that's precisely why I refer to sick leave as personal leave.
Because there is no incentive to conserve it in the government, since it is lost if you never use it.....you either use it or lose it....
Sick leave in the gumbit is like added annual leave days for lots and lots of people.
I've never heard of anyone in the private sector being prosecuted in a federal criminal court for fraudulent "personal day" use.
Remember, a gub'mn't job brings with it the risk of fine, imprisonment and dismissal. A job down at the autoplant is probably never going to send you to jail or bankrupt your wife and kids leaving them in the streets to rot.
Wonder how an economist would value that "risk"?