When reading about a Tory politician in the UK, I came across this statement: "From just before Christmas until just after New Year's, virtually every business in Britain shuts down."

That, and a thread in another web site, has caused me to wonder about the differences in the work life of different countries.

In the US, the standard is a two week paid vacation which can increase with longevity. To the best of my knowledge, it rarely goes over 4 or 5 weeks. Our work week is generally 40 hours, and we have 10 federal holidays*, most of which are paid days off for most of us.

Would those of you who do not live in the US please tell us your corresponding numbers? How long is your work week? How long is your paid vacation? How many paid holidays do you get?
I have recently read that France may be abandoning their 35 hour work week, but keeping their state-imposed 5 week vacation. I have also read that the average American annual "hours works" has increased. We now work more hour per year than the average Japanese worker. Most of these increased hours are either not paid (i.e. salaried workers) of not paid overtime rates.



*Federal Holidays for 2006 are:
Monday, January 2 New Year's Day
Monday, January 16 Martin Luther King
Monday, February 20 Washington's Birthday
Monday, May 29 Memorial Day
Tuesday, July 4 Independence Day
Monday, September 4 Labor Day
Monday, October 9 Columbus Day
Friday, November 10 Veterans Day
Thursday, November 23 Thanksgiving Day
Monday, December 25 Christmas Day

When a holiday falls on a nonworkday -- Saturday or Sunday -- the holiday usually is observed on Monday (if the holiday falls on Sunday) or Friday (if the holiday falls on Saturday).
Individual states usually also have official holidays. Illinois, for example, has Casimir Pulaski Day, a recognition of a Pole who aided the US in the Revolution (and a recognition that teh CHicago area has more people of Polish extraction that any other city in the world except Warsaw, Poland, and those people vote.)

In the United States, a Federal holiday is a holiday recognized by the United States Government. Non-essential offices are closed, including banks and post offices. All federal employees are paid for the holiday; those who are required to work on the holiday receive wages for that day in addition to holiday pay. In most factories and other places of work that stay open on many holidays, those employees who work that day, like federal employees, recieve "holiday pay" in addition to their regular pay for that day.

I would be interested in knowing which of the Federal holidays you get off if employed by the private sector in the US.

My company gives time off for six of the ten, and works the King and Washington holidays, Columbus Day, and Veteran's Day.

Dorian, the UK does not shut down for Christmas. Some businesses, like factories, take the whole two weeks off. This is purely because it is easier than starting up again and having to close once more for New Year. All the shops and offices just take the statutory holidays. More shops are now just closing on Christmas day/New Year's day. A lot of the sales start on Boxing day. Our 'normal' holidays for 2006 are-

Jan 1st/2nd - New Years day
April 14th - Good Friday
April 17th - Easter Monday
May 1st - May Day Bank holiday
May 29th - Spring Bank holiday
August 28th - Late summer bank holiday
December 25th - Christmas Day -
December 26th - Boxing Day

As well as the above, most people get 4/5 weeks paid holidays. If we work extra, we get paid pro-rata. Time and a half/double time for working weekends/bank holidays etc.

Some of the northern towns still celebrate 'Wakes Week'. This was when the factories had their annual summer holidays and shut down for a week.People went to places like Liverpool and Blackpool, usually for a day trip but sometimes as long as a week.
see here

Jenny, what are bank holidays? I see you get 3 of them.

Bank Holidays

Honi,you may find some of the FAQs on that site illuminating. Note , in particular, the statutory 20 days required and how that is to be made 28 days making it additional to time allowed for bank holidays.

Of course, all European lawmakers take very long breaks. The best example is The Republic of Ireland. Their lawmakers take six vacations a year , each lasting for two months

I just seen this post and thought this was a good place to put the B.S. they do here to our children no less!!!!! Here our kids have Martin Luther King Day, BUT our school system refuses to call it that...on the paper sent home it reads that it is "Staff enrichment day".I am not for sure if it is all of Michigan that does this or just our town.The town is 99.9% white but none the less this man is a legend and I dont care if your kids are purple..they should know who he is and what he done!!

"Staff enrichment day?" Political correctness stinks from either direction - why can't we simply call things what they are?

And dangergurly, if your kids are purple you might want to get them some oxygen...or stop feeding them grapes!

Thanks Fred. Very interesting.

Funny Fuse!

Think I will have to switch to green grapes eh?

I am currently working in Germany.

Holidays are governed at a national level but can be added to by the federal state you live in. These are usually Catholic religious days in Southern Germany. The minimum number of days is 9 and the max is 13 (if I remember correctly).

Where I am living there are 9 days fixed vacation per year but in Germany if the day falls on a weekend that's just bad luck. For example, in 2005 there are 9 fixed days here but 3 fell on a weekend so we only had 6 in reality. So, holiday allowance varies per year and per state.

