Jody Heymann, founder of the Institute for Health and Social Policy at McGill University, investigates how 22 wealthy countries handle employee sickness and compares their policies with the United States, which relies on employers to voluntarily cover short-term illness. Half of the countries studied — including Australia, Germany and Switzerland — guarantee full pay for a five-day illness.

When it comes to a 50-day cancer treatment, the United States remains way behind as the only country that doesn’t provide paid sick leave. More than half of the countries Heymann studied cover the majority of the 50 days, and two countries, Luxembourg and Norway, provide full pay for the 50-day duration.

Jody Heymann, Hye Jin Rho, John Schmitt, Alison Earle. Contagion Nation: A Comparison of Paid Sick Day Policies in 22 Countries. Center for Economic and Policy Research, 2009.

http://www.cepr.net/index.php/publications/reports/contagion-nation/

This article was featured in the January 2012 issue of Working Mother Research Institute’s email newsletter, Working Mother Research Institute Essentials. To read additional stories from that issue, see the related content section above.