Feeling guilty-work situation-long vent at myself

[Philagoofy]

I have such terrible guilt. My supervisor, who is very supportive of myself & my co-worker, had to have unexpected surgery & will be out for quite a while. He’s not in the greatest of health & has used a lot of his leave time over the years so had little saved up. Because he had so few sick days, he was going to borrow the vacation time he’ll be earning this year, using that first, then use sick time. As the timekeeper, I told him how much time he has & will earn & that he could use it. If he wasn’t sick, he would be allowed to borrow vacation time.

We talked about this the day before he was to go in for surgery; he had just found out that day that the doctor suggested he get it done the next day. The next day, I thought about it & realized that this wouldn’t work because eventually, when he gets doctor’s notes, they’ll probably show the operation dates. We must use all of our sick time first, then, if we have any other accrued time, we can use that and borrow no more than 2 vacation days. By this time, it was too late to tell him, although I don’t think it would have mattered that much, he needed to get this operation. Waiting to save up enough time would probably not have been advisable since the doctor wanted him to get this done right away & because he hasn’t been well enough to save it anyway.

A week later, another co-worker posted a “get well” message on our company’s online bulletin board. Several people asked me how my supervisor was. My co-worker & I went to visit him in the hospital. I told him that several people know & he said that it’s not a secret. (Not much stays a secret here, even personal/personnel business.)

A few days later, I sent an email to everyone (the company has different units on several floors – a lot of people) letting them know that my co-worker & I are taking up a collection, if they’d like to sign a card/donate. Shortly after, I get a call from Payroll, asking if he had surgery. Apparently they didn’t know yet. They said that he has to use his sick time first and that he can’t use his unaccrued vacation. Now, because he doesn’t have enough time, even though he’ll be on FMLA, he won’t be getting a paycheck for several weeks, maybe 2 months or so.

I talked to him on the phone a few days ago to tell him about the time situation. He asked me who gave him up. He said he knew it would come out sooner or later. But I feel so guilty. If I hadn’t sent the email, if I had thought to tell him the right information to begin with… Payroll still may have found out & even if I had told him the right info, he needed to have the surgery done but yet I still feel so guilty that he's not going to get paid. I really dropped the ball on this one.

 

[DisneyBamaFan]

You did nothing wrong, and he was trying to play the system. Frankly, if he worked for me, I would fire him...

 

[mickeyboat]

Try not to beat yourself up over it. He should have been straightforward with payroll and should have gone to HR to find out what his options were with regard to using his time.

Does your company have any kind of short term disability benefit he might qualify for?

Denae

 

[laurie31]

I guess I'm confused. I get that he has to use his sick time first, but if he has no sick time left, then why can't he use vacation time?

Where I work, people can donate their vacation hours to people in situations like your supervisor's. I know the teachers at DD's school can too. Is there a program like that at your work?

I don't think he was trying to "work the system" - if the doc told him he needed surgery right away, it wasn't his fault he couldn't wait and save up the sick time. Imagine the flames he'd get on the DIS if the OP had posted a story of how her supervisor needed surgery immediately but put it off until he had enough sick time and then his condition got much worse. Everyone would say what a fool he was to put off the surgery. It doesn't sound like it was anything elective...

I hope it all works out. And OP, it's not your fault that he doesn't have enough sick time saved. I believe payroll would have found out sooner or later, and sooner is probably better. What if they'd found out after several weeks and made him pay the money back? That would be even worse!

 

[DisneyBamaFan]

I guess I'm confused. I get that he has to use his sick time first, but if he has no sick time left, then why can't he use vacation time?

He can only use accrued vacation time. It is Feb. He probably doesn't have much.

This policy is to protect the company from people who would use all of their vacation for the year and not be able to return to work. Try suing someone without a job for paid vacation time not earned...

 

[Philagoofy]

He can only use accrued vacation time. It is Feb. He probably doesn't have much.

This policy is to protect the company from people who would use all of their vacation for the year and not be able to return to work. Try suing someone without a job for paid vacation time not earned...

This is exactly correct. We can use unaccrued vacation time if not sick, I suppose they have more recourse in getting that money back if the employee doesn't return, but we cannot us it if we are actually sick.

