A method for detecting sitting behavior includes acquiring a sequence of frames capturing a scene-of-interest at an overhead view. The method includes detecting at least one empty seat within the scene-of-interest and associating the seat as being unoccupied and the frame as a reference frame. The method includes extracting reference features describing a region of the unoccupied seat in the reference frame and quantifying the reference features to form a reference feature vector. The method includes extracting features describing the region in a given frame and quantifying the features to form a current feature vector. The method includes measuring a change in a feature vector over time using the reference feature vector and the current feature vector. The method includes and determining a status of the seat in the given frame as being one of occupied and unoccupied based on the change in the feature vector.