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Sick but at work: Graded sick leave in a comparative perspective
Author(s) -
Leoni Thomas
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
social policy and administration
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.972
H-Index - 63
eISSN - 1467-9515
pISSN - 0144-5596
DOI - 10.1111/spol.12612
Subject(s) - sick leave , certification , work (physics) , perspective (graphical) , corporate governance , grading (engineering) , receipt , set (abstract data type) , public economics , business , economics , accounting , labour economics , computer science , management , mechanical engineering , civil engineering , finance , artificial intelligence , engineering , programming language
Measures to activate sick‐listed workers and to combine work with sickness benefits are a growing but little‐studied policy field. This article investigates graded sick leave benefits in Sweden, Finland and Germany. The analysis reveals some commonalities between countries, as well as substantial differences in terms of institutional background, benefit design and governance. The schemes range from models in which grading has become an integral component of the regular sickness certification process, to models in which the graded‐work option is targeted at a much smaller category of workers and has a stronger therapeutic character. The variation in design and governance of the models is reflected in large differences in terms of their diffusion. All schemes face a common set of obstacles and challenges. They relate in particular to the distribution of stakeholders' roles and responsibilities, the involvement of employers and the assessment of residual work ability.