Benefits That Are Employee Rights

Contrary to most beliefs, employers are not required by any employee rights law to provide benefits that are traditionally provided by companies.

Except for a few laws that require the provision of certain employee benefits, most employee benefits are given at the discretion of the employers.

Examples of employee benefits that are not under employee rights are:

Vacation leave

Sick leave

Paid holiday

Rest or meal breaks

Health /Life insurance

However, once an employer decides to provide certain employee benefits then all the employees should be entitled to those benefits.

The employer though can impose limitations and restrictions on certain employee benefits but the employees should be aware of these limitations and restrictions through a binding contract between the employers and the employees.


BENEFITS REQUIRED BY LAW

Employee rights require most companies to provide employees with Social Security Benefits, Unemployment Insurance, and Workers Compensation insurance.

Companies who have 50 or more employees are also required to provide their employees with unpaid family and medical leave benefit.


Social Security

Under Title II of the Social Security Act, employees eligible will be receiving compensation for RSDI (Retirement, Survivor, and Disability Insurance) benefits.

Under the Federal Insurance Contributions Act and Self-Employment Contributions Act, all employees are compelled to pay their Social Security taxes.

These contributions are also matched by the employers.

To be eligible, an employee must be fully insured and must meet the requirements of the benefit applied for.

To be fully insured, the employee must garner enough credits through monthly contributions of Social Security taxes.


Unemployment Insurance

This refers to compensation given to unemployed persons who lost their job through no fault of their own.

Workers who qualify will receive weekly stipends up to 26 weeks.

The amount will be dependent upon the wage that the employee was receiving before he/she lost his/her job.

However, not all who lost their job are qualified for Unemployment insurance.
You are not qualified if:

You quit your job without just cause For an employees reason to be accepted as good cause, the worker should be faced with conditions that is so compelling that he/she has no other choice but to leave his/her position.

You have been discharged for misconduct An employee who is discharged for misconduct is not eligible unless he/she proves that the discharge is unfair.

You refused suitable work while unemployed Unemployed individuals must actively seek other work and meet the required number of contacts per week. If an individual refuses a genuine job-offer then his/her unemployment insurance will be terminated.


Workers Compensation

This benefit provides compensation for workers and employees who sustained harm, injured, or become sick as a result of work-related reasons.

All 50 states have their own laws that are passed to provide financial protection for injured employees.

The only disadvantage of this benefit is that the employee gives up his/her right to sue the employer for personal injuries.


EMPLOYEE RIGHTS

Those benefits are employee rights under US federal and state laws. If employers fail to provide such benefits to their employees then the employers may be violating different employment laws.

To help you in taking action against your employers, consult with an experienced employment attorney.