ABSTRACT
National paid sick day and paid sick leave policies are compared in 22 countries ranked
highly in terms of economic and human development. The authors calculate the financial
support available to workers facing two different kinds of health problems: a case of the flu
that requires missing 5 days of work, and a cancer treatment that requires 50 days of
absence. Only 3 countries-the United States, Canada, and Japan-have no national
policy requiring employers to provide paid sick days for workers who need to miss 5 days of
work to recover from the flu. Eleven countries guarantee workers earning the national
median wage full pay for all 5 days. In Ireland and the United Kingdom, the full-time
equivalent benefits are more generous for low-wage workers than for workers earning the
national median. The United States is the only country that does not provide paid sick leave
for a worker undergoing a 50-day cancer treatment. Luxembourg and Norway provide 50
full-time equivalent working days of leave, while New Zealand provides the least, at 5 days.
In 6 countries, paid sick leave benefits are more generous for low-wage workers than for
median-wage workers.
