Workers right to enjoy paid leave should be respected

A female Chinese worker sews clothes at a garment factory in Huaibei city, east China's Anhui province, on January 20, 2015.[Photo/IC]

A woman's application for ten-day family reunion leave to travel from Jinan, Shandong province, to visit her husband in the Tibet autonomous region has gone viral as the woman claimed "she has almost forgotten how he looks". Comments:

The number of employees who are separated from their spouses and children and do not see them for a long time because of work is more than people might think. Therefore, given the long separations between couples and its effect on their relationships, no wonder people have been moved by this woman's application. In 1981, the State Council granted domestic workers paid leave to visit their families once a year if they live far from their parents or spouses. The sorry state of this woman and millions of families experiencing similar situations could have been avoided if this regulation was properly implemented.

Chengdu Economic Daily, Oct 28

This application has not only triggered complaints about many employees current working and living conditions, it has also brought into the spotlight the huge management problem in terms of domestic employee's right to take paid leave. As there is a large population of migrant workers and the elderly, it has become increasingly urgent and important to guarantee the right to family reunion leave because it is closely related to people's sense of happiness and belonging. Hopefully, this seemingly lighthearted reason for applying for leave will not be treated as a joke and the commonness of such complaints ignored.

Xinhuanet.com, Oct 28