History of leave

With the passing of mandatory paid sick leave by the Maryland legislature in January 2018 the idea for this post began as a look at the history of sick leave in the American workplace. Research revealed the reason why there are paid leave advocates. Leave from work, whether for sick or personal, is a relatively new concept as it applies to the American workplace. Still, this is probably a good topic for a little background.

During the agriculture phase of the America people worked as the farm dictated. Once the Industrial Revolution arrived factories sprung up with no shortage of workers. People lined up waiting for jobs. Employers could set wages and hours are they saw fit. There was little to no regulation. People worked six days a week for pennies an hour in deplorable conditions. If you missed work you weren’t paid or lost your job. These conditions continued well into the 20^th century until a president floated a new concept.

Starting a conversation

The idea of employee paid leave in the United States started with President William Taft in 1910 who thought that workers should have three months of vacation per year. Congress never bought into it but the conversation was started. Sixteen years later the work schedule began to change. The Ford Motor Company was one of the first, if not the biggest, company to offer employees a five day, 40 hour workweek. The policy went into effect in may 1926 at the urging of Henry Ford’s son, Edsel, who thought every man needed more than one a day a week for rest.

By the 1930’s, countries around the world had begun adopting paid time off for employees. The U.S. Department of Labor took up the fight again creating the Committee of Vacations with Pay to study why the U.S was so far behind the rest of the industrialized world. Nothing came from this committee.

It would be sixty some years later before the U.S government made significant changes. In 1993 the passage of the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) mandated twelve weeks of unpaid time off for workers to attend to their own or a family members medical issues. Leave from work agreements were, and still are, between employer and employee with no mandate for payment. While FMLA provided for leave without retribution from employers, the leave was still unpaid.  

There is not a statutory requirement for paid vacation in the U.S. Individual employers decide on what leave and type of leave to offer employees. Employer’s decisions on leave run the spectrum. A few companies are experimenting with unlimited leave while the majority offer some sort of paid time off. There are still small percentages that offer no leave.

Regarding statutory paid sick leave, currently nine U.S. states mandate it (Arizona, California, Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington). Expect that number to grow in the coming years.

Please share this and any post. See the blog archive for other posts about employee benefits.

Smoke 'em if you got 'em? August 2017

Employee implants July 2017

What's in your wallet? May 2017

Workplace monitoring May 2016

Overtime history May 2016