Personality-related and psychosocial correlates of sick leave days in Germany during the COVID-19 pandemic: findings of a representative survey.

BACKGROUND: The aim of our study was to assess the personality-related and psychosocial correlates of sick leave days in Germany during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: We used data from a representative online-survey covering the general German adult population (data collection: mid-March 2022). We restricted our sample to full-time employed individuals aged 18 to 64 years (n = 1,342 individuals). Sick leave days in the preceding 12 months served as outcome measure. Validated and established tools were used to quantify personality characteristics and psychosocial factors (such as the Coronavirus Anxiety Scale or the De Jong Gierveld loneliness tool). Negative binomial regression models were used. RESULTS: After adjusting for various sociodemographic and health-related factors, regressions showed that a higher number of sick leave days was associated with lower levels of conscientiousness (IRR: 0.84, 95% CI: 0.73-0.97), higher levels of openness to experience (IRR: 1.19, 1.04-1.35), less coronavirus anxiety (IRR: 0.90, 95% CI: 0.86-0.93), and more depressive symptoms (IRR: 1.06, 1.02-1.11). CONCLUSION: After adjusting for various sociodemographic and health-related factors, our study showed an association between personality-related and psychosocial factors with sick leave days. More research is required to clarify the underlying pathways.

The Concept of "Leave Days" in Romanian Labour Law

Working time has maximum limits strictly regulated at national and European level. Periods that do not constitute working time are considered rest time. Among the periods that do not make up working time, in this paper we will explain the concept of "leave days" (days off), not legally defined and even slightly obscure in the current Romanian legislative landscape. The notion of leave days does not benefit from a rigorously outlined legal definition. So, we shall attempt some clarifications. Besides, the paper includes an analysis of recent developments in Romanian Labour Law on working time, in the period of COVID 19 crisis. The heterogeneous nature of the situations considered and their disparate regulation makes it difficult to outline a single legal regime for leave days;from justification to effects, they cover a wide range of legal realities. That is why, however, we deemed useful a synthesis of the situations where this concept is regulated in Romanian law, as well as the legal consequences of these rules on the parties to the individual employment contract.