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Comment by patio11 | Hacker News Reader

Many facets of US employment law are different on a state-by-state basis, so "The US sets no minimum/maximum for ..." can frequently be true but vacuous.

Broadly speaking, salaried employees in the US can expect a statutory minimum of 12 weeks of unpaid maternity leave. Fairly few states mandate paid maternity/paternity leave. They're available at many companies as a perk.

Broadly speaking, Americans enjoy broad discretion in negotiating the amount and format of paid leave. By law and custom, the practical minimum is ~2 weeks plus holidays for most white collar workers. We historically do not have European-style vacations as an expected feature of the social contract.

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Fair point. I wonder if the increasing number of us tech firms setting up in .ie (for whatever reason, being an Irish graduate I know it's not for the skills pool) find the adjustment difficult - 20 days minimum, 25 not uncommon, with the ability to carry some leave across years generally accepted.

edit Anecdotally, even companies based in the UK have had trouble with the difference in employment law when setting up (or wrapping up) here, though I would put that down to lack of diligence rather than any cultural thing.

Ireland has (or at least had as of a couple years ago) some sort of tax loophole that allows international companies to dodge paying some taxes both in their home country and in Ireland.

See e.g. the Double Irish Arrangement: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_Irish_arrangement

its not a loophole, they have very low corporation tax compared with anywhere else

It's not a loophole. It's a competitive differentiator for Ireland in attracting MNCs to invest and hire there.

the increasing number of us tech firms setting up in .ie (for whatever reason, being an Irish graduate I know it's not for the skills pool)

12½% corporate tax rate. EU base. Less strict attitude towards EU data protection et al.

find the adjustment difficult - 20 days minimum

Heh, reminds me of someone I know working for an Irish tech company that was bought by a US company. They had to sit the new owners down and say "Yes, we are actually entitled to paid holidays. No, that's the law here."

By custom only. There is literally no law.

We are also workaholics. Or, at least I am.

As am I. I just spend a lot of time working on my own projects. I value a regular (i.e. not too long) working day for being able to actually do this.

Out of curiosity, what is your work day like? Are you putting in something like a 9-6 as is common in the U.S.?

Aye, pretty much (9-5:30 with flexible start time). Thing is, I would probably work longer hours voluntarily if I could telework - give over half my usual commute time to a little extra.

But that's a different story...

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5092589

I work in Ireland too (I moved to Ireland 3 months ago) and I work 8:30-5 with flexible start time, 8:30-4 on fridays, and I can work from home some days as well.

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