Italian fever
Italian Fever
As we head out of winter along comes the season of spring colds. Now while in the UK or the US you may soldier on, we Italians reach for the thermometer in order to quantify our illness. Every Italian family has at least one thermometer, more usually one for children and another for adults. We use this ingenious device to justify a day home from work or school. There is no need to create elaborate stories about how ill you are, its enough to say “I woke up with a temperature of 38 (degrees celcius) this morning” and you’ll be urged to stay at home. This is sufficient for a couple of days off work but if you’re still feeling peaky you’ll need a certificate from the doctor.
Italian GPs write 12 million medical certificates a year for workers to give to their workplace to excuse them from work. These days off amount to 60 million lost working days and cost the Italian economy 54 million euros every year. Under a 1970 law Italian employers can request that specially charged employees of the of the Italian national health service – the ASL – go to your house to you are really sick at home. Checks are done between 9am and 12pm and from 5pm until 7pm. After 7pm you are free to go out. If you don’t open the door or are not at home when the officers come around you risk sick pay.
These checks cost the employer between 35 and 50 euro per request which 80% of the time is a fruitless action as it is not difficult to find an excuse for the absence – such as: “I felt worse and went to the hospital or the the GP”.