[consulting] American Labour Laws & Future of Labour

[Sami Khan]

I was browsing reddit, and came across this, I thought I would share.

One aspect of the post that resonated with me was this:
In other words: if you're not from the U.S., however bad you thought U.S.
labor protections were, they're worse. If you're an American and used to
employers who voluntarily provide one or more non-required things, look at
the trend in employer/employee relations over the last 10 years: more
independent contractors and temps, fewer full time employees with benefits.
If you don't think your company will ever stop giving breaks or vacation
time, just wait -- after another few years of high unemployment,
non-required perquisites will dry up even worse than they already have.

How is this relevant? Well if you work for an American employer or are
considering working for them, you should be aware of the negative side of
American labor... That is not to say that all American employers are bad or
even most; but reading things like this does make a good case for organized
American labour... and for working for yourself and not an employer -- or
subcontracting which is essentially employment without employment benefits
in a country without a healthcare system.

Quote
(http://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/d3foe/how_bad_are_american_labor_practices_this_bad/):

After reading the "why don't employers have to give you two weeks' notice"
post, which consisted of replies from American redditors madly trying to
defend the lopsided practice while those from other nations said "uh, you
DO have to do that as an employer here," it got me thinking. How many
American redditors actually know what labor laws are like in the rest of
the developed world, and how many non-American redditors know how bad it is
here?

Here's some details of the rampant unfairness in the American system:

1) Nope, your employer is NOT required to give you any notice, or any
severance pay. Some do provide severance, but that is purely at their
discretion and often accompanied with "sign or you don't get your money"
waivers of corporate liability for your termination. So if you suspect
you've been fired for an illegal reason, too bad, if you want to make your
rent and car payments you'd better sign on the dotted line.

2) Employers in the U.S. are not required to provide ANY paid time off. No
paid sick days, no paid vacation time, no paid maternity leave, no paid
federal holidays. Many employers, even most, provide one or more of these
things as a courtesy, but the number of employers offering none of them is
rising as the unemployment rate rises and people become willing to take any
job at all, even one that views its employees as chattel who don't deserve
a paid day off once in a while.

3) Do you work for a company with fewer than 15 employees? Your company is
allowed (in most states) to discriminate against employees on the basis of
race, sex, national origin, pregnancy, et cetera. Title VII of the civil
rights act, which prohibits such discrimination, exempts private businesses
with fewer than 15 employees. In other words, if you employ only 14 total
people, you can simply say "only white people allowed." By the way, that 15
number doesn't include independent contractors or partners, so you can have
a fairly large employer that is still allowed to discriminate as long as
most of the people working there are independent contractors. What's more,
no one's agitating to change this.

4) If you receive tips as part of your normal employment, your direct wage
is generally $2.13 per hour. Yes, $2.13 an hour. Hope your tips are real
nice.

5) Many, MANY jobs are not required to pay any overtime wage regardless of
how many hours you work. This doesn't just apply to executives and managers
and creative types. Projectionists, carnies, cab drivers, and a host of
other occupations are also exempted and require no overtime wage
whatsoever.

6) Youth under age 20 in their first 90 days of employment are allowed to
make $4.25 an hour.

7) Only 21 of 50 states require ANY meal or rest break time for adult
employees (including both paid and unpaid breaks). Four more require breaks
for minors but not adults. There is also no federal restriction on how long
employers may keep employees at work or how many hours an employer can
require of an employee per week. In other words, while most employers do
not do this, it is 100% legal in many states to employ someone for a 16
hour shift with no breaks allowed.

In other words: if you're not from the U.S., however bad you thought U.S.
labor protections were, they're worse. If you're an American and used to
employers who voluntarily provide one or more non-required things, look at
the trend in employer/employee relations over the last 10 years: more
independent contractors and temps, fewer full time employees with benefits.
If you don't think your company will ever stop giving breaks or vacation
time, just wait -- after another few years of high unemployment,
non-required perquisites will dry up even worse than they already have.

The worst part of this: if this post gets replies, I guarantee a number of
them will be from people hastening to tell us why these policies are
perfectly okay and how the right of employers to exploit workers in any way
is just fine, because employees "chose" to work in such a place. We'll hear
that if employers were required to provide such things, they would all go
out of business and employ fewer people. Nations offering substantially
more protection to employees do not seem to have these problems, but that
won't stop people from making the argument (or bringing up a single example
of a country with good labor laws and high unemployment as PROOF POSITIVE
that such a system is non-viable).

People have become so attached to their own oppression that they view it
as a badge of honor. They will show up to fight for their employers' right
to exploit them. And they will convince themselves that standing up for big
companies instead of individual employees is patriotic. They will ask for a
little sick leave as supplicants, grateful for the crumbs cast off by an
employer who views them as numbers on a ledger.

It doesn't have to be this way. Non-American redditors: what are
employment laws like in your country? How much of what I've posted above
strikes you as downright awful?



Sami