Labor law in the US

Labor law in the US is bare bones and essentially assures people are paid for their work.That's about it.

On the Department of labor (DOL) web site it states:

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) does not require payment for time not worked, such as vacations, sick leave or federal or other holidays. These benefits are matters of agreement between an employer and an employee (or the employee's representative).


You can add the 12-weeks of unpaid time authorized by the family and medical leave Act., too. Women who were pregnant could use this time to care for their newborn child. it could be also applied to families with members who were severely ill.

However, you must have worked at a companies with 50 or more employees fir 12 months to be eligible for the 12-weeks. 

Yet the GOP threw a sissy fit when Congress introduced this act.

This is why more private sector labor unions are needed. Employees need paid vacations, paid sick leave  and holidays. They also need to be able to file grievances against stupid managers who are using bad judgment or violating the law.

Unfortunately, the union movement is very weak in the US. Most of the unions are public sector. Private sector unions only account for only 6.9 per cent of the labor force.

Labor unions help he Democratic Party win elections, but the Democrats rarely return the favor to labor. This is one of the reasons that private sector union movement is so weak.

Now the Republicans like Scott Walker are attacking the public sector unions as well.

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Hillbilly Report: America, The "No Vacation Nation"

by: Hillbilly

Sat May 28, 2011 at 17:47:52 PM EDT

The United States is the only advanced economy in the world that does not guarantee its workers paid vacation. European countries establish legal rights to at least 20 days of paid vacation per year, with legal requirement of 25 and even 30 or more days in some countries. 

Australia and New Zealand both require employers to grant at least 20 vacation days per year; Canada and Japan mandate at least 10 paid days off. 

The gap between paid time off in the United States and the rest of the world is even larger if we include legally mandated paid holidays, where the United States offers none, but most of the rest of the world's rich countries offer between five and 13 paid holidays per year. Read more.

Rightardia has known about this for many years because we had read the national wage and hour law.  Not only does the wage and hour law not address vacations, it is also silent about holidays. 

Believe it or not, Secular Human worked for a dyed in the wool Republican and his company did not let people off on the 4th of July.

How is that for patriotism.?

You could take the day off without pay, of course.

That particular company only offered three paid holidays per year. One at thanksgiving and two were  at Christmas.

Wage an hour law requires that an employee be paid and also addresses work hours and overtime. It is about as bare bones a law as you will ever read!

source: Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR)

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WIN: Ohio Passes Bill Stripping Public Worker Collective Bargaining Rights

3/30/2011

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Ohio became the most recent state to watch as decades old collective bargaining rights were stripped from hundreds of thousands of public sector workers. And the death of Ohio labor leader Bill Sams as he fought against this legislation makes the loss all the more poignant. Jesse Russell reports:

 

What’s next for Ohio workers now that the battle over SB5 moves to the Governor? Plenty. Democratic District 8 Rep. Armond Budish, during a speech against the union right’s stripping legislation on Wednesday, laid out what’s on the horizon for both public and private sector workers.

 

[Budish]: If you work in the Building Trades you’re next. There already hard at work to eliminate prevailing wages. And folks who work for a living but are not union members, don’t think you escape. You don’t escape the Republican attack on working families either. They’re coming after you. Just look at House Bill 61, for example, which would effectively limit or eliminate time and a half pay for people who work overtime –private employees.

 

After SB5 was passed ending 30 years of collective bargaining rights Democratic Rep. Debbie Phillips rose for a point of personal privilege. She paid tribute to Bill Sams, the President of the Southeastern Ohio AFL-CIO, who died of a heart attack on his way to fight the bill Wednesday:

 

[Phillips]: Bill Sams was an individual who lived what he believed everyday and he worked everyday for working families in Southeastern Ohio.

 

 

Ohio became the most recent state to watch as decades old collective bargaining rights were stripped from hundreds of thousands of public sector workers. 

 

And the death of Ohio labor leader Bill Sams as he fought against this legislation makes the loss all the more poignant. Jesse Russell reports:

 

What’s next for Ohio workers now that the battle over SB5 moves to the Governor? Plenty. Democratic District 8 Rep. 

 

Armond Budish, during a speech against the union right’s stripping legislation on Wednesday, laid out what’s on the horizon for both public and private sector workers.

 

Budish: If you work in the Building Trades you’re next. There already hard at work to eliminate prevailing wages. And folks who work for a living but are not union members, don’t think you escape. You don’t escape the Republican attack on working families either. 

 

They’re coming after you. Just look at House Bill 61, for example, which would effectively limit or eliminate time and a half pay for people who work overtime –private employees.

 

Part of the problem is that federal wage and hour law is weak. You do have the right to be paid and to receive overtime, but that's about it.  There is nothing in the law about paid holiday or vacation time.

