‘Claustrophobia
: abnormal dread of being in closed or narrow spaces’.
There are children who
invariably ask in the nigh – whether it
is raining ? – imagining that ‘school would announce leave the next day’. ‘as I am suffering from fever – request you …
days leave’ has been the most used template. Life is simple - If you really
are sick, don’t go to work and spread
your germs around the office. But if you just want to stay home, go with, “I’m
running a fever,” rather than one of the ridiculous excuses that we read about. In India, there is plethora of jokes of
‘grand ma’ dying – and in Western World, there are weird explanations.
There cannot be second
opinion that those who come to work, need reasonable leave too. In most industrialised nations, advances in
employee relations have seen the introduction of statutory minimum tariffs for
employee leave from work, i.e. the amount of entitlement to paid
holiday/vacation. In India, as is in many other Nations – there are National
Holidays which are statutory holidays.
In Private Companies – there would be ‘Casual leave / Sick leave /
Earned leave’ . Govt and Public Sector
enjoy higher no. of holidays – in PSU Insurers, there existed something known
as ‘additional Casual leave’ – besides leave could be accumulated up to 8
months i.e., 240 days [240 days of EL besides similar no. of Sick leave too !]
When it is August, in
Europe it means "out of the office" messages, "closed"
signs, and desolated streets. August 1st marks the unofficial start of summer
vacation in Spain, France and Italy, and even in times of economic crisis, most
employees are dead-set on taking their summer days. According to a report by the Center for
Economic and Policy Research, European countries lead the world in guaranteeing
paid leave for its workers. Spain and
Germany reportedly are among the most
holiday-happy, both offering 34 days of paid leave each year. Italy and France
guarantee 31 days of paid vacation, and Belgium requires 30.
Claustrophobia is an
anxiety disorder in which the sufferer has an irrational fear of having no
escape or being closed-in. It frequently results in a panic attack and can be
triggered by certain stimuli or situations, such as being in a crowded
elevator, a small room without any windows, or being in an airplane. It is not
necessarily the small spaces that trigger the anxiety but the fear of what can
happen to the person if confined to that area, hence the fear of running out of
oxygen.
Now read this interesting
post in Daily Mail – ‘Italian miner takes 35 years sick leave because he's claustrophobic
- then retires on full pension’
An Italian miner was
permitted to be off sick for 35 years after claiming he was claustrophobic. Coal
miner Carlo Cani started work in 1980 and retired early, drawing a pension
despite hardly ever putting in a day's work over a 35-year career. The case is
just the latest example of how thousands of state workers in Italy find
loopholes in the rules to duck out of their job.
Mr Cani admits he took an
immediate dislike to mining and began doing everything he could to avoid
venturing down the mine shaft in Sardinia where he was employed. The
60-year-old managed to take years of sick leave, apparently with the help of
accommodating doctors. Over the years he faked amnesia and haemorrhoids, rubbed
coal dust into his eyes to feign an infection and on occasion staggered around
pretending to be drunk. He was able to stay at home listening to jazz. He was
also granted extended time off on reduced pay when demand for coal from the
mine dipped.
But despite years sat on
the sofa, he was still officially an employee of the mining company, and
entitled to a pension. He eventually retired on a pension in 2006. The former
worker's laziness have caused indignation in a country in which youth
unemployment is close to 50 per cent. In August, in a similar case, it emerged
that a Sicilian doctor has done just 15 days work in nine years.
Strange are
the ways of people
With regards – S.
Sampathkumar
29th Oct 2014.
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