The first six month is funded and the next six months is self funded. She is also reducing her work hours to four days a week. She is a business analyst with an international company. They live in Scotland which is part of the UK.
I'm from the UK and when I tested positive for Covid I got 3 weeks off fully paid which was great considering I felt absolutely fine.
People here in the US in some cases just went to work sick, saw it many times. And management didn't care they needed people coming to work.
Yes, I worked through and with covid in the US it was early in the pandemic. No sick pay, for part timers average 30 hours a week. They gave us $2 raise for about 6 months then took it back. I quit and refuse to go back to work. One more year till I retire, I'll make due.
Most of the jobs I've had in the United States had sick leave and vacation leave, tallied separately (as you mention). You got paid for the time as if you were working, and you could use vacation leave if you ran out of sick leave. The jobs where I didn't (Kwik Shop, two movie theaters, and teaching at two for-profit "colleges") had different systems: the Kwik Shop and theaters relied on the manager to reshuffle the scheduling (they discouraged employees from talking to each other outside of work, because that might lead to (shudder) unions). The teaching positisons? The Dean of Students at one of them literally told me I was only allowed to "call in dead".
Here where i live(brasil), we need to show the doc note if we need more than 2 days sick leave. That never seemed like a big deal to me, because i just had to walk 10 min to the public clinic and wait a couple of hours to get the note and the doc appointment+ free medicine. Only after someone from the US came to work on my team that i understood that this is not so simple for them, because a doc appointment+medicine is at least 200 dollars. That is mind blowing to me!!
A so-called 3rd world country teaching a lesson to the USA.
America basically sucks
I'm a teacher in Germany currently enjoying my 6 weeks of fully paid summer holidays. 3 of these weeks are actual holidays and 3 weeks are planning time for the new school year. If I plan faster, nobody will ask any questions. I don't have to go to school at all during the holidays unless I WISH to prepare something that requires my physical classroom. The things I hear about American teacher laws are horrifying.
Enjoy ur time off😁 I'm from England and I'm enjoying 4 weeks off work 😄
@@Muritaipet Oh no I'm not a teacher I'm a bricklayer I get about 28 days off per year and a few extra days like bank holidays
@@okokkokok7284 Oops. Not sure how I directed that at you, I meant it as a reply to the original commenter @poetrypixie
I'll delete the reply and repost
What about breaks during the year? In New Zealand teachers get 4-6 weeks in summer, depending on the school. Then there is a 2 week break between each term, so teachers get a total of 12 weeks paid holiday per year.
They occasionally do planning days, and many teachers do significant preparation for the next term. But it's mainly holiday
@@Muritaipet okay no worries
As a Canadian, aged 68, I have had a number of allocated paid sick days in every job I have had in Canada. I find it amazing that this doesn't exist in the US. Even if you don't need to take them, there is peace of mind in knowing they are there if you do. Like the UK, we have laws that enshrine sick time, maternity and paternity leave, bereavement leave and paid holidays.
My grandfather found a very clever way around this. He was Indian but first moved to the UK (and got UK citizenship) and then moved to the US and worked for AIG, a huge corporation. Instead of becoming an employee, he gave the company the option of hiring him as a "consultant" with an hourly rate. The terms of his contract specified sick days etc and other issues. This way he was able to work for multiple companies/ accounts for the company while maintaining his freedom and work from home (if he wanted). At first they were shocked but it in the end it worked out wonderfully for him. Sometimes you have to turn the corporate world on its head with market forces. Don't work at McD's. Work for yourself washing cars, mowing grass, paining houses etc all businesses you can do on YOUR OWN TERMS. These companies will eventually come around when no one wants to work for them. Simple. There are so many "menial" jobs out there that pay more and you can be self employed. With remote work and freelancing, who wants to work for a big corporate where they treat you like dirt. Most jobs in the UK now are "zero hour" anyway, which is basically the same thing. I've always been self employed. Never regretted it. In today's world 9 to 5 jobs will become extinct soon.