Holiday entitlement is governed at a national level and is 30 paid days per year (for most people).

The working hours are also pretty tightly controlled. There is no legal maximum working hours per week but there is a legal limit on the hours per day (10). And you can only work 10 hours on a given day if this doesn't take your average daily hours over 8 for any 24 week period (or something like that).
Companies really control the 10 hour limit because they are automatically liable for any accidents that happen at work or on the journey home from work if an employee has worked longer than 10 hours. Assumption is that tiredness/inattention due to long hours is a contributory cause.

I'm finding this topic interesting and would like to ask additionally how parttime employees are treated in other countries. Generally in the US, a person is considered parttime if they work 20 hours or less per week.

Currently I have a parttime job with the community college that I've had for over a year. Half of the staff in my department is parttime. We earn no sick leave, no vacation time and aren't paid for any holidays or snow days. If the school isn't open, we can't work. We also do not get any health benefits, which is typical of the parttime job scene here.
I've held other parttime jobs that paid holidays and vacation time could be earned after 3 1/2 years service.

(Why keep such a job? I enjoy the work. No other job has ever given me such creative and learning opportunities.)

How does this compare to other parts of the world? Does the attitude, "we give you the opportunity to work 20 hours a week" apply?

[LMAO at FP's comment on the Republic of Ireland's lawmakers.]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by coldfuse:
I would be interested in knowing which of the Federal holidays you get off if employed by the private sector in the US.[QUOTE]

When I worked at the law school since it was a non-state university, but a church-sponsored one, they only recognized Memorial Day, July 4th and Labor Day and New Year's. On MLK Day, a program was held at the main campus and employees could get permission to attend. No mention was ever made of Presidents' Day, Columbus Day or Veteran's Day. Good Friday was a paid holiday, along with Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve and Christmas. The day after Thanksgiving was also a paid holiday in place of having New Year's Eve off.

When I was younger and worked in the wonderful fast food industry, there were no paid holidays except Thanksgiving and Christmas. There was no time and half for other holidays worked either. If there was, I would have been making a staggering $3.35 an hour on those days!!

quote:

Originally posted by Rakuchild:
I'm finding this topic interesting and would like to ask additionally how parttime employees are treated in other countries.

In Britain the statutory paid holiday time ( 20 days, soon to be 28 days, a year), is reduced pro rata for workers who are not full time.(The Bank Holidays and any other holidays are in addition to the statutory period, not part of it).

All EU countries have agreed the European Working Hours Directive , which, inter alia, specifies minimum annual leave of 28 days. We may reasonably suppose that this directive makes a pro rata provision for part time workers too. (The UK's increase of statutory leave from 20 to 28 days seems to anticipate this directive and so our pro rata provision is also probably retained because of it )

By the way our best holiday must be New Year's Day. This was never a holiday in England but was one in Scotland. That is because the Scots would be so hung over after Hogmanay that none of them would be fit for work anyway When the English got that day as a holiday too the Government had an extra day, the following day, made a holiday just for Scotland. (Can't risk annoying the people on the other side of Hadrian's Wall: as a defensive wall it is not what it was )

"And dangergurly, if your kids are purple you might want to get them some oxygen...or stop feeding them grapes!"

Hey! My sister married a Purpalian, and I take offense at that comment! Some of them are fine, upstanding, hard-working people. But do you ever read about them? No! It's always the bad ones you read about.

There must not be many bad Purpalians. Maybe my sister could marry one?

I think the trend in the U.S. is changing because more companies are going 24/7. Now we actually have to work holidays but get paid double time and a half for it. And our vacations are getting shorter or split up.

The company that I work for is 24/7 and only closes for a few hours on Thanks Giving and Christmas, but we don't close at all in the Computer Room. It's pretty much a given that if the holiday falls on your scheduled work day you work it. Since most holidays are on a Monday or a Friday and my days off are in the middle of the week, I never get holidays!

We get two weeks vacation but taking those two weeks back to back is discouraged. If you are there for 15 years you get a whole month off. I work for a grocery chain but it’s in an office environment, so I know my company isn’t typical, but may be part of a growing trend of 24/7 operations.

I work at a grocery store that is only closed Christmas Day. And it closes early Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Eve. Otherwise, it's open 17 hrs. a day 7 days a week. Christmas, New Year's, Memorial Day, 4th of July, Labor Day, and Thanksgiving are the only paid holidays. We get time and a half if we work holidays. We also get two paid floating holidays per year as well. We get one week of vacation up to two years time with the company, two weeks up to five years, and three weeks from five to 15 years. Beyond 15 years, it's four weeks. They don't like you to take two weeks back to back, especially if you only get two weeks of vacation. Beyond that, they politely discourage it.