Sick time

[monsterkitty]

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.

As an elective teacher, I didn't teach the same class twice. It was way easier to go in sick than make sub plans. We all had emergency sub plans on file in the office, but they still required making copies for extremely large classes of 45-60 kids. This was before we could put things in our in-district program. When the district developed our current program, (way before COVID) using sick days was a lot easier, but we still didn't take them due to the lack of subs.

Our district program made the switch from in-person to on-line during COVID very easy for all because the kids were so used to it.

I agree for the most part.
But at what point does our supervisor not bring in the attendance review? We do have a policy on this. I think this is what irritates me - the supervisor not the workers. Supervisor says nada - just "feel better".

And it is totally my issue but I wish the fact that I was covering for everyone was acknowledged. It's for sure coming up in my annual review!

You really have no idea why the person is taking the sick days. Well, unless they are taking a sick day and then posting pictures of themselves on social media at the beach or skiing. The supervisor may know, but they can't share it with you. And frankly, it's really none of anyone's business why the person is out.

I get it's a pain for you. I was the only teacher off during period 1 one year and period 7 the next. The same teacher always called in sick too late and I had to cover, or she went home ill during the day and I was the only person to cover. I was in her class more than she was and the kids really thought I was their lit teacher.

I rarely take a sick day. I’m a teacher and it’s too much work to take a day off. I get 10 sick days a year and they accumulate. I have over 90+ days, but I’d rather be at work then plan to to not be there and then deal with everything when I return.

We were allowed to save up to 35 days. After that, if we didn't use any days we got at the beginning of the year, we got paid. When I retired I had 35 saved days and the 14 from my last year, which was enough to buy myself a new race bike.

 

[momz]

I advise you to worry about your ownself. When you see people missing a lot of work days, assume there is something going on in their life. I have intermittent FMLA so I can miss work without losing my job for medical treatments four times a year. Each time is a week long off work as i am on a medication that is IV infusion daily for 5 days every 3 months. Anyway, the co-worker missing work has nothing to do with YOU.

 

[tvguy]

Not the case here. When I worked for a casino vacation was use it or lose it and sick days? Ha!

Like I said, California.

 

[CdnCarrie]

I advise you to worry about your ownself. When you see people missing a lot of work days, assume there is something going on in their life. I have intermittent FMLA so I can miss work without losing my job for medical treatments four times a year. Each time is a week long off work as i am on a medication that is IV infusion daily for 5 days every 3 months. Anyway, the co-worker missing work has nothing to do with YOU.

It does if I have to fill in doing all their work.

 

[TippyThomas]

It does if I have to fill in doing all their work.

You should probably take that up with your boss then.

 

[Forevermarypoppins]

Yep, used to work with a lady who missed a day of work EVERY OTHER week. Her pto accural was such that she ACCURED MORE than she used FMLA day off in the 2 week period. Did we ( her coworkers) like it- HELL NO! BUT she had a FMLA in place so- be- it.

And now I can appreciate how quickly things can change as I had a hellacious 2019: Sinus infection and kidney stones. A week later in the ER for multiple pulmonary blood clots. Follow up chest xrays revealed thyroid nodules and a kidney cyst. Thyroid biopsies then surgery later and by the end of that year another sinus infection. PRIOR to all the I was a very healthy person.

 

[Cheburashka]

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.

Gently and genuinely, it sounds like you need to take some time off yourself to ease the resentment. Let them pick up the slack for you, really. Don't be a martyr. You need your own R'n'R. If you don't want to take R'n'R, then that's a personal choice, but you can't expect them to also make that same personal choice.

Your coworkers are following workplace policy and not breaking any rules. It can actually be counterproductive for employees to push themselves through pain, stress and/or illness in an effort to avoid taking days off. You also aren't in their shoes and don't know exactly what's up with them or their families. Everyone's life is different. If they're following the rules, I don't think they should be negatively judged.

 

[fla4fun]

We had sick time separate from the “use it or lose it” PTO time. I have my records all the way back to 2006, and from 2006 until we shut down last year, I used zero sick days. Technically, I can tell I didn’t use any for 2004 or 2005 either, because I carried over 80 hours into 2006. We got 40 hours per year at that time, and could carry over unused sick time until we maxed out at 240 total hours (6 weeks), then we didn’t accrue any more until we used some.

