On October 19, 2015 at 18:14, simoneales said...
Just wondering what people think should be the minimum wage in the states, and can someone actually live on that wage?
In Australia, our lowest paid get minimum $37,500 a year.
They also get:
Average 12 paid public holidays (varies a little depending on which state you are in)
5-8 paid sick days which accumulate if unused
4 weeks paid vacation which accumulates if unused
Long service leave of about a week a year (available after 7 years with same company)
Paid maternity leave for 6 months (paid by government)
No reliance on tips to make ends meet, although we actually do often tip if service is good.
not the states, but here in Quebec Canada (some are provincially regulated like wage and holidays)
minimum wage is 10.55/h (9.05/h for jobs that have tips)
if I am not mistaken there are 9 official public holidays
minimum Vacation pay start at 4% (i.e. 2 weeks a year for a normal job, but for something like a summer job as a student he might not have any vacation and get a 4% "vacation pay" at the end of the summer - but most companies start at 3 weeks for permanent employees)
"Maternity" is a bit complicated.
if we are talking job security it is
Maternity leave 18 weeks (continuous - can start before birth)
Paternity leave 5 weeks (continuous - can start before birth)
there is also a Parental leave of 52 weeks for either parent. (not necessarily continuous).
but that does not include pay, just that you get back to work as if nothing happened.
For pay the employer does not need to pay anything (but many do by topping off in part for some time)
QPIP (government) pays and there it is tricky since there are options and none will cover the full 70 months( a mom that takes off 18+52). for example (longer case of being paid) a mother can take 18 months Maternitity @70%+ 7 months parental @70%+ 25 month @55% and 0 past that.
which is why we usually discuss it as being a year (50 paid weeks+ 2 weeks vacation and then she goes back instead of more weeks at 0%
