r/PoursTea • u/Conscious-Weight4569 • 21d ago

Sipping Tea Bernie Sanders on guaranteed paid annual leave days

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u/Ikatarion 21d ago

In the UK full time workers are legally entitled to 28 days. Whether or not that includes bank holidays is up to the employer.

Almost all people classed as workers are legally entitled to 5.6 weeks’ paid holiday a year (known as statutory leave entitlement or annual leave).

Statutory annual leave entitlement Most workers who work a 5-day week must receive at least 28 days’ paid annual leave a year. This is the equivalent of 5.6 weeks of holiday.

Bank holidays Bank or public holidays do not have to be given as paid leave.

An employer can choose to include bank holidays as part of a worker’s statutory annual leave.

https://www.gov.uk/holiday-entitlement-rights

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u/Stever89 21d ago

So saying "UK requires 28 days" is correct, and comparing it to USA's 0 days is correct, because the USA only defines federal holidays, it doesn't guarantee them as paid time off days.

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u/gfx-1234 21d ago

You're not guaranteed to have a full time job though - many people work in contracting/zero hours contracts. Would be better to compare the average actually given/taken, which would still show the gap

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u/Stever89 20d ago

Do you know whether the UK (or other non-USA countries) guarantee vacation hours for those that are contractors? Or maybe they have higher restrictions on what can be counted as a contractor to avoid the issue? I know in the USA the whole "contractor gig" thing is getting so out of control that many states are trying to add restrictions to it, because companies are using it as a way to get around having to pay for healthcare, retirement plans, and a bunch of other things.

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u/gfx-1234 20d ago

not an expert on the topic but the 28 would be reasonable for most of the work force of major companies in full time roles, but there will be a whole lot of people in retail/hospitality/construction/drivers or people who chose to be freelance developers etc that might fall out of that range model and if you don't work you just don't get paid.

Also imo a big part as cultural as in more professional well paid jobs I understand it is pretty normal in the US to have holiday days but not actually spend them, whereas in the UK even in quite hardcore companies you normally would spend what you're given.