Acceptable number of sick days per year?

[spacemountainmom]

Update - my co-worker called in sick again today. It was the 7th sick day in 59 days of school. UGH! He has pretty much taken a sick day on the average of once every two weeks. I'd call that excessive.

 

[JessicaR]

So my friend and I were discussing what is an "acceptable" number of sick days a person could take off a year for being ill. Not paid of course- just an I'm sick day and can't make it into work. At what point are absences excessive and what are realistic?

I can't answer. Too many variables. Is it constant or is each year different? Is the person ill to begin with and are illnesses more complicated for that person? I just can't answer.

Sometimes my kids/husband are sick and sometimes they never miss a day - it just depends.

 

[leight]

I am guilty of using all of the paid sick time I get each year. I have an autoimmune disorder- so if I get a cold- it often develops into so much more. Last month I was out a week for pneumonia. I'm lucky that my company works with me and I truly try not to abuse it. I haven't had to resort to FMLA other than for surgery last year- and then it was also in conjunction with short term disability. But if I needed it-I wouldn't hesitate to use FMLA to protect my job. We used to get 6 sick days for us and 6 sick days to take care of family. Now its 6 sick days total and really just 4.5 for me since I work an alternative work schedule that is more than 8hrs so I have to use it by the hour- so I invariably use some vacation time to accomodate my illness or if the kids get sick. Sick days don't accrue-so I certainly will use them prior to vacation time -I can carry over 1 wk per year and get 3 wks vacation. This year I will probably carry over 2 days. But I don't call in for mental health days- its for when I am seriously sick.

 

[kamik86]

They can hire a temp that's what every company I've worked has done to cover FMLA. And I'm pretty sure FMLA requires so kind of documentation. You can't just say my spouse is sick and be out for 12 weeks.

Some jobs you really can't hire temps for. My job and most at my company require security clearances it would be hard to find someone with a clearance that is able to take a temp job to cover someone. Oh and by the time they figured out the project well enough to be productive the temp job would be half over since this is only 12 weeks (Yes it can really take more then a month to really spin up on some of these projects)


My company also has PTO just lumped together. We also get floating holidays (due to a 9/80 schedule we get a different number of holiday hours each year so they just decided everyone gets 80 hours of holiday, then they figure out how much the normal holidays are and give us the rest as floaters, usually about 30 hours). For PTO we get 144 hours a year and it goes up a bit after 5 years, 10 years, etc. (the PTO is in hours since we work 9 hour days most days but 8 hour days on friday so the amount of time you got off depends on the day. You can also take partial days, I took off 2 hours early today for a dr. appointment)

 

[goofyernmost]

They can hire a temp that's what every company I've worked has done to cover FMLA. And I'm pretty sure FMLA requires so kind of documentation. You can't just say my spouse is sick and be out for 12 weeks.

Sadly, there are so many ways around that it isn't even funny. Let me make it clear...most people do not abuse the system. The ones that do not only ruin it for everyone else but they also, by association, cast a shadow of doubt toward those with legitimate reasons. It is so easy to get a Doctor to verify something for you. Litigation has made Doctors decide that agreeing with the patient is less likely to open them up to lawsuits then if they deny it and then something is really wrong. So tell them you have a problem and they will, if unable to absolutely dispel it, go along with it.

Some jobs you really can't hire temps for. My job and most at my company require security clearances it would be hard to find someone with a clearance that is able to take a temp job to cover someone. Oh and by the time they figured out the project well enough to be productive the temp job would be half over since this is only 12 weeks (Yes it can really take more then a month to really spin up on some of these projects)


My company also has PTO just lumped together. We also get floating holidays (due to a 9/80 schedule we get a different number of holiday hours each year so they just decided everyone gets 80 hours of holiday, then they figure out how much the normal holidays are and give us the rest as floaters, usually about 30 hours). For PTO we get 144 hours a year and it goes up a bit after 5 years, 10 years, etc. (the PTO is in hours since we work 9 hour days most days but 8 hour days on friday so the amount of time you got off depends on the day. You can also take partial days, I took off 2 hours early today for a dr. appointment)

You are correct. It may seem easy to fill that position but it isn't easy. If it were one wouldn't have much job security would one. The PTO system is probably the best in this age. If you are willing to take time away from your actual vacations, then use all the time up for sick time you want. Most companies will not run benefit time in the red. Use it up and that will be it. The company can refuse to give you time off for anything after that and if you take it anyway, without pay, you can be fired, which is probably the way one would be headed anyway with enough absenteeism.

I remember one of the most annoying things was when someone took FMLA leave for 6 months and as soon as they came back would take two week or more vacation. This put unbelievable stress on the workers that had to fill in for them.

 

[kamik86]

Sadly, there are so many ways around that it isn't even funny. Let me make it clear...most people do not abuse the system. The ones that do not only ruin it for everyone else but they also, by association, cast a shadow of doubt toward those with legitimate reasons. It is so easy to get a Doctor to verify something for you. Litigation has made Doctors decide that agreeing with the patient is less likely to open them up to lawsuits then if they deny it and then something is really wrong. So tell them you have a problem and they will, if unable to absolutely dispel it, go along with it.



You are correct. It may seem easy to fill that position but it isn't easy. If it were one wouldn't have much job security would one. The PTO system is probably the best in this age. If you are willing to take time away from your actual vacations, then use all the time up for sick time you want. Most companies will not run benefit time in the red. Use it up and that will be it. The company can refuse to give you time off for anything after that and if you take it anyway, without pay, you can be fired, which is probably the way one would be headed anyway with enough absenteeism.

I remember one of the most annoying things was when someone took FMLA leave for 6 months and as soon as they came back would take two week or more vacation. This put unbelievable stress on the workers that had to fill in for them.

My company even will allow workers to go negative on PTO. I know someone that did because she took a vacation that brought her to basically 0 hours and got stuck due to weather and ended up with an extra day off. How it works is once you go negative then you can't take anything off until your positive again. I have never come close to that though I try to save a bit each year, I have been there 2.5 years and have about 100 hours banked. And I take quite a bit of time off.

I don't take much for sick time though. I am rarely that sick. I get colds but generally I can come in for a few hours at least before I'm too fatigued and feeling bad to focus on work. This also keeps work happier as it means I get my most important tasks done.

 

[aprilgail2]

So my one co-worker who gets 5 weeks paid vacation also takes 2 weeks paid sick time. While she is "entitled" to take this, I personally find it excessive.

I get 5 weeks vacation- 7 personal days and still take all 12 of my sick days a year! not excessive to me LOL

 

[tvguy]

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.

He had a sideline business, so in that case, it did gain him money.