PTO in the USA

Legally, as the Center for Economic and Policy Research reminded us last week in a reported entitled “No-Vacation Nation Revisted,” there is no national law requiring employers to offer holidays or vacations as there is in every other industrialized nation. We do have unpaid family leave — it’s even paid in a few places — but there too the U.S. is out of step with the rest of the rich world. Individual employers, of course, can offer what they choose.

Pacific Standard is reminding us that the vacation policies in the U.S. could be vastly improved, and although Congressman Alan Grayson’s Paid Vacation Act is unlikely to pass, we should start thinking about how to improve our time-off practices (though we’re still better off than Japan).

Photo: Moyan Brenn

Support The Billfold

The Billfold continues to exist thanks to support from our readers. Help us continue to do our work by making a monthly pledge on Patreon or a one-time-only contribution through PayPal.