Even if flu season were the worst it had ever been, it’d still be hard for employees to take this many sick days off per year.

According to France’s Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the average American took only 4.5 sick days off per year. The average European took off 11.3 sick days.

But for government workers at Belgium’s health ministry, that’s child’s play. Government departments averaged 35 days of paid sick leave per employee per year.

Dr. Dick Cuypers, top official of the ministry, has resorted to random, at-home audits of any government employees who call out sick. While some were indeed stricken with illness, investigators found some frequent abusers, including:

• A man who took sick days to work at a black-market job
• An employee who called out with a back injury was preparing for a morning run, and
• Another man answered his door with an undone belt as a prostitute fled his house.

Blatant abusers of the sick time program aren’t the only problem, though. Half of all Belgians on medical leave suffer from depression. Because the country has the highest suicide rate in Western Europe, government workers are pampered with additional time off to combat depression-related problems.

In addition to time off, people are encouraged to spend their sick time enjoying leisurely activities, visiting family and friends, vacationing, etc. — all while picking up at least 80% of their government-backed salaries.

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Tags: Calling out sick, Government employees, Sick leave