Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/330324 
Year of Publication: 
2025
Series/Report no.: 
ZEW Discussion Papers No. 25-055
Publisher: 
ZEW - Leibniz-Zentrum für Europäische Wirtschaftsforschung, Mannheim
Abstract: 
We study how public school teachers use paid sick leave. Most US sick leave schemes operate as individualized credit accounts: Paid leave is earned, and unused leave accumulates. We construct a unique dataset of daily leave balances and behavior among 982 teachers for 2010-2018. Sick leave use increases during flu season, and evidence indicates that the average teacher does not use sick leave for leisure though some subsets of teachers (e.g., the young and inexperienced) do. Usage increases with leave balance; the elasticity is around 0.4. Further, teachers with higher balances are less likely to work sick, particularly during flu season.
Subjects: 
sick leave
teacher
presenteeism
moral hazard
labor supply
JEL: 
I12
I13
I18
I28
J22
J28
J32
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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