I don't think we have any short term disability, we have, what I think, is a generous sick leave policy, we can accure quite a bit of sick leave but if a person has a chronic illness, it can get used up.

I know this may have all come out & he shouldn't have done it (sometimes when you see what other people get away with..., not that that's an excuse - doesn't make it right) but I still feel I should have been thinking straighter.

 

[wdwmom0f3]

I don't think that you did anything wrong at all. This is his problem, not yours. He knows the policy and he should not ask you or anyone else to try to get around that. That's just wrong.

 

[themilesfamily]

Try not to beat yourself up over it. He should have been straightforward with payroll and should have gone to HR to find out what his options were with regard to using his time.

I agree with this. I understand that you're the timekeeper and that you gave him some bad information. But isn't that something he should have talked to HR about?

I do think it's great how you all care about each other at work and are there for each other.

 

[laurie31]

He can only use accrued vacation time. It is Feb. He probably doesn't have much.

This policy is to protect the company from people who would use all of their vacation for the year and not be able to return to work. Try suing someone without a job for paid vacation time not earned...

Ah, thanks. I get it now.

Where I work, there's no distinction between sick and vacation, it's just paid time off, but we would never be able to borrow time we hadn't yet earned. However, our unused time doesn't go away. I have enough saved to be off for two months right now. It sounds like this guy wasn't able to save up much due to his health problems, though.

 

[themarquis]

I have such terrible guilt. My supervisor, who is very supportive of myself & my co-worker, had to have unexpected surgery & will be out for quite a while. He’s not in the greatest of health & has used a lot of his leave time over the years so had little saved up. Because he had so few sick days, he was going to borrow the vacation time he’ll be earning this year, using that first, then use sick time. As the timekeeper, I told him how much time he has & will earn & that he could use it. If he wasn’t sick, he would be allowed to borrow vacation time.

We talked about this the day before he was to go in for surgery; he had just found out that day that the doctor suggested he get it done the next day. The next day, I thought about it & realized that this wouldn’t work because eventually, when he gets doctor’s notes, they’ll probably show the operation dates. We must use all of our sick time first, then, if we have any other accrued time, we can use that and borrow no more than 2 vacation days. By this time, it was too late to tell him, although I don’t think it would have mattered that much, he needed to get this operation. Waiting to save up enough time would probably not have been advisable since the doctor wanted him to get this done right away & because he hasn’t been well enough to save it anyway.

A week later, another co-worker posted a “get well” message on our company’s online bulletin board. Several people asked me how my supervisor was. My co-worker & I went to visit him in the hospital. I told him that several people know & he said that it’s not a secret. (Not much stays a secret here, even personal/personnel business.)

A few days later, I sent an email to everyone (the company has different units on several floors – a lot of people) letting them know that my co-worker & I are taking up a collection, if they’d like to sign a card/donate. Shortly after, I get a call from Payroll, asking if he had surgery. Apparently they didn’t know yet. They said that he has to use his sick time first and that he can’t use his unaccrued vacation. Now, because he doesn’t have enough time, even though he’ll be on FMLA, he won’t be getting a paycheck for several weeks, maybe 2 months or so.

I talked to him on the phone a few days ago to tell him about the time situation. He asked me who gave him up. He said he knew it would come out sooner or later. But I feel so guilty. If I hadn’t sent the email, if I had thought to tell him the right information to begin with… Payroll still may have found out & even if I had told him the right info, he needed to have the surgery done but yet I still feel so guilty that he's not going to get paid. I really dropped the ball on this one.

it sounded from your post (maybe I am misunderstanding?) that if it weren't the case that he had an illness, he would be allowed to borrow the vacation time.

But if he did have an illness, they wouldn't let him borrow it.

That doesn't make sense to me (and seems kind of cruel, actually). I didn't understand why "being able to get the money back" for the vacation time if a person left the company would be easier if they didn't have an illness vs. if they did.

And it makes me wonder what would happen if a person said to Payroll, hey, I'm sick and having an operation. Then two or three days later they could say, I'm better now and I'm gonna take a vacation and use that unaccrued vacation time