Government Crackdown on ‘Convenience’ Sick Leave Raises Concerns about Worker Health

While the government intends to fight against “convenience” sick leave, the psychologist, initiator of the first “suffering and work” consultation, deplores a guilt-ridden speech in a context of deterioration in the health of workers.

With the presentation of the 2024 budget to the National Assembly at the end of September in sight, the government has declared war on “sick leave of convenience” which would dig the hole in Social Security. Several thousand doctors have received warning letters since June. In fact, the number of stops is exploding: 8.8 million in 2022 against 6.4 million ten years ago, according to figures from Bruno Le Maire, the Minister of the Economy. 44% of employees were arrested at least once in 2022 according to the Axa group absenteeism study. Whose fault is it ? Psychology doctor Marie Pezé clearly points out the “new organizations of work.” In 1996, she launched a consultation “suffering and work” at the reception and hospital care center in Nanterre (Hauts-de-Seine). Since then, the psychoanalyst has been at the head of a European network of nearly 200 centers which welcome employees who are burnt out and injured in the exercise of their profession. “A success or a sy