The World Assembly,
Highly regarding the economic security of workers, believing that it is part of the backbone of a well-functioning economy,
Realizing that the economic security of workers goes hand in hand with a healthy, growing populace,
Understanding that one such way to achieve these enviable ideals is through the secure introduction of paid leave and job security for workers everywhere, allowing those workers to care better for themselves and their loved ones,
Remaining cautious against excessively interfering with employers' operations, however, hereby:
- Defines, for this resolution:
- ”job security” as the assurance that one will likely remain in their job or a job with a similar salary, field of work, necessary skill set, set of employment benefits, work schedule, and work location now and for the foreseeable future;
- ”economic security” as having the stable income or resources to sufficiently financially support oneself and one's dependents now and in the foreseeable future, (including for one to at least afford, for oneself and one's dependents, housing, food, water, clothing, sanitation, relevant utilities, and relevant transportation that are all healthy, safe, and allow one to be able to work);
- a “worker” as any individual bound by a contract of employment who works for another party as a part of said contract; and
- ”paid leave” as time that a worker must not be required to work for their employer or any other party as part of their employment contract but during which that worker, and only that worker, still receives from their employer the same non-income benefits and job security as they would usually receive according to their contract. The employer may choose to pay that worker either the amount for them to hold economic security or that worker's regular pay, however.
- Mandates that member states have employers provide workers a minimum of the following durations of paid leave (or any higher minimums that the World Assembly may subsequently set for their respective conditions) if their contract employs them for at least sixteen weeks:
- the duration of a worker's illness or injury for recovery, but only up to eight weeks;
- the duration of a family member or dependent's illness or injury to care for the affected individual, but only up to eight weeks;
- two weeks per year for general purposes; and
- seventy-two weeks shared between each parent to care for a worker's new child, whether through childbirth, adoption, or foster care, should that child require care generally (potential caretakers are irrelevant); this does not need to be consecutive, however, if there is a single parent that takes care of their child who is taking paid leave, they are allotted ninety-six weeks, this seventy-two weeks must be used before their child is the equivalent of three years in development, and single parents must use their ninety-six weeks before their child is the equivalent of four years in development.
- Forbids member states and employers from terminating employment, reducing benefits or compensation, disciplining, penalizing, or otherwise retaliating against any worker because they filed for paid leave, because they notified their employer of events that may induce them to file for paid leave, because of any effects of their paid leave on the employer, or because they are on paid leave,
- Declares that a worker must give sufficient notice to their employer if they foresee any future events, or an event has occurred where giving advance notice was implausible, that should induce that worker to obtain paid leave,
- Allows any employer of a worker filing for paid leave to require any member state that worker is working in to provide (Clause 2 notwithstanding), throughout that paid leave, full financial compensation if the employer employs less than fifty workers, with one percent less coverage of financial compensation for every additional worker employed over forty-nine workers,
- Permits employers that pay into member state social insurance funds to claim its benefits and access these funds to provide financial compensation for paid leave if those employers did not pay into the social insurance funds with worker wages or tips to use for paid leave financial compensation, regardless of those employers’ sizes, and
- Restates and clarifies that:
- paid leave under 2a and 2b is only applicable if:
- for 2a, the illness or injury directly compromises that worker's or their co-workers' health or ability to work;
- for 2b, the illness or injury directly compromises the affected individual's health or ability to care for themselves or their dependents;
- for both 2a and 2b, the illness or injury is curable or manageable with treatment, a doctor's prescription, or natural recovery; if not, the leave ends after eight weeks; and
- for 2b, no one of closer familial relations can and will care for that family member.
- when paid leave under 2c ends, that worker must be returned to their exact same job if that job still exists, filled or unfilled;
- any member state that a worker on a contract for less than sixteen weeks that files for paid leave is working in must provide a minimum of the respective minimum paid leave time for that worker's condition of paid leave; and
- employers and member states may increase the duration of paid leave beyond the minimums listed in this resolution.