My company (UK) a few months ago announced a chance in policy that means paternity leave and maternity leave are equal (which in this case is 18 weeks full pay) - mothers would then get the additional government statutory pay for the rest of the 39 weeks, it’s a policy they doesn’t affect me but undoubtably a brilliant one
You know, ever since I did a study abroad in the UK back in 2015, I’ve been saying that I would eventually like to move there. However, with the political climate we’ve had over the past few years, abortion being illegal in so many states, employment based healthcare, school shootings, and etc. my decision to move to the UK is looking more and more likely. It is really difficult to process how a country that claims to have freedom and democracy all over the world treats their own citizens like shit. I’m hoping to make the move within a couple of years rather than 10.
BOOK IT NOW, that will force you to pay for it and sort out your life to leave. If you don't, you will never leave.
If America saw itself as another country, it would invade them in the name of freedom. And yes, you are very welcome to come to the UK. It's not perfect, but its home.
@john christmas he's kinda right, the best time to do something you really wanna do is today!
It doesn't get cheaper and as I see it, the climate in the US will not get better.
Every year you wait you have one year of worse quality of life. And if something matters than that.
From what ive seen moving to the UK is relatively easy to other countries, the governmental site for that also seems to have some extra dedicated pages and documents to when you come from the US:)
As the others have said, better now than never. The more you push it back the worse it can get, and who knows in what sort of financial situation the US will be in a few years that will affect you too...
Please vote for the parties which brought those benefits and rights.
In Germany it's about the same as the UK. I had 3 OP's on my cervical vertebrae (neck joints). The 3 OP's were done over a space of 1 1/2 years with 13 stays in Hospital, ranging from 1 to 2 weeks at a time. Not only was I off work for 1 1/2 years but my job was waiting for me when I was done healing. The first 6 weeks are payed for by the employer, after that the health insurance steps in and I got 80% of my wage until I went back to work.
Same as in the UK??? In the UK you would be on the waiting list for 1 1/2 years only to get the first operation.
@@davidgormley3846 After the first visit with the Doc it was about 2 weeks until I went in for the first time. MRT's were done to see what joints needed fixing and the Doc said straight away that it would take 3 OP's to fix it. After each OP is was a about 4 months healing process, and checkups inbetween.
Years back I was working for a company in the UK, I told all my colleagues that I would fly to Ireland for the weekend. I came back Monday at 6AM and I was extremely sick. I called the office to tell them I was feeling aweful. HR laughed saying they knew I clearly drank too much over the weekend and told me to get a couple of days off (paid of course). This is one of the reasons why I didn't accept a job in California 2 years ago. The UK has issues like all countries but I feel the company I work for has my back and laws are also protecting employees most of the time.
I bet the headline salary per year was much much higher in California. But when everything is taken in to account, it just isn't worth it.
@@ALEX15here I cannot say for sure as I just said, I won't accept the offer to relocate. But yes I think you are right.
In the UK a lot depends on your type of employment. Some employers are now trying to sneak around some rights by using casual and zero hours contracts, where rights are less well defined and where it's harder to bite back if the company is up to no good.
I used to work as a tutor for a small, local company (UK) that specialised in second language students, on a 'casual' contract. When the company decided not to renew my contract they didn't even bother to tell me or let me know why (which, as I was classed a casual worker, they legally didn't have to!) The only reason I found out I didn't have a job anymore was because they sent a job advert out to everyone in my university department, which of course included me. It was a HORRIBLE way to find out I no longer had a job.
Not the federal government's job, overall. State government? Sure, to some degree. The only time I didn't get sick, holiday, personal, or bereavement time off was when I worked for a job in the UK, and under a zero hours contract.
Shame Corbyn didn't win the election.
I thought zero hour contracts got scrapped?
They got scrapped in Ireland .I used to work zero hours a care worker for 3 years but was a joke n
@@tristman8413 They're still around, unfortunately. Including, horrifyingly, by Buckingham Palace!
