Answer questions 1 & 2

MINI CASE: SICK LEAVE IN BELGIUM Europe has had far more employees take time off as sick leave than the United States. In recent years, the average European worker annually took 11.3 days of sick leave, compared to an average of 4.5 days annually for the U.S. worker. Belgium, for example, is where employees in some sectors average as many as 35 days of sick leave per year. Belgium also has the highest suicide rate in Western Europe, and about half of all Belgians on sick leave say they are suffering from clinical psychological depres- sion. Belgium's sick leave compensation structure involves full pay for the first month, and then 80 percent of one's salary indefinitely. This generous policy also likely contributes to the proclivity of Belgian employees to take sick leave. Recently, the Belgian government has been exam- ining ways to cut down on the amount of sick leave employees are taking. Doing this, however, is proving difficult because only about 5 percent of the people who take sick leave can be proven to be "cheating" (i.e., peo- ple with absolutely no medical basis for missing work). QUESTIONS: 1. Do you think Belgium's compensation structure for employee sick leave is too generous? If so, what could better compensation involve? 2. What are the difficulties in categorizing mental illness such as depression to constitute illnesses meriting sick leave compensation vis--vis more physically diagnosable illnesses such as the flu or cancer? Mini Case based on John W. Miller, Belgians Take Lots of Sick Leave, and Why Not They're Depressed. The Wall Street Journal, January 9, 2009, p. A1, A6