Mandatory Paid Vacations. Does the Government Have to Make You Take A Vacation

I wrote about Americans not getting or using vacation before, and now the Star Tribune in Minneapolis – St. Paul, Minnesota is reporting about a new group trying to get Congress to make employers give employees three weeks paid vacation every year. When compared to 21 on the worlds richest countries, The US is last as far as guaranteed days off. Listen to this;

While other countries guarantee time off from jobs — Finland 39 days a year, Canada 18 and Japan 10 — U.S. law gives workers a right to zero days off, even for holidays.

Several countries, including Switzerland and Australia, have laws forbidding workers from cashing out time off for an extra paycheck or two. The countries require workers to take their time off — partly to protect against pressure from bosses to stay at their posts.

In the absence of any government mandate, about one in four working Americans get no paid vacations or holidays, according to several estimates, including the new report. On average, U.S. workers get nine paid vacation days and six holidays a year, the report said.

I don’t know what to think about this. Well actually I do, I don’t like it. Yeah, I know, the Beach Bum doesn’t like mandatory three weeks paid vacation? No. I don’t. My brother owns the web marketing company Site Logic Marketing. He has one full-time employee. Now being in his first year of business, he really can’t afford to pay someone for three weeks of no work. The driving force behind US small business is the ability of the owner and entrepreneur to make his own rules. When the government steps in and says you have to do this, and do that, the business owner loses control of his own creation.

We, as Americans, have a choice where we work. We have a choice how hard to work. France may have a mandatory five week vacation from a full-time 35 hour work week, but they also had guaranteed employment. You were guaranteed to a job, and not allowed to be fired for at least two years. Now that just tells new employees to be lazy. You’re given a job, you can’t be fired, and you get paid vacation. Where’s the incentive to work? I love vacations and the beach as much as the next guy (maybe more), but to earn that vacation is more rewarding than the government giving it to me.

Posted on July 13, 2007 - Filed Under Vacation Time, Vacations and Work

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