I love watching these videos 🥰 I’m from the US, and I was in Hong Kong recently for 6 months. I ended up with pneumonia, and every medication, visit, and expense in HK was free. Even with my US insurance back home, those services would’ve been insanely expensive. Now, with RvW, I’m determined to make a change. Thanks Evan :)
My job in the UK has 5 weeks holiday a year on a 35 hour a week contract. You have the option of purchasing another week at a discounted rate, so that’s 6 weeks holiday (not including bank holidays). Also, I’m entitled to 6 months full paid paternity leave! Can take up to 12 months but the final 6 months will be half pay.
What's even worse is when a company does pay bereavement leave but your immediate supervisor refuses you let you go to your aunt's funeral because he doesn't consider that "immediate family" even though it is defined as such in the official company policy. I was actually on vacation when my aunt passed, and her funeral was on the last day of my vacation. I drove home early for it, and the instant my supervisor heard from other coworkers that I had done so he started blowing up my phone demanding I come to work because "you're back in town anyway".
I actually cried a little hearing how much holiday you get in the UK. This country is so messed up.
For the last 30 years before I retired I worked for a Sottish Bank. As with British Banks except one we had a free company pension scheme. Because of the years I worked at the Bank upon retirement I was on 6 weeks holiday pay and of course all bank holidays.
After being at the Bank for 20 years it was discovered I had cancer. I had to have a very serious operation and after 6 weeks went on to chemo for 6 months. At this time we were allowed 6 months full pay if off sick for a long time then 6 months half pay. I was off for 1 year and they decided to pay me full pay until I was able to resume work.
They also allowed me to work part time when I returned to allow me to get back in to the flow of work.
Another thing which I did not pay for were all my treatments, operation/chemo etc, the NHS covered it
Unfortunately as I am now getting old I have had to attend hospital during this horrible pandemic a few times and have had several scams and seen a few doctors, none of which I have to pay for. I am on a couple of medications which are also free for me.
I am a huge Judge Judy fan and sometimes cannot believe some of the cases on her program, I get the impression workers in the USA can be sacked on the spot. The only time I remember a member of staff being shown the door was a clerk who was fiddling the books and it was discovered while he was on holiday and someone else did his job.
I know working practises have changed here now and people do not get the perks we used to get.
I am glad I was born in the UK.
I work in a public service job that provides a 6day a week service. We have the option of either getting paid the 6th day or accruing time off on a rolling week system. I opted for the latter as I consider leisure time more important than money. With my entitled 4-5weeks it gives my approx 16weeks full paid holiday a year.
Also our employer gives long service holiday awards. For every 20years service you get an extra week paid holiday off so very long term workers of over 40years have 6-7weeks off as standard.
It's pro rata'd as well. You get 5.6 weeks paid vacation a year, though that does include bank holidays. If you work full time, five days a week, that means you get 28 days. But if you work part time you still get 5.6 weeks, so if you worked two days a week you get 11.2 days a year, so you can have five whole weeks off.
Yes, but the UK battles with low productivity and falling living standards. In the US, I started on 65k salary in 2017 and after 5 years make 140k. I highly doubt such a thing is possible in the UK. I'm an immigrant too. What's the point of working in the UK. It's more like a hobby.
I know going into this that it's going to be a wild ride. I'm from the UK and I'm just going to immediately feel grateful and go from there
Me too,after watching several videos regarding the differences between the UK and the US,I'm forever grateful I wasn't born in the Untied States of America,stay happy and healthy and enjoy being British I know I do ✌️
Many years ago, a a young teenager, I asked my older sister to explain the difference between Democrats and Republicans in the US. She compared them to the British Labour and Conservative parties to make it easier for me:
'Well, little sister, one of the US parties is like the Conservative party. Then the Republicans are even more right wing.....'
Yep, politically the UK Conservative Party is closer to US Democrats than to the Republicans. Boris Johnson would be Bernie Sanders if he had stayed in the US.
