Feds: Sick Like Europeans

It's flu season, the time of year when employees call in sick. But if you are a Belgium government worker, flu season seems to last year round. In some Belgium government departments, employees take an average of 35 days of paid sick leave a year, according to a Wall Street Journal brief on Friday. Compare that to the average number of sick days an American worker takes: 4.5 days a year, according to the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

The reason for Belgium's sickly state? "Half of all Belgians on medical leave say they suffer from depression -- the country has Western Europe's highest suicide rate," the WSJ reports.

Does that explain why the Belgium rate (albeit for the higher-end Belgium departments) dwarfs the rate for local, state and federal government employees?