Sick time

[CdnCarrie]

How much sick time do you use? My closest coworker is now on day 16 (not consecutive!) of sick days for the calendar year. I've taken one so far in 2022.
She also just got back from 2 weeks holidays.
If staff were taking excessive sick time (yes it's paid) would your employer say anything?
She's not the only one - also have 2 others that have taken quite a bit this year as well.

Just frustrating when you are the only one consecutively here!

 

[BrianL]

Practically zero, especially since working from home is now an option. I'd probably just stay home and work unless I was greviously ill.

 

[Moliphino]

Most people now work from home if they don't feel well instead of using up a sick/personal day. One good thing to come out of Covid, we weren't allowed to work from home before.

 

[GAN]

We were just discussing that. We have an employee that is beyond 30-days at this point, and just went home sick today. Doesn't miss any vacation time though! They've talked to him about it but who knows ...not my concern, thankfully!

 

[Kennywood]

I honestly cannot remember when I last took a sick day. I have 13 weeks of sick leave accumulated. I don't call in sick unless I'm actually sick.

Well, that's not entirely true. During one VERY stressful period at work many, many years ago, I did walk into my boss' office and said, "I'm taking a sick day tomorrow as a "mental health day." He completely agreed.

 

[Lumpy1106]

Our PTI (sick time) got converted to PTO (vacation time) years ago. That said, WFH and COVID changed everything. I have one co-worker who claims to have had COVID now 3 times, each time he (pre-emptively) takes a week off. He's WORKING FROM HOME and in his 20's. Look up "sandbagging" in the dictionary...

 

[John VN]

How much sick time do you use? My closest coworker is now on day 16 (not consecutive!) of sick days for the calendar year. I've taken one so far in 2022.
She also just got back from 2 weeks holidays.
If staff were taking excessive sick time (yes it's paid) would your employer say anything?
She's not the only one - also have 2 others that have taken quite a bit this year as well.

Just frustrating when you are the only one consecutively here!

My working days found me EXCUSED due to Cracked Ribs and another time after Severing a Finger Tendon and both times I returned ASAP, but that was decades ago since I am 72 and my work ethic was what it was. The severed tendon was JOB RELATED and I should not have returned before Doctor's Release Notice but since it was a small manufacturing operation I knew I was needed.

 

[Disneylover99]

It’s generally too hard to take a day off very often when you’re a teacher. It’s a pain to make day plans and get a supply at the best of times, so many of us suck it up and go in, even if we’re not feeling great. But this past year has been a bit of a nightmare at work with Covid rules and restrictions and we’ve been so short staffed. Everyone has taken way more sick time then normal. I hope this upcoming year is better.

 

[barkley]

How much sick time do you use? My closest coworker is now on day 16 (not consecutive!) of sick days for the calendar year. I've taken one so far in 2022.
She also just got back from 2 weeks holidays.
If staff were taking excessive sick time (yes it's paid) would your employer say anything?
She's not the only one - also have 2 others that have taken quite a bit this year as well.

Just frustrating when you are the only one consecutively here!

i'm retired but my employer was pretty lax about it. we could use up our sick time and then opt for vacation and other accruals to cover it so it wasn't quite the financial hit others may encounter. if it got to be impacting a person's job/their co-workers who had to take on their responsibilities then employee counseling happened and the discussion of applying for fmla was initiated. if it got to a certain point (fmla or no) my employer could mandate that a doctor's note was required for every absence. i had one employee who after i retired was terminated for falsification of a time card b/c he called in sick, claimed when he returned to work that he forgot the note at home but then when pushed to provide it found he couldn't get the doctor to backdate a note (and he hadn't called the doctor's office the day of the supposed illness so the doctor was not willing to say the employee was sick that day).

 

[mrodgers]

Allowed a whole 3 days. If you don't use them, they get paid out in January, no rolling them each year.

2008 my youngest was in the hospital with pneumonia. That was the last time I took a sick day. Prior to that was in 2004 when my oldest was in the hospital with pneumonia. Before that was 1989 at a part time job high school job when I didn't want to go to work so I tried to call off saying I was stuck in the snow in the driveway. Manager said no problem, he'll come pick me up. I got my car "unstuck" and went to work.