I would say the Democratic Party in the USA is like the very conservative wing of your Tories and the Republicans are well.... fascists and Christian nationalists. Imagine your country dominated by conservatives in parliament who don't believe in worker's rights and universal healthcare and that slavery wasn't such a bad thing.
Both parties are basically own by corporations. Democrats are own by million dollars companies. Republicans are own by evangelical Christians and billion dollars corporations.
Democrats pass laws for most Americans 25% of the time and Republicans are trying to bring back slavery.
Currently the American is about to hit the debt ceiling again. To fix this we would have to bring the tax rates back to before 2017.
Democrats want to de this a defund the military by .1%. They also want to change the tax system back to 2015. 😊
Republicans want to cut taxes for corporations by another 10%, increase the military budget from $857 billion a year to $1.2 trillion a year and get rid of Medicare. Healthcare for American over 65 that make under $90,000 a year. The irony is that most Americans that use Medicare vote republican.
I work in the UK (for a US company) and the difference in how we're treated is absolutely nuts, always feel bad for my US based colleagues. Yes, they take home more pay in the first place, but all the rest is just rough.
On unlimited holiday... we have that, and as you observe it's mostly a trick. As companies here have to have a set holiday allowance though (for pay in lieu if you quit without taking all your holidays), I just use that value as my target and take exactly that. If I didn't do this I'm certain I'd end up taking less holiday.
Ask your American counterparts don't listen to him
If it was not for the unions in the UK we would not have many of these rights. Some people in the UK would like to get rid of the power unions have, I just don't get it.
Lots of people I know are worried about the UK returning to the "1970s" when they say unions were more militant and abused their power, for example the miners strikes. They say that because unions use strikes to force comapneis into beter conditions and keep old fashioned systems around purely for the workers benfits. Lots of people also blame low productivity caused by the strikes for the low economic performance of the UK during this period. To be clear I don't agree with this viewpoint just trying to provide an answer to your question.
@@thomasacratopulo8114 yeah I get that people take that view. However looking back I don't understand how they could take the view of employees having no rights would be better than the disruption it can cause. I understand people can come to strange conclusions, I mean the country voted for brexit and some people still believe Johnson is doing a good job. What I don't get is how normal people that would be some much worse off without unions can't see they would be worse off. I guess some people will believe anything written in a paper but people lack of critical thinking skills still shocks me for some reason.
Many of the present worker's rights come from the EU, you might be waving goodbye to some of them, now they could be removed.
@@thomasacratopulo8114 The miners were on strike because of their conditions and pay. Their conditions were awful. I should know , I’m the daughter of a coal miner,he worked from age 13 to age 65 ….. these miners suffered a lot of crap and the possibility of contracting Pneumoconiosis and miners to this day are still dying from said disease… . I’m all in favour of strikes and unions to fight for basic human conditions…… power to the people not the Fat Cats.
I worked in a restaurant at 18-20 in the US and didn’t realize till way late that if I found a replacement for my shift I wouldn’t get to use my 24 hours of mandatory stick pay but if I didn’t find a replacement I would get paid for the shift I didn’t work, with the sick pay. My boss never told me how to use my sick pay, so it was to me to realize how my pto was getting used and when. They really don’t want to tell you your rights to PTO in the US.
You had PTO?I worked in a few restaurants in recent years and had never had paid time off ever and I had more money from when I filed for unemployment than what I usually got paid.
I used to work in admin at a UK university. Initially I had 24 days holiday, but after so long this increased to 26. Apart from that I got Christmas Eve and the days between Christmas and the New Year as well. Let’s not go down the road of sick days. They would send you home if you came in sick and NO lose of pay.
I worked for a UK university in the 1980s. I got 35 days paid holiday plus paid sick leave. I was a computer programmer, not an academic.
My manager sent me home as I was a close contact (back when ireland first opened up after lock down). I tested negative but the HSE said I should stay home for at least 2 days as a 'just in case'.
I finally went back to work only to have gotten written up for not coming to work and didn't get sick pay either.
