[1] The vast majority of countries today mandate a minimum amount of paid annual leave by law.
[3] Most countries have labour laws that mandate employers give a certain number of paid time-off days per year to workers.
[4] An additional fourth week is provided to federally regulated workers after working for a further number of years.
Workers also have the legal right to paternity/maternity pay as part of this, as well as requesting holiday at the same time as sick leave.
[12] Due to the lack of federal legislative requirements, paid leave in the US is mainly a matter of employment contracts and labor union agreements.
[15] According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics in the United States, the average paid holidays for full-time employees in small private establishments in 1996 was 7.6 days.