Labor laws – Top 5 countries with best labor laws

Last updated on January 24th, 2024 at 06:27 am

Workers across the world are given various rights by the countries they are employed in. These rights are as fundamental as their right to overtime pay to right to raise their voice through protests and demonstrations and right to form unions. The top five countries are explored here, from the point of view of employees, with best worker laws and their labor traditions.

1) Austria:

Though the Central European country does not have a minimum wage provision for employees, sectors including education provide their workers with a minimum wage.

What makes Austria a favorable country for employment is the number of paid holidays it offers to workers – a total of 43 paid days off work per year (excluding parental leave). The country is also highly inclusive of disabled workers – one disabled worker out of every 25 workers.

2) Belgium:

There is no set minimum wage in Belgium. So, all sectors decide the minimum wage for its employees, per case. But as compared to other European nations, the country offers some of the highest wages.

Talking about parental leave, the country can do better. At present, Belgium offers three months of maternal leave but only 10 days of paternity leave.

3) Denmark:

Wages and salaries in Denmark are decided through collective agreement. The labor law in Denmark does not allow any discrimination in hiring process or terminating contracts – the reason being workers are part of unions.

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4) Finland:

Finland is known for its employee friendly legislations. The employees are given 105 weekdays of paid maternity leave and paternity leave is for 54 days. Now, according to the new parental leave law reform, the parental leave will be extended to 164 days effective 2021.

Workers are also provided freedom to create and join trade unions, offering healthy working environment to all employees.

5) Germany:

Germany is known to offer some of the best employment laws globally. Workers are entitled to minimum 20 days off from work in a year. Maternity leave extends to 13 weeks, including six weeks that can be taken before delivery. Furthermore, fathers can share a three year leave with their partners. This means that together parents can chalk out a system to balance their work off to take care of child until the age of three years.

Workers’ rights are foundational requirement for any organization to work smoothly. When employees are provided clear labor laws, the working conditions become more harmonious for all.