"Reasonanle" bereavement time usually starts at a minimum of 3 days. When my MIL died, my BIL was entering the last month of a 12 month temp contract and they just let him have the entire month off on bereavement, with no reduction in pay.
Love this video, unions are incredibly important
In Australia I get 4 weeks annual leave and 12 days sick/personal leave each year as a minimum.
My works offers any extra 3 days sick, 10 days covid specific and up to 15 days domestic violence leave
Oh and of course paid public holidays (Christmas, Easter, labour day, new years day etc.)
One additional part of the maternity leave in the UK is keep in touch days. You still have entitlement to the leave for a year after the birth but can do a small number of days at the job to help earn some money or to keep up to date in the role without ending the maternity pay or leave period. Purely optional so if possible you can take the full leave albeit unpaid after week 39. You also accrue 28 days paid holiday during the maternity leave which can be taken immediately when you return.
Last year, I got a call at work from my sister saying I needed to go to our brother right now as he was dying. I turned round to my manager who said "go now!" No forms, no notice period, I just went.
We sorted out the paperwork when I got back - no unpaid, no holiday or anything else. It was listed as compassionate leave and I got paid over it.
I used to work at Starbucks and they'd have to give you a 30 minute lunch break if you worked for 6+ hours. So, they'd often schedule us for 5.5 hours so that they didn't have to give us a break.
That I have experienced here in the UK too, but 5hrs 55 minutes 😂...... 😭
Well, the response to that, is find another job and then walk out in the middle of prime time!
Mcdonalds did that to me if you worked 10 hours they had to give you an hour break so they use to schedule me 9hrs 45mins shifts but ended up working over 10 everytime
There are rules in the UK, where after 4 hours they have to give you a break-the total hours at the end of day makes no difference.
@@TerriThorns time to look for another job-then leave when you have your new job
The funny thing about this, when you work for the federal government (which I worked for TSA for 4 and a half years), you get most of these benefits that you don't get if you work for the private sector. Also, private companies will use these benefits as a incentive to get people to work for them.
I used to work in an office here in the UK and each year we worked there our holiday entitlement went up slightly. We were also on flexi time which meant if we worked more than the contracted hours we could add them up for extra days off. In addition if we didn't use all our holidays one year they could be carried forward to the year after! To cut a long story short one day they decided that holiday leave could no longer to be carried forward to the following year and at Christmas I had around 40 days holiday to use up by the start of April. I spent a very good few months only working part time until I got rid of them all.
I have friends and family from the US and they are always amazed at the benefits we have over here, especially with holiday pay. I get 33 days a year and I'm so grateful for that.
I've had to not really miss days at my job to accumulate at least 2 weeks. My boss the owner used my previous 2 weeks of vacation when I was out with Covid-19 in 2020. I thought the government was going to reimburse him. I guess he didn't want to bother. I live in the US, and it sucks.
Was talking to a friend from the US about holiday once as we both "get" 33 days - their company gives them 7 days holiday and then half a day (not sure if paid or unpaid) for every week they work over 50 hours. Which he said sounds great but taking more than about 10 days of it is frowned on.
I work in the UK and get 25 days holiday plus 8 Bank Holidays, 10 days for emergencies, 22 paid sick days and 2 days you can take for volunteering work. This is standard as soon as you start even in level entry positions.
I am grateful everyday that I don't live in the US.
Thanks for the information! Confirms what I thought that we are still lucky in the UK 😃
The best part is if you go on holiday and get sick, you can retrospectively cancel the holiday (to save the days for enjoyment) and take a sick day instead.
Your channel has been extremely useful, putting some serious thought into moving over to the UK. I've been a viewer for many years now, the information obtained from your content is just beyond convenient.
If you do come over here you will be welcomed, so long as you try to assimilate into our culture, we have no problems at all, you would be a valuable addition .
