Italy just made history, becoming the first country to offer paid leave for workers caring for their sick pets. It all started with one court case back in 2017.
A librarian in Rome fought for time off to care for her sick dog and won. She argued that under Italian law, letting an animal suffer is a crime. So, forcing someone to choose between work and their pet put them in an impossible situation.
Now workers can take up to three days a year to care for their pets, but there are rules. The pet has to be microchipped, and a vet has to confirm the situation is urgent.
So, this probably won’t work for a lazy goldfish.
But Italy has over 60 million pets, so it seems like there will be a lot more “sick days” taken in the future. (Meanwhile in the U.S. we can’t even get sick days for ourselves.)
