When you got sick at school, all you needed was for your parents to tell your teachers that you were not coming in and for your friends to tell you what was for homework that day. You didn’t feel too much stress unless you were missing a test.
When you grow up and get a job, you still get sick. For some, it is more stressful than others because in some countries, the social system supports sick people and they still get paid and get to rest, while in other systems, you risk getting fired if you are not feeling too well and can’t come to work.
More info: Reddit
Reddit user shared a Facebook post by an American living in the Netherlands about a culture shock, revealing how abusive the system in the US is
Getting fired for falling sick is nothing unheard of in the US. Not only do people have to pay ridiculous amounts of money for a visit to the doctor, but if their employer thinks them having a fever and not being able to come in to work is too much of an inconvenience, they will fire them.
It is because they have at-will employment, which means “that an employer can fire an employee for any reason (if it’s not illegal), or no reason, with no warning, and without having to establish just cause,” according to Better Team.
The woman moved to the Netherlands six years ago with her wife and because they were planning to live there, the women found jobs
Image credits: Mojpe (no the actual image)
They add, “All states in the U.S., excluding Montana, are at-will. Most do have exceptions, but the states of Florida, Alabama, Louisiana, Georgia, Nebraska, Maine, New York, and Rhode Island do not allow any exceptions.”
In the states that exceptions are allowed, they include public sector employment, unionized jobs, if their contract says otherwise, if the employer is discriminating, refusing to do something illegal, etc.
They were trying to figure out how it all works there and one of the questions they had were how many “sick days” they would get
But it seems that this problem of being fired over a thing you can’t control is a US problem and Americans realize how wrong it is when they move to another country. A post of a woman on Facebook who moved to the Netherlands and asked HR how many “sick days” she’d have went viral on Reddit.
The author of the post is Kimberly A. Knight, who is interested in health and wellness and is a certified nature therapy guide as well as a Veriditas trained labyrinth guide, among other things that she took up in her life, allowing the path to unfold itself on its own.
They were used to getting limited sick days if the employer was feeling generous and there weren’t a universal amount decided on a federal level
Kimberly moved to the Netherlands six years ago with her wife as her wife got a job to teach at an international school. Naturally, she wanted to find out how things work. And an important thing to discuss is the policy related to what to do when you get sick.
The woman was used to getting limited “sick days,” so she asked how many of them she’d get, and was met with a confused look as in the Netherlands, if you get sick, you don’t work until you get better.
The question was met with a confused look as in most countries around the world, including the Netherlands, you don’t plan in advance how long you will be sick
Kimberley provided a translation of Dutch law: “If you own the company in the Netherlands and one of your employees becomes ill, you must go on paying them for a maximum of two years.”
A lot of people immediately thought that this is a law that is just asking to be abused. Kimberly didn’t deny it, but she thinks that a good workplace and an understanding employee is what makes people be honest: “One reason some people might ‘abuse the system’ is that the system is toxic and broken. Workplace conditions matter. A lot. When people are paid well, treated fairly and culturally conditioned to respect work/life balance (their own and others’) it makes a big difference.”
Most countries provide paid sick leave until the person gets better, but the pay may vary depending on the country
Although, there is more nuance than just an employer paying their employees for two years. There is a page dedicated to business owners in the Netherlands all in English and it says: “You should pay: 70% of the employee’s normal wages during the first year of illness. If this amounts to less than the minimum wage, you should supplement it up to the minimum wage amount. 70% of the employee’s normal wages during the second year of illness. You do not need to supplement if the amount is less than the minimum wage. If your employee is off sick because of organ donation, pregnancy or giving birth, you need to pay 100% of their normal wages.”
They also provide information if an employer has older employees, disabled employees and if there are any other circumstances.
That made Kimberly realize that the way the US handles it is created to make the people who are already rich richer
While employees get paid less when they are sick, people in the comments believed that was still fair as the person isn’t working and it is more than most American employees do for their sick employees.
It’s not only the Netherlands who protect sick employees. According to World Population Review, “Most nations within the European Union have the best sick pay benefits in the world. However, Japan, Canada and Australia make provisions for employees to receive 66%, 55%-80%, or 100% of their pay. The United States, by the way, is the only developed country that doesn’t offer any guaranteed sick days.” Many countries in South America, Asia and Africa provide their employees with paid sick leave as well.
To people who were concerned about people abusing the system, Kimberly explained that when you have good work conditions, you won’t try to deceive anyone
Kimberly calls the American view of “sick days” idolatrous capitalism and people in the comments weren’t surprised that the US doesn’t have federal laws for this and allows employers to do as they wish.
Americans shared their experiences of being fired or knowing someone who got let go because of being sick or being forced to work while sick. Others shared that they do have paid sick days and revealed what countries they were from.
We would like you to join the conversation as well, so leave your thoughts and reactions in the comments!
The post The Netherlands Doesn’t Have The Concept Of “Sick Days” And It Came As A Surprise To This American Who Moved There first appeared on Bored Panda.
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