Work Reform

Part time and contractors should be included, not just FTE.

And it should be 4 weeks. To make up for all that "productivity" we already put in without time off.

Two weeks or 10 days isn't enough. Push for at least 20 days like most of the world has. Also force companies to provide sick days instead of using a shared pool. You shouldn't have to sacrifice a vacation because you got sick of had to go to the doctor.

I think this is stupid. We need the bill to be way more aggressive, ambitious, and inclusive.

Here's what needs to be happen for this bill to bring meaningful change:

1. Increase the guaranteed paid leave time to at least 20 workdays. Having just 10 workdays off is a joke, we need to raise our standards to match the rest of the developed world.
2. Expand the coverage to include part time workers and contractors. I think it's fine if part employees get slightly less guaranteed time (like 2/3 of what full timers get) and contractors get more nuanced rules, but they need to be included. If they're not then that just opens a loophole for corporations to continue not giving people the vacation time they deserve
3. Include paid sick time in the bill, and explicitly separate it from vacation time. These are not the same thing and should draw from the same pool. Guarantee all employees get a least 5 workdays of sick leave that can be expanded up to 10 workdays if the employee provides a doctor's note.
4. Add paid sick leave that is NOT paid sick time. The Federal government needs to follow the Massachusetts model where workers are eligible to take up to 20 weeks of paid medical leave for their own serious health condition, up to 12 weeks of paid family leave to care for a relative, or a combined maximum of 26 weeks per benefit year.
5. Just like MA, this money doesn't come from the employers but from the government. That means the federal government needs to create a department in every state that processes these claims and pays people properly when they need to take time off to ensure that the benefits are guaranteed.
6. Require companies to give at least 10 workdays of paid bereavement leave. Employees should be eligible to get this benefit any time a spouse or close relative passes away (parents, children, and siblings).
7. Make all 11 federal holidays (technically 12 with Inauguration Day, but that happens once every 4 years) paid by default, and add election day as the 12th annual paid federal holiday.
8. Include a stipulation that mandates companies to provide a paid day off for any holiday that falls on a weekend either the Friday before or Monday after. Employers also need to provide essential workers that need to work on holidays, their paid day off within one week before or after the holiday.
9. Provide guaranteed paid maternity leave for up to 24 weeks all mothers for every child, where they are eligible to start their leave at 4 weeks prenatal. Just like with the sick leave, the federal government will guarantee 100% of their pay for all 24 weeks.
10. Provide guaranteed paid paternity leave for up to 16 weeks. Fathers also need to bond and take care of their newborns as well as the mother of their children. The federal government will guarantee the first 12 weeks with 100% pay, and the last 4 with 67% pay.
11. Have the federal government guarantee paid time at full rates for any mandatory time off taken for civic duties like jury duty.
12. Mandate employers provide employees with at least 5 paid workdays that count as personal days that can be taken for any personal reason such emergencies, ceremonies, errands, or extra sick time or vacation time.
13. The federal government needs to explicitly ban employers from firing or retaliating against employees for taking any of the time off provided and guaranteed by the bill, maintain their health insurance while they're gone, and be legally required to give employees their jobs back or provide them with an equivalent position that has the pay and benefits once they're back.

Now THIS is a serious bill. It guarantees a generous 42 workdays (20 vacation + 5 sick time + 5 personal days + 12 holidays) worth of paid time off annually which finally puts this country not just on on par with the rest of the developed world, but ahead. If the US is to serve as the leader of the free world, this is how it has to be done. This on top of the mandatory employment protections and extra paid time off for specific scenarios, makes this a truly worker friendly country. This kind of bill would increase happiness, improve health, and reduce stress for hundreds of millions of people.

Now, I'm not naive, I know Republicans and corporate Democrats will try to water this down. However, even if we only end up getting 2/3 or even 1/2 of the benefits and guarantees on this bill then that's still a huge win. You have to start negotiations from a high a place so you'll end up with something that's at least acceptable. What Bernie proposed is starting from a low place to appease people who are genuinely greedy and apathetic to the point of being evil. You can't do that. You have to hit them hard and rally the people on your side. People will whine about me letting perfect be the enemy of good, but I'm not. I'm against letting mediocrity stop us from achieving anything meaningful. If the Democrats did less performative shit and focus on real change like my hypothetical expanded bill, they would sweep the GOP into oblivion.

Wait - so currently it is legal for employers in the US to give ZERO vacation days to employees? Jeez, what kinda shithole country is the US?

We have more than 20 in Poland. 26 at least. I think You can use up to 28. Plus , obviously sick days, which don't have a limit and more than 10 holidays every year. And You can score an additional 2 every 2 months if You're a blood donor. I've had a week of every 2 months this year and I'm not even through a third of my paid leave.

Crazy that we're fighting to achieve some of the lowest time-off standards in the developed world.

It's again and again baffling how backwards the US are. We've had four weeks minimum since before I was born, and I'm an ageing millennial

"Rise in the number of part time employees surges as employers exploit this one loophole."

neat. i’m salaried and have “unlimited flex time off” which means “you're kept so busy with mismanagement of projects if you leave for two weeks you’ll screw your peers over.”

I don't understand why the US hasn't got powerful unions to defend workers rights. Don't people organise themselves!?

10 days a year is ridiculously few

Australia has 20 but...

Also 10 national paid public holidays, 10 sick/carers leave, 10 domestic violence leave, 12 weeks parental leave + a government paid 6 months parental leave and lastly long service leave of 3 months after 10 years service + a bonus 10 days per year long service leave per year after that.

Not to mention the taxadvantaged employer paid 12% retirement investment account accessible at 60.

Y'all need to join unions.

France adds on another 15 days of holidays, which can be taken at any time, not just on national holidays. It's a total of 8 weeks.

I have 24 days Paid Leaves here in Bulgaria. The thing is: if you do not take them all over the calendar year, they roll over to the next year, but by law the company must keep the cash on hand to pay them out. I was regularly starting the year with over 20 accrued days. And so were several 100s of colleagues. This has gotten so bad and froze so much cash that the company is now giving an extra 2 days if you use all your days before the end of the year. Sweet deal!

He can introduce the most sane, rational, logical bills this country has ever seen, and there's no chance of it passing until after the 2028 election at best. Even with the current progressive momentum, there simply aren't going to be enough votes to pass anything good unless progressives rout everybody else in both this year and the 2028 elections.

Shocking

Here in France I have 35 (not including national holidays).

Good Ol' Bernie, still trying to do nice things for everybody... The world would have been different if he would have been elected.

In Sweden we got 2 weeks in 1938...

Probably worth mentioning that many of the countries with 20 days paid vacation have 20 business days of paid vacation, which in practice works out to four weeks. Countries that have a multiple of seven are probably going by calendar day which is essentially the same.

In China currently it starts with 18 annual leave days and 12 sick days. Than every year, more annual leave days are added.