I am from Ukraine, the country which is not yet a member of the European Union, however it is definitely a European country. Therefore, I have always been interested in EU laws, policies, priorities, regulations and so on to contrast Ukrainian reality with that of EU states. Now I live and study in the country for which I have always had an innate and unconscious love: the United States, the country known as the land of great opportunities. As a result, I became increasingly interested in US laws and regulations, particularly employment and labor laws. To combine these two passions I decided to prepare a document comparing the labor and employment laws of the United States and the EU. In this paper, I have focused on the main differences between US and EU regulations on the following employment issues: employment contracts and termination of employment; working hours; absences due to illness and holidays; maternity and paternity leave; discrimination; child labor; workforce restructuring; protection of privacy. First of all, the termination of the employment relationship and employment contracts. There are many significant differences in this area between the United States and the European Union, but the most important is that in the United States there is no legal requirement for an explicit employment contract. Most employment relationships are at-will, meaning that either the employer or employee can terminate the employment relationship without notice at any time if the reasons are legitimate. In particular, American federal laws and the US Fair Labor Standards Act do not require employers to inform their employees before dismissal. An employer may fire an employee for any reason other than discrimination, retaliation, defamation, breach of express contract, or fraud. In contrast, in… middle of paper… to measure the performance of governments around the world in meeting the needs of working families. To complete the index, data was collected from 177 countries representing a wide range of political, social and economic systems. The findings revealed that 137 countries mandate paid annual leave, including 121 countries that guarantee 2 weeks or more each year. In contrast, the United States does not require employers to provide paid annual leave. Additionally, at least 145 countries provide paid sick days for short- or long-term illnesses, with 136 providing a week or more per year. More than 81 countries provide sickness benefits for at least 26 weeks or until recovery. The United States only provides unpaid leave for serious illnesses through the FMLA (Family and Medical Leave Act 0f 1993), which does not cover all workers. More information on this can be found in the appendix.