Internationally, paid leave is widely available and in comparison U.S. policies are underdeveloped. Contrary to its international obligations[1], the United States does not require a day of rest in the week nor does it regulate the maximum length of the work week or the amount of overtime that can be required. Additionally, the United States is alone amongst advanced industrialised countries in not providing paid sick leave for employees. 145 countries provide paid sick days for short- or long-term illnesses with 127 countries providing a week or more annually.[2] At least 79 countries provide sickness benefits for 26 weeks or until recovery.[3] The majority (74) of these countries have a minimum wage replacement rate for sick leave of 50-74 percent.[4] It is evident that the United States has not kept up with its global counterparts when it comes to employee leave protection and this may be a contributing factor to the United States’ faster than average declining middle class.
[1] This is contrary to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (which the United States has adopted) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (of which the United States is a signatory) which call on states to guarantee workers “[r]easonable limitations of working hours and periodic holidays with pay”.
Jody Heymann, Alison Earle and Jeffrey Hayes, “The Work, Family, and Equity Index: How Does the United States Measure Up?” The Project on Global Working Families (2007): 7, http://www.mcgill.ca/files/ihsp/WFEI 2007.pdf (accessed September 11, 2011).
[2] Ibid., 5.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Ibid., 6.