While working conditions in medieval England were brutal for peasants, in some places the workers got better sick, annual, and bereavement leave than plenty of workers get today.
Research from the United Kingdom shows that peasants on the Ramsey Abbey estate in Huntingdonshire were entitled to a year and a day of leave if sick, and widows were granted leave upon their husbands’ deaths.
Generally, tenants were entitled to a month of sick leave.
Workers in the United Kingdom today are entitled to 28 days of annual leave but have no statutory right to bereavement leave.
The United States does not require employers to provide paid or unpaid sick leave or bereavement leave.
The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) provides:
- Up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave
- For a serious health condition (yours or a close family member’s)
But it only applies if:
- The employer has 50+ employees
- The employee has worked there for at least 12 months
- The employee has worked 1,250 hours in the past year
So, not exactly sick leave by any stretch of the imagination.
Approximately 22% of American workers today lack access to sick leave, paid or unpaid.
I would not want to be a leasant in Medieval England, but perhaps someday we can aspire to treat workers with the same sick and bereavement pay that at least some of them received hundreds of years ago.
