How much leave should American private sector employees be entitled to take?

[Damocles]

Together with some of the Pacific island countries, the United States is one of the only countries in the world not to have a statutory minimum amount of leave for private sector employees. To give some examples of paid minimum leave for private sector employees around the world:

In member countries of the European Union, private sector employees are entitled to not less than 20 days off provided by their employer, plus any public holidays the country may designate.

In Colombia, private sector employees are entitled to not less than 15 days off provided by their employer, plus 18 public holidays.

In Angola, private sector employees are entitled to not less than 22 days off provided by their employer, plus 11 public holidays.

In each of the above cases, the minimum leave requirement applies to working days. It does not include weekends.

How much leave should American private sector employees be entitled to take? Should this include public holidays? How many days off should an employer be required to offer? What would be the benefits and drawbacks of such a policy? Discuss.

My personal opinion on the matter:

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Private employers should be required to offer a statutory minimum amount of 20 days off per year, plus one day off for each of 11 federal holidays. If taken in parts, one of the leaves should be not less than 10 days in length, not including weekends or federal holidays. There should be additional days for congressional and presidential elections, and a presidential inauguration. Thus, the highest minimum amount of days off would be 32 working days per year. Private sector employees should be required to use all of their leave days, and should not be allowed to roll them over to subsequent years. States would always be free to add more days off, if there is a holiday of state significance they wish to designate.

There are substantial benefits to a minimum annual leave policy like the one I described. Limiting workforce exhaustion and burnout is critical to maintaining the American workforce's physical and mental health. It can also provide common days off, to reinforce social cohesion and feelings of civil belonging. It can also provide a substantial boost to the tourism sector, by encouraging workers to travel to different parts of the country. It also establishes a minimum legal standard that all private sector employers are required to abide by, thus preventing a "race to the bottom." Equally, it also arrests more workaholic tendencies among workers.

[Damocles]

30 days or slightly more, what's pretty much the norm in Germany (although mandatory by law is just 24 days).

I have 30 days of paid vacation and up to six weeks paid sick leave. I don't know why this is not possible in America. Certainly doesn't harm the economy, as proven in other countries. More time for vacation and private life actually increases productivity.

It sure would be nice to take two workweeks off and fly to Europe and spend some time there. That's 16 calendar days off - one day to fly in, two weeks to spend in Europe, and one day to fly home. It's long enough to make the big yeet across the Atlantic worth it. It would hardly be a bad thing!