GA Proposal: Paid Leave Act

[Wischland]

Paid Leave Act

A resolution to enact uniform standards that protect workers, consumers, and the general public.

Category: Regulation

Area of Effect: Labour Rights

Proposed by: Minskiev

The World Assembly,

Accepting that economic growth follows the economic security of workers,

Hoping to both achieve economic security as well as a healthy, growing populace,

Understanding that one such way to achieve these ideals is through paid leave and securing jobs for workers for them to care for themselves and their loved ones, however careful not to excessively interfere with employers' operations,

Hereby:

1. Defines for this resolution:

a. economic security as having a stable income or resources to sufficiently support oneself and one's dependents now and in the foreseeable future;

b. a worker as any individual bound by a contract of employment who works for or services another party as a part of said contract; and

c. paid leave as time which an employer must not require a worker to work for or service another party per their employment contract, during which the worker receives from their employer:

i. compensation sufficient to financially support themselves and their dependents if the receiving worker requires it for economic security;

ii. all non-income benefits that the worker would normally receive that could take away economic security from a worker without it; and

iii. the right to the same job or a job with a similar salary, field of work, necessary skill set, set of employment benefits, work schedule, and work location, once the worker returns from paid leave, should the employer be able to provide it without bankrupting themselves.

2. Mandates that member states provide workers requesting paid leave a minimum of the following durations of paid leave or any higher limits that the World Assembly may subsequently set for their respective conditions:

a. the duration of the worker's illness or injury to recover if the illness or injury directly compromises the worker's or their co-workers' ability to work, unless it is an irreversible illness or injury, in which case the minimum would be four weeks;

b. the duration of the worker's spouse's, child's, parent's, grandparent's, or dependent's illness or injury to care for the affected individual if the illness or injury directly compromises their ability to function, unless it is an irreversible illness or injury, in which case the minimum would be six weeks, should the affected individual require such care from the worker;

c. two weeks per year for general purposes; and

d. twelve weeks to care for the worker's new child, whether from childbirth, adoption, or placement of the new child in foster care, should that child require such care from the worker.

3. Forbids employers from terminating the employment of a worker, reducing the benefits or compensation of a worker, or disciplining a worker with the reason being the worker filed for paid leave, and forbids employers from terminating the employment of a worker while they are on paid leave,

4. Declares that workers must alert their employers as soon as they are aware of any foreseeable events or conditions that may induce the worker to file for paid leave in the future,

5. Restates and clarifies that:

a. member states and employers may not impose conditions for granting paid leave;

b. the paid leave minimums only apply to workers on contracts for at least twelve weeks longer than the minimum paid leave duration of the worker's respective condition for paid leave;

c. only the filing worker is granted paid leave;

d. paid leave under 2d ends when the worker's child no longer requires care from the worker if it is within the twelve weeks;

e. member states pay the financial compensation outlined in 1ci unless it is general-purposes paid leave, in which case the filing worker's employer pays, however, employers of workers filing for general-purposes paid leave may force the workers' member states to provide the financial compensation throughout the paid leave if the employer employs less than fifty workers; and

f. employers and member states may increase the duration of paid leave beyond the minimums listed in this resolution.

This is the discussion thread. To cast your vote, go HERE

[Wischland]

Further Resources:

See NS Forum Debate HERE

[Deleted]

The repeal was of poor quality and so is this replacement.

[Xanthorrhoea]

I'll personally vote against this, lots of loopholes. The big one is clause 1ci: "compensation sufficient to financially support themselves and their dependents if the receiving worker requires it for economic security." Firstly, if your only job is part-time and you get leave, your employer has to pay you more during leave than your base rate when working (enough to support you/your dependents). Second, if your partner has a well-paying job, then your employer can pay you nothing, as you're already financially secure. Hard pass on this alone.

[Vivolkha]

Yeah, this proposal seems good on paper but in practice is written in a somewhat strange way. The heart was probably in the right place, but it seems like in the attempt to guarantee generous economic security for both workers and employers, numerous loopholes and absurd possibilities were introduced. See Xanthorrhoea 's comment on 1ci, but I would extend it to the entirety of 1c (relying on exploitable language such as "economic security", "(...) without bankrupting themselves"). I also find the given definition of economic security (1a) the source of many of this proposal's problems, as it is both sweeping and vague to the point it can be exploited by both workers and employers in a manner against the spirit (but not the letter) of the proposal.

Against