Acceptable number of sick days per year?

[disneychrista]

I answered 6 - 7. But in honesty it is whatever your employee says. If your employeer says 5 days than it is 5 days. If they say it is 10 days then it is 10 days.

 

[Disneybuckeye]

I have been back at work for over 2 years. I have taken 2.6 days off sick in that time. I day I was deathly ill, 1 day when my son had knee surgery, and 6 hours when my dad passed away as they let me use my bereavement for whole days. I am paid to be at work doing a job and I feel like unless I am really sick I should be there.

We get 5 sick days a year that roll over and are capped at around 20 days. Most people I work with (and these are mainly people in their twenties) consider these to be vacation days that they just have to call in the morning of. That bothers me. If you are sick, stay home. If not, come to work.

 

[Friend of a Mouse]

I did not answer. My district gives us 10 per year (3 of which can be used for personal.) I am in my third year and have not used more than 2 that were unplanned. With my position, it's very stressful to have a sub as we do not have subs that know braille, so I have to find other activities for them to do with my kids, and it then throws off the following days' lesson plans. For this reason, I also do everything I can to schedule appointments during non school hours.

I think it just really depends on the person and the situation. For me, more than 3 or 4 would be excessive. On the other hand, our social worker missed quite a few days because her baby was super ill, turns out she has severe allergies to pretty much everything (soy, dairy, gluten, etc.). So in her case, it was not excessive.

 

[tvguy]

To be honest, if it's unpaid time off, to me that changes the whole situation. My budget is such, I could not afford to be off sick without pay. I make that same assumption about my coworkers.
We get 7 paid sick days, and there are the same people who routinely use them up by March or April.....then get the flu in November and are in a panic because their only option is to use vacation time...if they have any left...or take time off without pay and not be able to pay their bills.

Since 1980 I have used 18 sick days....9 due to 2 different surgeries, 1 for a medical procedure, and 3 when a family member had surgery..... I have an unusual knack for getting sick Friday night, and being mostly recovered by Sunday night. And until my daughter was 14, I worked graveyard and my wife worked days, so there never was a need to use a sick day if a kid was sick, one of us was always home.

 

[LuluLovesDisney]

Are you counting surgeries, chemotherapy, etc. under "sick" days or not?

 

[aprilgail2]

We get 12 a year and I take everyone of them and then some! I have FMLA for a family member so I take a bunch of those off as well as my sick time! I can take the FMLA in any type of days/hours I want- I get 480 hours (12 weeks) of FML a year so I can take half days, full days, 3/4 days whatever....

 

[tvguy]

Are you counting surgeries, chemotherapy, etc. under "sick" days or not?

Can't speak for the OP but those are sick days to me.

It may vary from state to state, but after 5 consecutive days here in California they put you on short term disability, so if you were sick more than 5 consecutive days, any days you take past that are not counted against your sick leave balance. The short term disablity insurance kicks in to pay you for up to 6 months, then long term disability kicks in.

 

[tvguy]

We get 12 a year and I take everyone of them and then some! I have FMLA for a family member so I take a bunch of those off as well as my sick time! I can take the FMLA in any type of days/hours I want- I get 480 hours (12 weeks) of FML a year so I can take half days, full days, 3/4 days whatever....

My company and my wifes company require you to use up all sick time before FMLA kicks in.

 

[Acklander]

Were pretty healthy here. I called out once (for 3 days) in the last 5 years combined. I talk a lot in my job and had lost my voice so I was dead in the water on that one. There are some employees who call out every month, which I consider a bit excessive. I'd think 6 times a year would be average.

 

[goofyernmost]

One is excessive if you are not really sick.

My dh was out over a month and had to take short term disability when a surgery went badly wrong. That was not excessive. (And his work was beyond cooperative and concerned.)

Are you counting surgeries, chemotherapy, etc. under "sick" days or not?

To clarify my stand...I am not counting actual legit sick days usage. I'm referring to the person that will take 2, 3 or 4 days off a month regularly. Not days in a row to get over something...just single days, one at a time. I don't know what people are thinking. Do they not feel that people notice that they only get sick on Fridays or Mondays or days when they have let everyone know their SO is off work? It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that, for the most part, these are just call in's not because they are physically sick but because they are sick of working. Who the heck isn't.

 

[tvguy]

To clarify my stand...I am not counting actual legit sick days usage. I'm referring to the person that will take 2, 3 or 4 days off a month regularly. Not days in a row to get over something...just single days, one at a time. I don't know what people are thinking. Do they not feel that people notice that they only get sick on Fridays or Mondays or days when they have let everyone know their SO is off work? It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that, for the most part, these are just call in's not because they are physically sick but because they are sick of working. Who the heck isn't.