Pack your bags,sell your house and get outta the Untied States of America,I'm English and I honestly believe the UK is the best place in the world (I've visited 14 different countries and wouldn't live anywhere else in the entire world)
@@bobbierocksbuster5584 I'm glad you're happy for me moving from the UK to the continent was the best thing I ever did I feel so much better here. Plus Scotland was way better than England to live in.
We would welcome you brother
It ain't perfect here but there is plenty of stuff worth coming here for
Avoid the west and east midlands and prepare for traffic, lots of traffic...
I live in the UK and my employer (large investment bank) has mandated it in my contract that once a year I MUST take 2 consecutive weeks of leave and allows me to purchase up to 10 extra days meaning I can have 38 days of leave. If I don’t take my 2 weeks, I’m breaching my contract. It is scary what US working culture is.
It is to ensure you aren't doing anything dodgy.
this rule has been in the financial sector for decades...probably needs revising, but originally it was assumed that any financial irregularities (eg theft) would easily come to light while the individual was away from the office on holiday.
My employer has recently changed that it’s only the people who work in riskier environments such as investment desk or branches that need to have 2 consecutive weeks those of us in more admin roles don’t need to anymore.
@@pennyalexander4062: Ah, answers the question I had! Thanks for the explanation!
I’m British. I get paid for sick days. My contract states I can take a maximum of six months off sick per year on full salary.
I’ve worked for this company for ten years and have taken a total of twelve days off sick (10 of those days were mandatory as I contracted Covid)
The thing is as well, the mentality of the laws and the employers themselves helps managers make more person centred and empathetic decisions - I will always remember a manager I had several years ago at an old job when I had lost an old friend to suicide - there are no laws about having time off to grieve a friend, a non relative/dependant - but she saw how much I was struggling after coming in and she told me to take the entire week off, and the funeral day/day after the following week. This did not go against me in any way, and I had proper time to get my head together. Absolutely great manager
Australian here, home sick with a nasty cold: watching this thinking thank god I live in Australia where I have sick leave and where if I need a medical certificate for work, it’s free to go to the doctor to get one
Edit: I work in local government and at the council I work for you can take up to two years maternity leave. I can’t remember how much of that would be paid but says it’s 3 months you can do that at half pay to stretch it to 6 months
Here in the UK you can, in effect, get more time off for bereavement than first appears. If your employer thinks you have had a ‘reasonable’ amount of time off but you do not feel ready to return (grief is different for everyone) you can visit your GP and be signed off sick for mental health reasons.
I was signed off for a month
The employers I've worked for gave 3 days compassionate leave immediately, followed by another day for the funeral. Then there is of course the option you describe if further time off is necessary.
True, i was signed off for just over two months after my father suddenly passed. My parents split about a year before, and even though I'm the younger sibling, I organised the funeral. My family was pretty traditional, so when my grandfather passed (on my mother's side) it was up to my dad and I. This sadly meant, I was the only one who'd had experience organising everything.
His sudden passing, and organising everything didn't give me time to grieve. Add to that trying to reconcile with my mother, whom I hadn't spoken to in a year all just built up. I only went back to work to get back into a regular routine.
@@jonsouth1545 i was off for 3 months when my mum died, then a six week phased return to work doing 3 days a week.
Here in Germany you get 2 days payed leave when your spouse, a child, or a parent died only if it is in your (many times unionized) contract. When my dad died in 2015 and my mom in 2019 I went to my GP to go on payed sick leave. I tried to work after 2 days but I couldn't concentrate because I was heartbroken.
A colleagues mother in law died whom she was very close with (you get 1 day off), and our very young (30 years) general manager made her come into work the same week, because she took her 1 day off already. I told my colleague to go on sick leave if she can't cope with work. We are a small hospital. My colleague works in the operating theater and I'm a nurse. Mistakes can be fatal if you not your best.
It always depends on your employer and his management. With our old management we never had this issue.
Many employers in Australia, force employees to take holiday leave, as untaken leave is regarded as a debt. One of my fellow employees had not taken holidays in 20 years. She had accumulated more than 100 weeks holiday leave. She was forced to take the leave. Our employer had the police remove her from the property and they took out a restraining order to keep her away.
