The FMLA has many restrictions. Employees must have worked at their company for more than 12 months. They also must have worked at least 1,250 hours during the previous year. Smaller employers are not required to provide FMLA leave to their employees. If a company employs fewer than 50 people within 75 miles of the employeeâs worksite, the employee does not qualify for FMLA leave.
Austria, which guarantees workers the most time off, has a legal minimum of 22 paid vacation days and 13 paid holidays each year. The average private sector U.S. worker receives 16 paid vacation days and holidays. One in four Americans does not have a single paid day off.
The typical U.S. worker at a private company gets 10 days of paid vacation and six paid holidays per year. That is markedly less than what employees in Europe receive. France has the most generous vacation policy, mandating a minimum of 30 paid days off per year. The U.K. comes in at No. 2, at 28 vacation days, followed by Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden (25 days). This, too, is a matter of law. The European Union in 1993 required all member countries to set a minimum of 20 days of paid vacation days per year. Only Japan is stingier with paid time off than the U.S. among advanced economies, with the average worker there getting no paid holidays along with 10 paid vacation days.