Dozens fired after "Day with no Immigrants" protest

[Mountain Man]

it is supposed to incentivize people to get a new job instead of pretending while sitting on their butts.

Like my neighbor.

[Raphael]

A side question... can you just up and quit, or are you required to continue working against your will for a period of time?

Depends on what your contract states.
If you're casual staff than you probably don't have to give much notice.
Most staff will typically have to give at least two weeks notice, and work out that period. You could take any available leave if you didn't want to work, and you had the leave available.
Some businesses will tell you not to bother coming in to work during the notice period (and just pay you as normal) if the parting is not amicable.

More senior staff will typically have a longer notice period though.

[Sparko]

Depends on what your contract states.
If you're casual staff than you probably don't have to give much notice.
Most staff will typically have to give at least two weeks notice, and work out that period. You could take any available leave if you didn't want to work, and you had the leave available.
Some businesses will tell you not to bother coming in to work during the notice period (and just pay you as normal) if the parting is not amicable.

More senior staff will typically have a longer notice period though.

So basically the same as the US

[Starlight]

I came across this chart today. It shows the minimum paid time off as mandated by law in various Western countries. Obviously individual companies can choose to offer employees more paid days off than the legal minimum if they wish. Light blue is "public holidays" which are government-set particular days in the year that everyone gets off (e.g. Christmas, Easter, veterans day, national anniversary day etc), and dark blue is "annual leave" where an employee can choose to take a day or a week off to go on holiday or whatever. Spot the outlier!

In canada for example you can get them cut off well before 6 months, it depends on how long you worked for and the unemployment rate in your area.

Oh, interesting. I wasn't aware of Canada's policy. Reading about it, Canada sounds pretty unusual ("Canada was the last major Western country to bring in an employment insurance system"). Their system seems pretty strange as their government doesn't pay any money at all, and instead everyone pays into an employment insurance scheme which then pays out to the unemployed... very weird and American sounding. Countries in Europe and Australasia generally introduced their unemployment benefits after WWII as part of the general expansion of the welfare state that happened across most of the Western world during that period and tend to just have the government giving money to the unemployed.

[Sparko]

Every Job ever worked gave employees standard holidays and vacation and sick days

The vacation and sick days vary by company and time worked

Every job I worked has at least 2 weeks vacation after probation and a week of sick days which only went up

Last job I had 4 weeks personal time to be used for vacation or sick days and 3 grievance days for deaths in the family

And for serious illness or pregnancy theire is FMLA

[Starlight]

And for serious illness or pregnancy theire is FMLA

You know that's unpaid leave though, right? All other countries (except Papua New Guinea and Suriname) give some paid leave for pregnancy:

[mossrose]

...tend to just have the government giving money to the unemployed.

And where do you think those governments get that money? Do they pull it out of their butts?

Either way, the taxpayers pay.

[Raphael]

You know that's unpaid leave though, right? All other countries (except Papua New Guinea and Suriname) give some paid leave for pregnancy:

a little out of date now as NZ is up to 18 weeks. Paid Parental Leave. (although will note that it's equals your salary UP TO NZ$527.72/week before tax.)
Additionally mothers who weren't working qualify for the Parental Tax credit for 10 weeks (up to NZ$ 220/week)


but yes stark contrast to the US.

[One Bad Pig]

Every Job ever worked gave employees standard holidays and vacation and sick days

The vacation and sick days vary by company and time worked

Every job I worked has at least 2 weeks vacation after probation and a week of sick days which only went up

Last job I had 4 weeks personal time to be used for vacation or sick days and 3 grievance days for deaths in the family

And for serious illness or pregnancy theire is FMLA

Many people working low-paying jobs in the service industry to not get paid time off. Of course, those are usually considered entry-level jobs, not life-time employment. Most people who work in service jobs graduate to better employment or are not the primary breadwinner.

[Mountain Man]

Meanwhile, the US, in general terms, has one of the strongest economies in the world, and who do other countries run to in a crisis? The US.

So those of you criticizing us, our labor laws, and our way of life can shut the hell up. Seriously. If your country is so great then how about not looking to us next time you're in trouble.

[Starlight]

Meanwhile, the US, in general terms, has one of the strongest economies in the world, and who do other countries run to in a crisis? The US.

So those of you criticizing us, our labor laws, and our way of life can shut the hell up. Seriously. If your country is so great then how about not looking to us next time you're in trouble.

Um, dude, you tend to be the one causing the economic crises that we have to deal with. The idea that the US bails other countries out of their economic crises is laughable.

[Raphael]

Meanwhile, the US, in general terms, has one of the strongest economies in the world, and who do other countries run to in a crisis? The US.

So those of you criticizing us, our labor laws, and our way of life can shut the hell up. Seriously. If your country is so great then how about not looking to us next time you're in trouble.

MM, chill a bit. We're just comparing various labour laws and how they are different. Yes I do find some of them bizarre. But then I also had to get used to how some NZ labour laws were different to South African labour laws.


By the way

I don't think NZ has looked to the US in our times of trouble, until recently the relationship between the two countries has been somewhat frosty over NZ's anti-nuclear stance.

NZ did not run to the US when the GFC hit us, we've dug ourselves out of that and have one of the strongest economies around. Yes it's a relatively small economy, but we're a small country of only 4.5 million.

We have responded when the US has asked us for help with Iraq, with Afghanistan etc.

I think the only recent time we've asked for help was with the recent Kaikoura earthquake where a visiting US warship was asked to help rescue people stuck in Kaikoura with no way to get out (mostly tourists), and that was because the ship was already here visiting NZ (the first US warship to visit NZ in decades).

[Mountain Man]

Um, dude, you tend to be the one causing the economic crises that we have to deal with. The idea that the US bails other countries out of their economic crises is laughable.

It's naive to think the US economy doesn't impact the rest of the world, and there are more kinds of crisis than economic. It's not for nothing that the US is often called the world's police force.

[Bill the Cat]

I came across this chart today. It shows the minimum paid time off as mandated by law in various Western countries. Obviously individual companies can choose to offer employees more paid days off than the legal minimum if they wish. Light blue is "public holidays" which are government-set particular days in the year that everyone gets off (e.g. Christmas, Easter, veterans day, national anniversary day etc), and dark blue is "annual leave" where an employee can choose to take a day or a week off to go on holiday or whatever. Spot the outlier!




Oh, interesting. I wasn't aware of Canada's policy. Reading about it, Canada sounds pretty unusual ("Canada was the last major Western country to bring in an employment insurance system"). Their system seems pretty strange as their government doesn't pay any money at all, and instead everyone pays into an employment insurance scheme which then pays out to the unemployed... very weird and American sounding. Countries in Europe and Australasia generally introduced their unemployment benefits after WWII as part of the general expansion of the welfare state that happened across most of the Western world during that period and tend to just have the government giving money to the unemployed.

So, if you need petrol on Christmas morning, who is working the station to set the pump?

[rogue06]

I came across this chart today. It shows the minimum paid time off as mandated by law in various Western countries. Obviously individual companies can choose to offer employees more paid days off than the legal minimum if they wish. Light blue is "public holidays" which are government-set particular days in the year that everyone gets off (e.g. Christmas, Easter, veterans day, national anniversary day etc), and dark blue is "annual leave" where an employee can choose to take a day or a week off to go on holiday or whatever. Spot the outlier!

Must be rough on those who get sick or injured and need an ambulance or go to the hospital only to find out that nobody is working that day.