 

[Skip Coffee for Rope Drop]

How much sick time do you use? My closest coworker is now on day 16 (not consecutive!) of sick days for the calendar year. I've taken one so far in 2022.
She also just got back from 2 weeks holidays.
If staff were taking excessive sick time (yes it's paid) would your employer say anything?
She's not the only one - also have 2 others that have taken quite a bit this year as well.

Just frustrating when you are the only one consecutively here!

your company should have something in writing about sick days and what impact it would have on your evaluations, including if dr. documentation is needed. 16 sick days is a lot but perhaps they have documentation for specialist doctor visits, Covid test results or FLMA days.

 

[sam_gordon]

your company should have something in writing about sick days and what impact it would have on your evaluations, including if dr. documentation is needed. 16 sick days is a lot but perhaps they have documentation for specialist doctor visits, Covid test results or FLMA days.

Not sure 16 days is a lot spread over the last 7 1/2 months. Especially if they have family they need to take care of.

 

[mjkacmom]

My husband gets unlimited sick and vacation time. He works from home and I don’t think he’s taken a sick day in decades.

 

[bcla]

Depends. Even though I work from home now, there are some things where one just can't concentrate and needs rest to recover. Maybe just keep up, attend group meetings, but otherwise try to stay out of the way until better.

I think California requires 5 days per calendar year.

 

[sam_gordon]

How many days is the employee entitled to? It's up to the company to regulate.

 

[Minnesota!]

We get personal time, vacation time, and sick and safe time.

I have used 3.75 hours of sick and safe time this year. It can be used for me, for my kids, for my husband.

If I am sick, since I work from home, I just work from home. And take long lunches to rest.

 

[barkley]

I think California requires 5 days per calendar year.

california also has state disability insurance which (at least back when i was working) made it almost more beneficial (depending on your earnings) to not carry allot of sick days on the books at work (taxed vs. untaxed monies).

 

[CdnCarrie]

It’s generally too hard to take a day off very often when you’re a teacher. It’s a pain to make day plans and get a supply at the best of times, so many of us suck it up and go in, even if we’re not feeling great. But this past year has been a bit of a nightmare at work with Covid rules and restrictions and we’ve been so short staffed. Everyone has taken way more sick time then normal. I hope this upcoming year is better.

Exactly! I know so many people who suck it up as they have no sick days (DH for one) or it's really hard to phone in sick (teachers/healthcare professionals with appointments) which makes it even frustrating when people I work with call in sick for very little reason.

i'm retired but my employer was pretty lax about it. we could use up our sick time and then opt for vacation and other accruals to cover it so it wasn't quite the financial hit others may encounter. if it got to be impacting a person's job/their co-workers who had to take on their responsibilities then employee counseling happened and the discussion of applying for fmla was initiated. if it got to a certain point (fmla or no) my employer could mandate that a doctor's note was required for every absence. i had one employee who after i retired was terminated for falsification of a time card b/c he called in sick, claimed when he returned to work that he forgot the note at home but then when pushed to provide it found he couldn't get the doctor to backdate a note (and he hadn't called the doctor's office the day of the supposed illness so the doctor was not willing to say the employee was sick that day).

No idea what fmla is.

How many days is the employee entitled to? It's up to the company to regulate.

They have more than enough sick time to cover it. Work for basically a government institution which is very generous with sick time. Just starting to feel like people around me are abusing it and the supervisor is saying zilch about it. It's more that I have to keep covering people with no real acknowledgement for doing so that annoys me.

 

[kdonnel]

I get unlimited time off.

Of course there must be limits, they are just not published. I have not heard of anyone taking advantage of the policy.

If people need a day off, they take the day off.

 

[barkley]

No idea what fmla is.

the family medical leave act. if approved a person can get 12 weeks per year of time off for their own or a family member's medical issues. it can be used in whole all at once or part. if an employer has a strict attendance policy it can protect an employee who needs to take off long or short periodic periods of time off.