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Revealed: Unlike most Walmart workers, ancient Egyptians got paid sick days
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2015/02/revealed-unlike-walmart-workers-ancient-egyptians-got-paid-sick-days/Ancient Egyptians, who relied on slave labor, weren't exactly known for their generous employee benefits packages. However, some texts from Egypt's New Kingdom period, about 3,100-3,600 years ago, suggest that highly skilled craftsmen working on royal tombs did get paid sick leave....
Ancient texts show that tomb workers were out sick from time to time. However, their wages were never docked due to these absences, records show.
The texts also tell of a paid physician that was supplied to the workers by the state. The physician and his assistant would have probably cared for the workmen with therapies and incantations from his medical papyrus. Both healthcare workers were also allotted days off from treating patients....
Despite what sounds like a robust state-sponsored healthcare system, some Deir el-Medina workmen still came to work sick. One text describes a worker named Merysekhmet who showed up sick at the King's Tomb two days in a row, but was unable to work. He then returned to the village where he recovered for the next ten days.
Ancient texts show that tomb workers were out sick from time to time. However, their wages were never docked due to these absences, records show.
The texts also tell of a paid physician that was supplied to the workers by the state. The physician and his assistant would have probably cared for the workmen with therapies and incantations from his medical papyrus. Both healthcare workers were also allotted days off from treating patients....
Despite what sounds like a robust state-sponsored healthcare system, some Deir el-Medina workmen still came to work sick. One text describes a worker named Merysekhmet who showed up sick at the King's Tomb two days in a row, but was unable to work. He then returned to the village where he recovered for the next ten days.
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by farmers who signed on for wages during idle time - the inundation of the flood plains during the Nile's annual flood. They weren't doing anything anyway, just waiting for the river to recede, and working for Pharaoh beat sitting around. Slave labor in Egypt was mostly provided by those captured in war.
Pharaohs took their responsibility for their people, and they were literally their people, seriously.
Yes, I am an Egyptology geek. 