Wholesome and funny 😂❤ she must be still kicked back as we speak 😌👌🌊🍹
Fun fact: here in the UK, you can also claim back your holiday leave from your employer if you were sick during... Although it's rare for someone to actually take it up.
At one time I was a big boss, one of my problems was “Presentism”, that was employees turning up for work while sick, then infecting other workers and doing sun par work. It took a lot of complaining and calling out of workers on my part to ameliorate the problem. I never completely cured the syndrome. I should mention the work was highly skilled work, paid sick leave was part of the package and not out of other PTO, job security was very good, promotion wasn’t on the table, the hierarchy was flat and management was external.
I work in software development at a UK university and I get roughly 8 weeks paid leave and guaranteed leave over Christmas and New Year. Also some of my colleagues have taken split parental leave, so the mother takes the first six months and the father takes the next six months and the University gives 100% paid leave for that full year. If I’m sick, the University continuous to pay my salary at 100% for up to 6 months, then 50% for another six months.
I’m in Scotland and my current job includes:
36 days holiday/vacation
.
Up to 12 days paid special leave for emergency child care/ bereavement etc.
.
Up to 6 months fully paid sick leave (then 50% plus assistance from government) unless it’s for specific things (like cancer treatment) whereby they will continue full pay until you return.
.
Double time when working public holidays.
.
No requirement to do any work outside of work.
.
No access to work emails unless in work.
.
18 weeks full pay for maternity leave followed by but an option to have 15 months off in total with variable pay.
.
Free private rehabilitation for injuries at specialist facility (where you stay for 1-4 weeks) with all food and residence paid for.
.
And much more.
In Australia, everyone (with the exception of casual workers) gets 10 days sick leave a year and 20 days paid holiday. There is also maternity leave and bereavement leave which have some sort of pay up to a certain point. This seems to be standard across the states. On many occasions if you break a limb or have a serious illness, company's may extend leave of you have a good track record with that company. If people take the piss out of the system then company's can ask for a doctors slip if you take more that 2 days leave in a row. There is also stress leave which I notice some people taking but I don't know much about it.
This time I enjoyed the switching of cameras much more! Keep up the good work!
I crashed my mountain bike one weekend, broke a lot of bones. 10’days in hospital, and best part of two months off work.
Hospital bill was $0 and I was fully paid the whole time. My boss covered my work and found help while I was out. I was also still accruing holiday leave while I was being paid sick leave at full pay.
Hi from Australia :)
Hello fellow Aussie
Hello from Aotearoa 😘
25 years ago I fell and hit my head, 3 days in the hospital and $32K bill...murca
I had a different experience in the UK. I worked for Nandos and when i fell sick with Omicron (because teenage co-workers lied in forms and were going to work sick with clear symptoms of covid). I struggled to get heathy in 10 days to get back to work, they said i had to have positive lab tests not just home test to be eligible for sick pay. I had positive result from lab they weren't happy and i kept in touch with my doctor who gave me sick note and was concerned i could end up with long covid or in hospital. I submitted everything to manager and then i noticed that my full time hours (had full time contract) on rota were cut to part time hours and as sick pay i received only £27 for a week when i asked if i could take my paid holiday hours they said i couldn't that i would have to have them booked weeks ahead of time. So i was pretty much screwed with trying to pay bills etc.
When i worked under agency that was even worse when i fell sick they ghosted me even though in contract they did say they gave sick pay. (I was contacting them but eventually they stopped responding literally ghosted.)
That's fucked up
That’s illegal .
I work in the UK for a company with unlimited holiday, but, it is mandated that you must take a minimum of 35 days a year (more than the minimum). In reality most people use it to finish early on Friday's once all their teams work is completed. Or take a long weekend every now and again, again when the workload has eased off. While it is unlimited no one abuses it and always checks in that they are not putting onto everyone else by taking some extra time.
Which company is it?