Rumors and Truth

[Clodfobble]

Originally Posted by DanaC

I was the senior one, I was keyholder and opened up in the morning, but, at 21 I gained certain emloyment rights that I hadn't had before.

Weeeelll... that's the flip side of giving people all these guarantees and extensive rights and whatnot--people will go out of their way to avoid honoring them. We don't give 21-year-olds (or anyone) special employment rights here (I assume you're talking about required vacation time, or something along those lines?), and one consequence is no one has ever been fired for turning 21.

I read a very detailed article awhile back about how finding employment as a woman in the UK was actually much, much harder than in the US, because of the extensive maternity benefits employers are required to provide. It talked about how it was common practice to remove your wedding ring for an interview, and that while it was technically illegal, many employers required agreements from new female employees that they were not going to get pregnant. That would never happen here, because maternity benefits are much more moderate, and employers don't take a huge hit from providing them. There are drawbacks to every system.