Work-Family Legislation in the United States, Canada, and Western Europe: A Quantitative Comparison
Abstract
The author was asked to compare the level of labor standards in the Federal Jurisdiction and the thirteen Canadian provinces and territories with similar labor standards in the United States and Western Europe. While there is no generally accepted measure of the adequacy of labor standards, Block and Roberts, and Block, Roberts, and Clarke, have developed a methodology for measuring labor standards that relies on benchmarking with similar labor standards in other jurisdictions or countries that are comparable in levels of development. Using this methodology, one can obtain a measure of the level of labor standards in any political jurisdiction relative to all other jurisdictions analyzed.
The basic premise of the Block, Roberts, and Clarke methodology is that there is no such thing as an objectively appropriate level of labor standards for a jurisdiction, but one can determine the level of labor standards provided by other, comparable jurisdictions. To the extent the political jurisdictions are comparable, the analysis will provide data on the level of labor standards in the political jurisdiction relative to comparable political jurisdictions. Policymakers can then use this analysis to determine if the level of labor standards in any of the political jurisdictions analyzed should be adjusted.
As an aid to the Commission, the author used the Block, Roberts, and Clarke methodology to provide the Commission with a report analyzing the level of six core labor standards governed by Part III of the Canada Labour Code to workers in the Canadian Federal Jurisdiction: (1) minimum wage, (2) hours of work, (3) holidays and vacations, (4) individual termination of employment, (5) sick and family leave, and (6) group/mass terminations. This paper will focus on the analysis of the provisions that are oriented toward work and family, provisions related to vacations/annual leave, and provisions for family-related leave. The rationale for considering vacations is that such standards permit employees to spend extended time with their families. The rationale for including family-related leave is that such standards permit employees to strike a balance between work and family.
The research for the Commission analyzed the Canadian jurisdictions vis-A-vis the states in the United States and vis-A-vis countries in Western Europe. The analysis presented in this paper will be a three-way analysis involving Canada, the United States, and Western Europe.