Well, a co-worker of mine.....who took every last second of sick time he could....put it this way. "Sick time is a benefit that is part of my compensation package, so I am going to take it all just like I take all my vacation, and just like I use my health, dental and vision insurance benefit. If not, I am losing money".
He has since moved on to a state job.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

My work gives us a certain number of PTO days a year. If you are sick, you take a PTO day. The number you get is dependent on your years of service.

Since those are all paid to begin with, and any sick day you take gets taken out of your "vacation" time, I don't really know how to answer the question.

 

[Darcy03231]

Our company gives us 10 paid sick days per year. 5 of them can be used for "family" sick days (kid sick, bringing an eldery parent or child to dr appts, etc.). Whatever we don't use rolls over and we can accumulate up to 6 weeks of sick time (short term disability kicks in then).

Most years I use 2 or 3 days (I have chronic sinus infection issues). There was a year when I was hospitalized for a week that I ended up using more. We have some employees who use all 10 days a year.

 

[aprilgail2]

My company and my wifes company require you to use up all sick time before FMLA kicks in.

Mine does to if it is for yourself and you are getting paid for it but FMLA for a family member is unpaid and we are not allowed to use paid sick time if its for someone other than you so FMLA for a family member is unpaid.

 

[ICF]

IMO, sicks days are for when YOU are really ILL. In 16 years of works, I dont know if I've even used 5 sick days.

If you are REALLY sick, then I dont know when it should be considered excessive. I'm sure some people call in for just the sniffles and others try to fight thru is an end up making the whole office sick.

Vacation or something of the like is for when you have to stay home with a sick kid....your office (at least in most cases) is not going to pay you to stay home for a family member.

People that claim they need a mental health day make me laugh....that's what vacation is for. If you claim too many "mental health" days, you might really find yourself with a mental health problem since I hear being unemployeed isn't a lot of fun.

 

[sam_gordon]

IMO, sicks days are for when YOU are really ILL. In 16 years of works, I dont know if I've even used 5 sick days.

If you are REALLY sick, then I dont know when it should be considered excessive. I'm sure some people call in for just the sniffles and others try to fight thru is an end up making the whole office sick.

Vacation or something of the like is for when you have to stay home with a sick kid....your office (at least in most cases) is not going to pay you to stay home for a family member.

People that claim they need a mental health day make me laugh....that's what vacation is for. If you claim too many "mental health" days, you might really find yourself with a mental health problem since I hear being unemployeed isn't a lot of fun.

I disagree with the part I bolded. I feel "sick time" should be able to be used for anything medical related, to you or an immediate family member. BUT, once your sick time is used up, then you use vacation time. If you use all of that, anything more would be unpaid. Too many unpaid (more than 2-3 if used individually) should be examined and disciplinary action taken (if deemed necessary).

As far as how much time should be "allocated" per person per year, I'd say between 6-10. That allows for a major sickness (flu, surgery, etc) that takes you out for a week, and still have some time for doctor's appointments, dentists, colds, etc.

"Mental Health Days" shouldn't be needed. All that should be necessary is calling the appropriate person (boss, HR, supervisor, etc) and simply saying "I'm using a sick day today". No explanation should be needed.

 

[goofyernmost]

Well, a co-worker of mine.....who took every last second of sick time he could....put it this way. "Sick time is a benefit that is part of my compensation package, so I am going to take it all just like I take all my vacation, and just like I use my health, dental and vision insurance benefit. If not, I am losing money".
He has since moved on to a state job.

I guess that depends on what the company policies are. In the company I worked for, you had to cash in all but 5 days per year if you didn't use it. That meant that using the sick time was actually costing you additional income. They later amended that policy to state that you didn't have to cash any in and could carry it over year to year after an employee was diagnosed with cancer and didn't have enough sick time to cover his time off. To offset that if for some reason you left the company you would be paid for all the sick time you had accumulated. Mine amounted to thousands of dollars when I retired. That was all over and above my regular salary. Score! Showing up for work paid off!

Also I hope your coworker wasn't in accounting. He didn't gain any money but using his sick time. He merely got the same thing as if he had been working. Time off was all that was gained...not money.

 

[Christine]

I work for the federal government and we get about 13 days of sick time per year. It rolls over so we can accrue it. I have only used one day in the last 4 years and I am hanging on to it for dear life. We don't get short-term disability here and I'm terrified I will need leave for a major illness down the road. I've seen it happen to so many people.

 

[mjkacmom]

I don't think DH has a limit (he is salaried), but I can't even remember the last time he took a sick day - must've been several years ago. His job is mostly meeting with clients, so cancelling is a big deal. He also rarely gets sick, and since I'm a SAHM, I'm here if the kids are sick. He also gets a lot of vacation time, but never uses it all.

 

[londonderrydisneyfan]

We have unlimited sick time but the most I've ever called in sick is four days this year when I had the flu. Usually I call in sick once or twice a year.

I do work with some people who felt that if they didn't call in sick at least five times a year they were "losing" money. They were also among the first to go when RIFs were announced.