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Assuming one can afford six-weeks of protected but unpaid leave. Many expecting mothers cannot!
Let's once again try to broaden our horizon, shall we?!
Mutterschutz/Vaterschutz
This Austrian policy provides employment protection for expecting mothers. These individuals enjoy special protection against job dismissal when they inform their employers of pregnancy. Expecting mothers cannot be made to work hard labor assignments, graveyard shifts, weekends, or public holidays. In addition, this policy does not allow pregnant women to be employed during a period of eight weeks prior to the expected delivery date or eight weeks following the actual delivery date. During this sixteen week period, however, mothers receive a form of maternity benefit called “Wochengeld” as a form of health insurance.
ADDED: Actually during the sixteen week period (eight before, eight after date of birth), the employee is expressly forbidden to employ the expecting mother. Salary, health insurance, and pension benefits accrue and are paid thru the mandatory health insurance. Also, as soon as the expecting mother notifies the employer of the pregnancy and provides a medical attest to that effect, any dismissal is null and void and unlawful.
Parental Leave
In Austria, families who opt to have one parent remain at home taking care of the child and one working receive more financial support than the same family structure does in many other countries. The parent who takes the parental leave (usually the female) will typically take it for the maximum amount of time and will not search for a flexible care alternative.
Austria allows for any parent who cared for the child to be eligible for a government-paid allowance regardless of their participation in the labor force. Despite this fact, only two percent of recipients are male. Most of the family care leave policies have originated in the center-right and right-wing political parties. These policies are based on the idea that the family is an important institution for society.
ADDED: I opted to stay home with our first- and, subsequently, second-borne for an additional 16 months each after the end of the maternal leave. That neted us about $600/mo. (no taxes on that amount) in extra payments. Also, you probably will want to read the underlined part twice or thrice. Imagine our right-wing party in the US advocating family care leave policies!!!!
Karenzurlab
Parental leave policy in Austria is quite good in the early years of a child’s life. It allows for 16 weeks of maternity leave with payment and regular employment leave for the first two years of the child’s life (18 months for one parent and 6 months for the other). Besides one month, both parents cannot take the leave at the same time.
There are two main rules with relation to those in the parental leave program.
They must be allowed to earn a marginal amount of money (up to 15% of APE earnings). [APE is the Average earnings of a Production Employee].
They are allowed to return to their original place of employment at the end of the two years of leave. This does not entitle the employee to adjust their working schedule around their childcare needs.
And let's not even mention that we also receive child support (not need based; it's just available to everyone) amounting to $550/mo. for two underage children. And that is not in the form of a tax credit, but cold, hard cash into our checking account every month!!
So, it all can be done. It is just a matter of societal priorities: individual greed vs. societal happiness, etc.
Quote:
Originally Posted by NJBest
Maternity leave is required by law. It's as much of a right as can be.
Last edited by matt_in_atl; 01-12-2013 at 04:00 PM..
This is why America is NOT the greatest country in the world. We see sick days and maternity leave as "benefits" and not human rights. What a shame. No wonder the world looks down on us...we have an inferior way of thinking and even more barbaric way of living.
To the person who cited wiki and other countries, thank you so much! America could learn a lot from civilized countries (and no, I don't consider America to be civilized). See France and Sweden as examples.
If you think Europe is so great (Please remember: we have two World Wars and plenty of graves to remind us of what happens when their crazies and the bottom-of-the-barrel get together) please haul your sorry self over there and stop messing things up for those of us who still believe that opportunity and responsibility are interconnected.
You forgot to mention the suck-ass health insurance arrangements (i.e., cancer = bankruptcy), inadequate sick time policies prevalent in the US, and, and, and...
Unfortunately those who don't make it, never post on this forum.
P.S.: I went thru cancer myself here in the US, but probably nothing like the poster. Nevertheless, I was insured in the US and Continental Europe. Eventually treatment at a cost of $0 in a Center of Excellence in Europe far outweighed (even at the price of a 1st-class ticket) the health-care costs here in the US.
P.S.: I get quite worked-up on issues of health care, social justice, etc. Fact is, the average American does not even have the beginnings of a clue how far down the bottom of the barrel they are!
P.P.S.: Just to illustrate to those technically inclined. China just opened another high-speed train traverse covering approx. 2,500 km at an average speed of 250 mph. That's the distance of NYC-Miami; except that our Amtrak travels at 30 mph!
Quote:
Originally Posted by D. Scott
You are a rock! Working, while dealing with the inconsiderate roommate and getting through it is an incredible accomplishment. Hoping your health improves further. Cannot imagine the stress you endured.
The minimum I paid was $34.24/hr and I had to include $18.33/hr in fringe benefits for a total of $52.57/hr.
From that I could deduct any actual costs of fringe benefits from the $18.33/hr so if I the employees health insurance cost me $8,000 per year I could deduct $4.00/hr from the $18.33 so his check amount would be $48.57/hr.
When you work overtime I pay time and a half on the $34.24 but the $18.33 was not subject to time and a half.
I've signed many a payroll check in excess of $2,000 take home pay for the week.
So I should act all giggly and stuff just because someone decides to go to work for me?
You get 31 days off a year! Just days too, that is 6 weeks of. A 5 day work week. That is good! I have seen jobs like that. No sick time, but the PTO days and vacation days can be used as sick time. So basically you get 4 weeks to use as vacation mixed with 10 holidays. Can't imagine what holidays you have off (valentines day, Martin luther king day and the usual). That is better thqn most. I get 6 holidays and used to be only 3 a year with the old job.
