Bartender, another round? Economy — not just your head — feels effects

So you’re bleeding from the eyeballs with a bad case of Blue Jays ‘flu’ and you limp through the work day, or call in sick.

You probably have no clue that your searing playoff hangover also means your employer will bleed some red ink. It turns out the biggest economic drag from tipplers can be found in the workplace.

Alcohol cost $77 billion in impaired productivity at work in 2010, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control’s new breakdown published in the latest American Journal of Preventive Health.

In Canada, it’s just over $7 billion — roughly on par with the U.S. on a per capita basis, says the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse.

The CDC found boozing costs the American economy $249 billion (U.S.) a year (in Canada, it’s $24 billion). This includes spending on health care as well as the economic toll of lost productivity, car crashes, crime and deaths.

Adding in absenteeism and other factors, the total American productivity toll from excess drinking approached $90 billion (U.S.), not counting losses from alcohol-related employee deaths.

It’s an issue that employers take seriously, but they should really lighten up a bit when it comes to the odd case of Blue Jays fever, recommends Toronto-based workplace expert Mark Ellwood.

“Companies shouldn’t drop the hammer on employees who come in a little late the next morning, and assume that employees for the most part are responsible and care about their jobs,” said Ellwood, president of Pace Productivity.

Since it’s a self-inflicted sickness, in general employees can’t equate hangovers to contagious ailments or other work-approved illnesses, noted David Doorey, director of Osgoode Hall Law School and specialist in labour and employment law.

“A hangover is not a disability, so human rights laws don’t apply. My advice for partying employees: best beware, take some Advil, and get your sorry butt in to work.”