when the state sends you on annual leave
TRANSCRIPT
WHEN THE STATE SENDS YOU ON ANNUAL LEAVE… PAID ANNUAL LEAVE
July 2016
ANNUAL LEAVE: WHAT AN ACCOMPLISHMENT!
Annual leave is a right sanctioned by the Constitution of the Italian Republic: “Workers have the right to [...] paid annual holidays” (art. 36, comma 3); the Italian Civil Code states that workers “have the right to [...] an annual period of paid leave, if possible to be taken at one time”.
Even the European Union Fundamental Charter of Rights, art. 31, comma 2, states: “Every worker has the right to limitation of maximum working hours, to daily and weekly rest periods and to an annual period of paid leave”.
Has this always been the case?
No. It was something workers fought for and obtained in the twentieth century with the advent of the Welfare State, at first, just for a few categories of workers – especially employees – and for limited periods.
The Italian noun ferie comes from the Latin feriae and in the Roman world indicated the day dedicated to the cult of the Gods during which all other activities were suspended. This prohibition also stretched to the judiciary and political meetings. When Christianity spread throughout the Roman Empire the meaning of the word ferie changed to indicate non-festive weekdays dedicated to the celebrations held in honour of a Saint – from Monday (feria seconda) to Friday (feria sexta).
THE ORIGINS
ParenthesisThe difference between the Italian ferie (noun) and feriale (adjective): the former indicates a holiday period, the latter (from the Latin ferialis) a working period.
THE UNITED KINGDOM: FROM THE BANK HOLIDAY ACT…
In 1871, Parliament in the United Kingdom approved the Bank Holiday Act, a law establishing a list of non-working days.
It was proposed by John Lubbock, archaeologist, banker and cricket enthusiast, so much so that he was wont to say: bank employees should have the right to play in cricket matches.
Employees in banks in England, Ireland and Wales were given four days annual leave per years, more or less coinciding with major cricket tournaments.
... TO THE PRESENT DAY
Less than two hundred years after the Bank Holiday Act, four days have turned into four weeks obligatory annual leave; this leave is mandatory and cannot be substituted with a severance payment.
Protection & counter protectionThe general notice period for taking leave is at least twice as long as the amount of leave a worker wants to take (e.g., if they want to take two days off they must ask for them at least four days beforehand). Employers can refuse a leave request, but they must give as much notice as the amount of leave requested (e.g., if the two days are on 10/11 August, then refusal must be communicated before 8 August).
FRANCE: HOLIDAYS MAKE PEOPLE “HAPPY”
France, 1925: the Assemblée nationale approved a draft law assigning fifteen days paid annual leave to all workers. It’s a pity that the Senate did not pass the law!But in 1936, when the Front populaire was the governing party, the law was re-examined and finally passed. At that time France was the only country in Europe in which all workers had the right to annual leave; in fact for the first time that summer the French discovered what it meant to go on holiday!Léo Lagrange, Undersecretary for Sports and Free Time, defined 1936 as “the first year of happiness” and negotiated a 40% discount from the French Railways for workers travelling to the seaside or to the mountains.
In France workers accrue the right to annual leave from the first month of their contract and up to 30 days per annum (2.5 days every 4 weeks of work).They have to spend at least 24 days on holiday per year, half of which between May and October.
Long live solidarityIf you work in France and want to take a leave of absence to help others, rather than to go on holiday or because you’re sick, you can take an unpaid international solidarity leave for up to 6 months.
FRANCE: I’M GOING ON HOLIDAY, BUT TO HELP OTHERS
GERMANY: FROM ANNUAL LEAVE TO “I WORK WHEN I WANT TO”
A worker in Germany, more or less like his colleagues in Europe, has an allowance of 24 paid annual leave − Anspruch auf bezahlten Erholungsurlaub. But in Germany there is a pioneering and potentially disruptive initiative.The Trumpf company, that produces laser machines, has fine-tuned a novel organisation of labour based on flexitime: workers can choose to work from 15 to 40 hours a week and decide when they want to work.What’s more, they can take sabbatical leave for a year or work six months at half salary.Does it affect the company’s turnover? According to the owner Nicola Leibinger-Kammüller, workers are more productive and motivated. She herself is a big fan of flexitime and, unlike most of her colleagues around the world, she’s unreachable when she is not in the office.
IN ITALY. DOWN WITH DEMAGOGY!
Giuseppe Bottai, Minister of Corporations and National Education, considered holidays “practical benefits that workers never succeeded in obtaining under the demagogic placards of democracy [...]”.The Labour Charter was later inte-grated into the Italian Civil Code in 1942 and became law.