Since you asked, the 10 paid holidays that we get are New Years Day, Presidents Day, Memorial Day, 4th of July, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, Friday after Thanksgiving, Christmas, plus 2 more days during the Christmas week.
Quote:
You have it quite well man. Your average person doesn't get sick for a week every year. If they do its usually the "I'm too sick to go to work", but they feel better for going out to a movie 6 hours later. These people are the ones who waste sick pay and usually complain.
Yes, since I have been relatively healthy, getting extra vacation and personal time (but not getting sick time) has been a benefit, since it is time off that I can use whenever it is approved. There are negatives, however. First of all, it encourages employees with contageous illnesses to come to work, since they don't want to waste their "vacation" time, and they can get others sick. Also, if you plan a non-refundable vacation, and you get sick sometime before, all of your vacation time could end up wiped out.
At my previous job, we got 13 vacation days per year, 13 sick days per year, and 11 holidays per year. Since I almost never used any sick days, I had a large balance of sick time saved up by the time I left that company. In one way, I liked having that balance of sick time as an "insurance" policy, in case I had a very serious illness that kept me away from work for an extended amount of time, such as a heart attack. It would have been nice to have a large bank of sick time so that I wouldn't have to worry about when I return to work. On the other hand, that was a lot of wasted time off when I left that I was not able to use and did not get paid for. Also, it was frustrating seeing how, for the dishonest employees, that was basically 26 days of "vacation" time, while I had to settle for only 13.
A funny story at my previous job: although it was technically against the rules, an unwritten rule is that we were allowed to use sick time for "personal" absences. A married, male employee decided to use a sick day to go to a water park with a woman who was not his wife. His claim was that it was considered a "personal" absence, since it was with a woman who wasn't his wife. The time off was approved!
Given how the dishonest people at my company manipulated the sick time to their benefit, but I was honest and never comfortable doing such a thing, overall, I think I benefit more from my current company's policy. Though if I have a serious health problem later in life, such as a heart attack, I'd probably prefer my old company's policy.
So in other words, they NEED employees. What an epiphany. Maybe they should act like it.
Maybe... I always thought the interdependent relationship of employers and employees was commonly understood. A handshake occurs (referencing matchmaking) when desired skills are met with desired compensation. There's a great great great piece of research coming out of CMU regarding matchmaking of groups of people within a general populace and relating it back to economic theory. I know the proposal is due in February. You should be able to get glimpses of the individual studies in journals as early as March.
As I am an American also. May I suggest that you haul your ass off to Somalia.
Last I heard is that there is no government, no gun control, every man/woman for him/herself.
Should suit you just fine: plenty of opportunity and responsibility!
In the meantime, allow us to form a more perfect union!
Quote:
Originally Posted by 2nd trick op
If you think Europe is so great (Please remember: we have two World Wars and plenty of graves to remind us of what happens when their crazies and the bottom-of-the-barrel get together) please haul your sorry self over there and stop messing things up for those of us who still believe that opportunity and responsibility are interconnected.
Last edited by matt_in_atl; 01-12-2013 at 05:18 PM..
That is TOTAL BULL but something I hear quite often.
You can eat a very healthy, natural, fresh fruit and vegetable diet. Next day, you might experience a case of food poisoning. Voila, you are SICK...;
For many cancers, we still don't know how they come about. Many types of cancers have no connection to environmental exposure, personal lifestyle, genetic traits but just happen because of random mutations. Voila, you are SICK...;
My daughter was on a playground last week, fell and broke her elbow. Bad luck. If she were in an environment requiring the use of both arms. Voila, you are SICK...
And it goes on and on and on...if it were a personal choice as to whether one gets sick, and thus requires sick days, I'd venture that nobody would ever volunteer to get sick (or die for that matter.)
P.S.: With only five years of "working life" you appear to be a young grasshopper, still believing in your own invincibility. Time will tell if you get old enough to wise up.
What people forget is that they tend to not be sick for very many days in a typical year, but then they get an extended illness or injury where they are sick for a long time. I had a professor in college who, at the time that I was in his class, he had missed only 1 day in his entire career due to being sick. He was an older person, at least in his 60s, not a "young grasshoper". On the day of our final exam, he was in a bicycle accident, and broke his hip, and missed the entire following semester! His accident was in May 1998 and he didn't return to work until January 1999. That was someone who, until then, missed only 1 day of work in his entire career.
Everybody is invincible! Certainly I am. Until the day comes...and it will come.
Actually, it has come and passed. But only because I have and had a whole society/ country to support me at-large.
If it is every man/woman for him/herself, we are doomed.
P.S.:
Co-pay, $0, deductible, $0.
Right out of Star Trek. Right out of my hometown.
What people forget is that they tend to not be sick for very many days in a typical year, but then they get an extended illness or injury where they are sick for a long time. I had a professor in college who, at the time that I was in his class, he had missed only 1 day in his entire career due to being sick. He was an older person, at least in his 60s, not a "young grasshoper". On the day of our final exam, he was in a bicycle accident, and broke his hip, and missed the entire following semester! His accident was in May 1998 and he didn't return to work until January 1999. That was someone who, until then, missed only 1 day of work in his entire career.
Last edited by matt_in_atl; 01-12-2013 at 05:29 PM..
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