I need some good solutions

Roger did an excellent job of explaining the (absence) of worker's protection.
Having said that, once you hire a worker and have made a contract - either verbally or in writing (in my corp. we have both), employers are required to
uphold the conditions and some more, which means if the employer granted 10 days paid vacation and several years down the road the worker is terminated, then the employer is required to pay accrued vacation time.
The labor laws are also clearly defined when it comes to break and lunch times, and any other rules and regulations pertaining to labor laws.

I have to say though that most employers (small and big) are very generous
with their employees. Almost all employers pay vacation time - anywhere from 10 to 15 days, paid sick leave and also health insurance. Since health
insurance is quite expensive here, some employers elected to have their
employees pay a portion of it, others pay the entire premium. Many corporations also pay bonuses either for Christmas or good performance
in addition to yearly pay increases.

Thanks, Jane.
But I can't help wondering about what sort of deal low-paid, unskilled workers get from their employers.
They don't seem to get a fair deal here, unless they work in highly unionized industries.
And, of course, there's the ever increasing numbers of casualized workers ....

Okay, that makes at least two states that don't let them keep accrued vacation pay. The other is Masschusetts. There may be others, but New Mexico isn't one of them. I have often wondered at the logic: clearly it is part of the total compensation. So far as taxation goes, it is taxed exactly the same as other wages and salaries.

I painted the picture grimly to show actual federal law. State laws vary widely, and at least some employers are very generous. I worked for one that positively went to extremes - and made everyone hate him in spite that generousity. It's a strange world.

It sure is, Roger. I really wish that labor laws would be federally regulated and not on a state level.

Ms.Olga, the unions don't help much either. When the cashiers of my local supermarket chain went into strike to get better healthcare conditions, the chain replaced them with other non-union workers. The strike lasted for good 4 months and the unionized cashiers had to get other jobs in the meantime just to stay afloat financially. I couldn't believe (coming from a good unionized country like Germany) that it was possible for the supermarket chains to bypass the union and hire other workers. Well in the end, they (supermarket chain) wore out the union and the cashiers had to settle for less than they bargained for in the first place.

So, well, what happened was, at the end of my probation, they offered me contract work (where I'd have to pay not only my, but my employers' contribution as well, to several things) ON CALL. Can you believe that?? So I said no. I've since gotten two other part time jobs I've been working at since the beginning of Sept. I applied for four jobs and was offered 3 of them. All are part time. Funny how things work out.

When is your next vacation?

I've heard the part time jobs have increased whereas full time has not - I think some companies are saving money by hiring more part time (don't have to provide benefits vs the full timers).

Absolutely, my brother runs a good sized company and they now look to hire people for 20-30 hours per week instead of 40 whenever possible. It's cheaper to have two part-timers than one full timer. Part-timers do not get any benefits, so it saves the company a lot of money in terms of health insurance and retirement matches. They have also taken on a few freelance people who do the work of former in-house people. Part-timers and freelancers are considered more dispensable, if they reach a salary level the company considers too high they will be let go and replaced with someone who will work for less. It's the rapidly approaching future of the American job market.

Next week I'm off to Austin for five days...