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Global markets appear to be poised for another panic, the presidential campaign isn't giving us much to choose from, and we just surpassed $19 trillion in government debt. But I'm more worried about something that affects me personally - the common cold. I hate being sick with a cold. I hate the scratchy throat and the difficulty to sleep, concentrate or breathe. The only upside to getting a cold involves the consumption of several Irish hot toddies - generous amounts of Jameson whiskey poured into a cup of tea - that tide me over until my good health returns. But...

(NEWSER) – A 69-year-old Spanish man was fined this week after officials discovered he hadn't shown up to work for at least six years, the Guardian reports. Ironically, the civil servant was discovered only when the deputy mayor attempted to give him an award for 20 years of "loyal and dedicated" service in 2010. “I thought, where is this man?" the Guardianquotes the deputy mayor. "Is he still there? Has he retired? Has he died?”

State of Michigan employees took an average of 10.7 days of sick leave during the 2014 fiscal year, according to an annual report. Those 10.7 sick days are in addition to 18 days of vacation time the average state employee used. ForTheRecord says: According to the most recent available U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics figures, private sector workers took on average 2 to 5 sick days a year in 2009. Leisure and hospitality and construction workers took 2 sick days a year on average while education and health services workers took up to 5 sick days a year on average.

"Valerie Jarrett is one of the more mysterious figures in Washington. She’s a Senior Advisor to the Obama Administration and seems to be one of the more powerful people in D.C. We discussed the “Healthy Family Act” that the White House is urging Congress to pass. "

College-educated and gainfully employed 36-year-old Eriko Sekiguchi should be a sought-after friend or date, planning nights on the town and faraway resort vacations. But she works in Japan, a nation where workaholic habits die hard. Often toiling 14 hours a day for a major trading company, including early morning meetings and after-hours “settai,” or networking with clients, she used just eight of her 20 paid vacation days last year. Six of those days were for being sick. […] The government wants to change all that. Legislation that will be submitted during the parliamentary session that began Jan. 26 aims to...

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio will be announcing a significant expansion of a law that requires employers to give employees paid sick days. […] Under the current law, businesses with 20 or more employees must provide five sick days. The new law is expected to require that businesses with five or more employees provide the five sick days. …

EU officials are off sick three times more than the average British worker, it was revealed last night. According to official figures, European Commission officials took an average of 14.6 days off sick last year—triple the amount taken by British workers in the private sector. One in seven staff were absent from more than 20 days. In contrast, a survey by the Confederation of British Industry found British staff working in the private sector took around five sick days a year. The figures also showed European officials even outstripped Britain’s civil servants and public sector staff—who took half as many...

NEW YORK (AP) — In a significant victory amid a push for paid sick time laws around the country, city lawmakers voted Wednesday to make businesses provide the benefit to an estimated 1 million workers who don't have it now. Saying they hoped that requiring sick leave in the nation's largest metropolis would set an example, City Council members positioned New York to become the most populous place to approve such a law during a campaign that has scored several victories but also a number of defeats. A mayoral veto is expected, but so is an override.

The average state worker in Michigan is taking as many as five times more sick days than a worker in the hospitality and leisure industry or a construction worker and more than twice as many sick days as many other workers in the private sector, according to state and national reports. State workers have called in sick on average between 9.4 to 11 days a year over the past five years, according to the Michigan Civil Service Commission annual workforce report. The report applies only to workers directly employed by the state; not public school teachers or local government workers....

Connecticut is likely to be the first state in the country to require paid sick leave for workers in companies that have at least 50 employees, under a bill state legislators expect to enact this year. For every 40 hours worked, an employee would be entitled to one hour paid sick leave. Former Gov. M. Jodi Rell vetoed a similar bill, but Gov. Dannel Malloy has said he supports paid sick leave. A Newington woman said not having sick days almost cost her life. "I would never take off for work for anything, not even a funeral," said Cheryl Foulston,...

On Monday's Today, Katie Couric conducted a softball interview promoting a Ted Kennedy-sponsored bill to require every employer in America with 15 or more employees to offer a mandatory seven sick days each year. She asked: "So obviously the legislation may be helpful, but the whole mentality of the workplace needs to change as well, right?" Her liberal guest, Linda Meric of the lobbying group 9 to 5, agreed: "The United States is way far behind in terms of the amount of time off that employees get to care for family members, to care for their own health and for...