[swongel]

It's an interesting topic, I think a comment could't accommodate all the differences between the labor markets.

I'll say this much, our justice systems in western Europe (with the exception of the UK) are based on civil law you could find more about this on Wikipedia to find sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_law

When it comes to contractors, yes they have less rights (at-will employment, no PTO, no sick-days etc. etc. etc.) So yes it does side-step labor protections but it's more expensive, also in my country at least contractors are required to get disability insurance and not everyone can be considered a contractor. If a judge finds that a contractor actually more resembles an employer (so not being independent of the company hiring), they will retro-actively be considered an employee. (This has happened with Uber drivers for instance)

Some of the protections employees enjoy over here are:

- Not being fired unless the labor board approves (which required documentation from the employees, and them to follow strict labor rules).

- At least 4 weeks PTO.

- Up to 2 years of continues sick-days, (with a doctors note) (after which you'd get fired and get social security)

- After being fired you'd get 1 month of continued salary for each year you were employed, until you find new work

- Paid Maternity/paternity leave

- The right to bargain for a collective bargaining agreement which allows for additional minimum rights/salaries to be applied to all workers within a field

- The right to ignore your boss after hours unless additional consideration (salary) is offered and time schedules are agreed upon

- The right for employees to have a employee-board whenever there's at least 50 employees within a company/org

- The right for employees to keep their jobs if they become disabled (if possible, judged by the labor board not the employer)

When it comes to costs/salaries, I reckon it'd highly depend on the region/job market/sector.

[ericmay]

Thanks! I think there are some good things here for sure. I think I'd have to really sit down and go over these to better understand the trade-offs but I wasn't aware of a few of these like the right to have 2 years off continuously for sick days.

> When it comes to costs/salaries, I reckon it'd highly depend on the region/job market/sector.

I do want to bring this conversation back to make sure we're still talking about tech workers per my original comment.

> I'll say this much, our justice systems in western Europe (with the exception of the UK) are based on civil law you could find more about this on Wikipedia to find sources

Thanks for the link. I really like the common law approach myself. It's interesting that you noted that common law was based on strict contract interpretations (which I think you noted in a negative context since one was considered reasonable but the other wasn't) but then at the same time common law tends to be more predictable (according to the article) versus civil law since case precedence acts as law. I guess it depends on your interpretation of reasonable. As an American I'd want the law to be applied equally no matter who you are, but that's my culture and lens. I also like that it's flexible and, again noted by the article, able to cope with social changes better. With respect to contracts I think I prefer to enforce what was written - how else do you know what the contract is then?