Republicans hve been chipping away at overtime law, and also in Maine the governor there wants to relax the law on child labor.

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Rightardia allows Republican view points

This is what happened when GWB was elected.  Republicans looked the other way when it came to labor law and OSHA rules.

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NMA: Missouri lawmaker wants weaker child labor laws

February 19, 2011 7:35 pm

Missouri State Senator Jane Cunningham wants children as young as 12 to be able to go to work. The Missouri Senate is considering a bill sponsored by Cunningham that would rescind “the prohibition on employment of children under age fourteen,” thus making it legal for a child of any age to get a job.

Cunningham says she’s just trying to modernize anachronistic laws, but critics say current child labor laws are needed to prevent children from being exploited by unscrupulous employers and parents.

Some Republicans are suggesting that only the states have the right to regulate child labor and that Federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) from 1938 is null and void.  Massachusetts passed the first child labor law in 1836.


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Hillbilly Report: Service-Type Jobs Drive Working Poverty in America

by: RDemocrat
Mon Feb 15, 2010 at 12:37:12 PM EST

With the apparent death of manufacturing in America the service industry has taken over as a major employer in our country. With over 13 million workers, the restaurant industry seems to be particularly booming. However, unfortunately for the young folks growing up in this "Lost Generation" for jobs, these jobs are thankless and provide little in the way of wages, benefits and job security.

A new report by Restaurant Opportunities Centers United (ROC), an advocate group for restaurant workers, reveals that up to 90 percent of restaurant staff is not offered health insurance or sick days and, as a result, many report to work sick.

A substantial number are forced to work "off the clock" and the national median hourly wage for food preparation and service workers is only $8.59, including tips, which means that half of all restaurant workers nationwide actually earn less.

These are poverty level wages with no benefits. Despite all the corporate welfare flying around our country these businesses treat their employees as virtual slaves. They also create a huge strain on the American economy:

The report also finds that low wages and lack of job security among restaurant workers leads to increased reliance on social assistance programs resulting in an indirect subsidy to employers engaging in low road practices and fewer such public resources available to all those in need.

Justice Department Settles Lawsuit Against company who refused to reemploy veteran

Department of Justice

Office of Public Affairs

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Thursday, November 5, 2009

US labor laws are notoriously weak because of the GOP. Employers are required to pay workers for hours worked under Wage and Hour Law and that is about it. Employers aren't required to provide paid holidays or sick leave and small businesses are exempt form providing medical insurance. Wal-mart was recently called out for not providing paid sick leave.


Workers who are successful in organizing have run into companies who have refused to recognize a legal election and negotiate with the union. Other companies have closed down once a union was voted in.


In small business it is common to classify a worker as a supervisor, who does not have subordinates, to avoid paying overtime. These companies will also have a no overtime policy and require workers to work off of the clock. If you run into this situation, keep track of your overtime and file a claim with wage and hour and get a lawyer when you leave the company. The company you worked for owes you thousands of dollars. 

This situation that follows isn't covered by Wage and Hour. It is covered by the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 that protect reservists and guard troops who are called up on Active Duty.


The United States has reached a settlement that will resolve its suit filed on behalf of retired Army service member King A. Gatten against Knight Protective Service Inc.

click on graphic to enlarge

The department’s complaint, filed in September 2009, alleges that Knight willfully violated the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 (USERRA) by failing to promptly and properly reemploy Gatten upon his return from active military duty in the position he would have held had Gatten’s employment not been interrupted by his military service.

Under the terms of the settlement, embodied in a consent decree that has been submitted for approval to the federal court in Michigan, Knight must provide Gatten with $7,839.61 to compensate him for lost wages resulting from delay in restoring him to his proper reemployment position.

In its complaint, the department alleged that Knight unreasonably delayed Gatten’s reemployment for several months after he returned from active military duty and, even after reemploying him, Knight failed to reemploy Gatten as a full-time security sergeant – the position he held with Knight before he left to serve in the military.

Subject to certain limitations, USERRA requires that individuals who leave their jobs to serve in the military be promptly reemployed by their civilian employers in the same positions, or in comparable positions, as the positions that they would have held had they not left to serve in the military.

"The brave men and women who serve our country in uniform deserve at least to know that they are not sacrificing their jobs to do so," said Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division. "This settlement demonstrates the Civil Rights Division’s strong commitment to ensuring that service members’ rights under are upheld."

The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division has given a high priority to the enforcement of service members’ rights under USERRA. During 2009, the Civil Rights Division has filed 21 USERRA lawsuits on behalf of service members. Additional information about USERRA can be found on the Department of Justice Web site http://www.servicemembers.gov, and on the Labor Department Web site http://www.dol.gov/vets/programs/userra/main.htm.

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