Workplace discrimination may affect the health of the exposed employees, but it is not known whether workplace discrimination is also associated with an increased risk of long-term sickness absence. The aim of this study was to examine the longitudinal associations of changes in and onset of workplace discrimination with the risk of long-term sickness absence. Data on workplace discrimination were obtained from 29,597 employees participating in survey waves 2004, 2006, 2008 and/or 2010 of the Finnish Public Sector Study. Four-year changes in long-term sickness absence (>= 10 days of medically certified absence with a mental or non-mental diagnosis) were assessed. This covered successive study waves in analyses of onset of workplace discrimination as well as fixed effect analyses of change in workplace discrimination (concurrent i.e. during the exposure year and 1-year lagged i.e. within one year following exposure), by using each employee as his/her own control. The risk of long-term sickness absence due to mental disorders was greater for employees with vs. without onset of workplace discrimination throughout the 4-year period, reaching a peak at the year when the onset of discrimination was reported (adjusted risk ratio 2.13; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.80-2.52). The fixed effects analyses showed that workplace discrimination was associated with higher odds of concurrent, but not 1-year lagged, long-term sickness absence due to mental disorders (adjusted odds ratio 1.61; 95% CI 1.33-1.96 and adjusted odds ratio 1.02; 95% CI 0.83-1.25, respectively). Long-term sickness absence due to non-mental conditions was not associated with workplace discrimination. In conclusion, these findings suggest that workplace discrimination is associated with an elevated risk of long-term sickness absence due to mental disorders. Supporting an acute effect, the excess risk was confined to the year when workplace discrimination occurred.

Objectives:

We aimed to determine the effect of workplace violence on long-term sickness absence, and whether social support from supervisors and colleagues buffer this effect.

Methods:

Information on workplace violence and social support were derived from the Danish Work Environment Cohort Study in 2000, 2005, and 2010 and the Swedish Longitudinal Occupational Survey of Health in 2006 and 2008. Individual- and joint-effects on register-based long-term sickness absence were determined using logistic regression models for repeated measurements. Cohort-specific estimates were combined in random effect meta-analyses.

Results:

Workplace violence and low social support were independently associated with a higher risk of long-term sickness absence, and we did not find evidence of an interaction.

Conclusion:

Exposure to workplace violence is a risk factor for long-term sickness absence while social support is associated with a lower risk of long-term sickness absence.