Mental health is still an issue in the workplace
Great article.  A few years ago (at a previous job) I took a sick day for &quot;sanity&quot;, but told them I wasn&#x27;t feeling well.  I felt guilty about doing it.  I think part of it is the association of sick leave with externally visible medical issues, and the corresponding &quot;straightforward&quot; medical verification.<p>In other words, if you have a temperature or are vomiting, that&#x27;s obvious.  Many infections or physical injury can be trivially verified by a doctor.  But a &quot;sanity day&quot;, as truthful and necessary as it might be, is neither of those.<p>Out of curiosity, I checked my current employment contract.  It says sick leave is for &quot;A personal illness, injury or medical disability that prevents the employee from performing his or her job, or personal medical or dental appointments.&quot; or &quot;Exposure of the employee to contagious disease when attendance at work would jeopardize the health of others.&quot; There&#x27;s a dozen or so other cases listed in the contract, mostly about allowing sick leave to care for sick family members&#x2F;children.  Our contract also allows for verification, &quot;If the Employer suspects abuse, the Employer may require a written medical certificate for any sick leave absence.&quot;<p>I&#x27;ve never heard of anyone here being asked for a verification, but it would tend to discourage people doing the &quot;sanity day&quot; sort of thing.