Article XVI of the Labour Charter approved by the Grand Council of Fascism in 1927 states: “After one year of uninterrupted service, an employee, in enterprises with a continuous work cycle, has the right to take a period of annual paid leave”.
YOU WANT TO UNDERPAY MY HOLIDAYS? WELL, YOU CAN’T!
Legislative Decree 66/2003 establishes the right to a minimum of 4 weeks annual leave, i.e., 28 calendar days.It is a minimum period, that can be increased by collective or individual labour agreements.Employers usually establish when annual leave can be taken: if the company closes for a certain period of time, then these holidays are called collective annual leave and in this case the worker cannot object.Annual leave is an inalienable right, so the employer is obliged to assign it and pay the worker the same salary. Any individual or collective pact envisaging reduced salary is unconstitutional.
A PATCHY RIGHT
Neither annual leave nor a weekly rest day are a legal right in the United States. The same situation exists in Australia, New Zealand, and Sri Lanka – to name but a few.However national holidays in the US are different; in fact, they are sacrosanct!But you are not entitled to be paid, even if you fall ill.
The contextIn the US employers and employees freely negotiated annual leave. On average 77% of US citizens are entitled to paid annual leave: roughly 13 days per annum.Nevertheless, since holidays are not guaranteed by law, part-time workers and lesser-paid workers feel they are penalised, and since there is no job security, they prefer not to ask for rest days.
THE JAPANESE, STAKHANOV’S REAL HEIRS
We all know that the Japanese are workaholics... so much so that they’re the only ones who have an ad hoc term to indicate death caused by work-related stress: karoshi. The phenomenon boomed in the nineties when many people lost their jobs due to the economic crisis and many others worked even harder for fear of suffering the same fate.It is an unmanageable situation, so much so that the Japanese Government proposed Statutory Annual Leave, forcing all Japanese workers to take at least 5 of the 10 days holiday envisaged by law.It is also a pro-consumption provision: a Japanese employee who works less can go out and purchase goods; this has a much-desired dual effect of boosting consumption.
ANNUAL LEAVE? NO THANK YOU!
According to Expedia’s 2015 Vacation Deprivation Study it’s not just a “service spirit” that prompts workers around the world to give up their holidays, but a whole lot of other reasons:
19% are savers, i.e., they want to accumulate this year’s holidays so that can take them together with next year’s annual leave entitlement;23% are unable to coordinate their days off with their family’s;17% prefer cash to their holidays;7% are afraid that asking for days off is frowned upon by their employer, above all in South Korea and India.
TOO MUCH WORK IS BAD FOR YOU
It increases the risk of cardiovascular disease and tires you out: this is the result of a study highlighting the link between health and too much work. Furthermore, tests have shown that every extra hour spent in the office is less productive than the previous one. Quite apart from the fact that even when we’re on holiday or simply not at the office, smart-phones, tablets etc. can force us to think about work.On average, 25% of workers check their emails and text messages once a day when they’re on holiday. We never stop, even when taking a break involves our health!
IN SEARCH OF THE RIGHT BALANCE
According to another study, workers need holidays to become more productive and motivated. However, not all employers appear to be so enlightened:
40% of workers believe that their bosses are unhappy when they have to give them holidays; they don’t want them to take time off and wish they’d take care of business even after office hours;the others, i.e., the ones who encourage their employees to take their annual leave, are considered heroes!
To invest in the wellbeing of your employees can have a positive impact on the productivity of your team, starting with the managers, who should set a good example.And when the employees get back, they’ll be much happier to work!
ANNUAL LEAVE: FOR HOW LONG?
Annual leave is becoming an outdated concept, a twentieth-century conquest that doesn’t fit in with current working conditions.Will annual leave soon disappear? A new mentality is taking root: from annual leave on jointly-decided days to flexitime, so that workers are not masters but rather co-owners of their time.
LEIBINGER-KAMMUELLER AND BRANSON. NEW HEROES!
Another example, besides the already mentioned Nicola Leibinger-Kammüller’s.Richard Branson (Virgin) has eliminated working hours; on his blog he states that his employees have to manage their own free time, it’s the results that matter:“It is left to the employee alone to decide if and when he or she feels like taking a few hours, a day, a week or a month off. The assumption being that they are only going to do it when they feel 100% comfortable that (...) their absence will not in any way damage the business - or, for that matter, their careers”Is this the beginning of a new revolution in the world of work?
Telos Analisi & Strategie Palazzo Doria PamphiljVia del Plebiscito 107Roma 00186
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