 

[DisneyTeacher]

Teacher here. I get 22 sick days and three personal days per year that roll over if not used. The longer we’re in district the more days we get and I’ve maxed out the number I can get per year. As a bonus, if we don’t use more than three sick days in a school year we get 1/2 a day for every unused sick day we have. Last year I received 22 days, used half a day so I got a bonus of 10.5 days. I have accumulated the maximum number of days I can legally collect (340) so I will now lose any used days every year. I either have to be very sick or have an appointment to miss work, it’s just too much work to plan for a sub.

 

[disneychrista]

We accrue 120 hours (15 days) of sick time per year with no cap. I currently have approx. 425 hours. I have been there for about 4 years 4 months. So that should tell you how little sick time I take. This year I have taken about 7 - 10 days due to recurring tonsilitis but some of that got paid out at COVID leave since they required that I get tested and wait for results before coming back to work and I also worked from home for a few days. Most of the sick time I use are for medical appointments.

There are co-workers who use every minute of their sick leave every year, as well as their vacation & personal leave. Some go out for extended periods due to medical issues, others take a day here & day there. Honestly, unless their being out directly effects me & my work load, I don't worry about it.

 

[Cheburashka]

Teacher here. I get 22 sick days and three personal days per year that roll over if not used.

25 total days of leave? Wow! Where do you work? I'm a teacher in the U.S. and have never heard of that amount of leave. Are you in another country?

 

[MrsCobraBubbles]

Now that I work from home I haven't taken any "sick" days because I'd have to be almost dying to render me unable to do my job while sick. Lol, I've been sick all week and haven't missed work. But I'm not afraid to use PTO when I want. The kids and I decided not to vacation this summer but I've sprinkled in a few days here and there so we could do fun stuff. I've scheduled PTO for a few days to take them to doctor appointments. I don't think that's a bad thing, I've never pretended that my family didn't come first.

 

[DisneyTeacher]

25 total days of leave? Wow! Where do you work? I'm a teacher in the U.S. and have never heard of that amount of leave. Are you in another country?

I teach in the U.S. We gradually increased the number of sick days when raises weren’t possible due to money issues. We went through several tough contracts where we didn’t get much of a raise so we went with things that didn’t cost the district a lot of money. When I started teaching in this district years ago everyone got 10 days. I think our new teachers get 12 sick days. It takes 30 years of in district service to get to 22 days, years brought in don’t count.

 

[grapefruitjellybean]

I don't have a select number of days, however if you have more than 10 in the calendar year management will talk to you. I hit my 10 and my director and hr talked to me and we worked out an accommodation. My doctor had to fill out paperwork. There's no set days. When you are sick you are sick and you stay home and you get paid.
We have 6 personal days a year for emergencies that is separate from the sick or vacation days. I use my personal days when my kids are sick.
We have long term and short term disability. You get 70 days of full pay and then 75% of your salary. Obviously these situations require medical documentation but it's a simple process. I believe this is also the policy for caregiver leave if a family member is sick.

 

[tvguy]

Anyway, the co-worker missing work has nothing to do with YOU.

Anyway, the co-worker missing work has nothing to do with YOU.

You might feel differently if you are the one having to work a double shift to cover. We had a woman who was notorious for calling in sick in the middle of the week during ski season and then posting photos on Social Media. Of course the sunburn on her face didn't help her case either.

 

[C&Jx2]

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

This. I feel like sick leave, PTO, etc is yours to use and if there are no policies stopping them then they can use as much as they're entitled to. Do I think it's considerate if they're calling in under false pretenses? No... But not it's not "wrong".

I'm a nurse. There is a crazy shortage of bedside nurses right now (for various reasons). When someone calls in sick it really affects everyone else on staff. My company doesn't utilize travel nurses anymore to fill in the gaps so everyone suffers. It's frustrating when you know someone called in sick last minute to go hang at the lake. But it's their time and there are no policies preventing it so...

 

[slo]

I don’t get paid sick days, but I’ve never needed them - luckily I rarely get sick so it doesn’t matter. When I had my hysterectomy in 2019 my boss did give me paid days off after that, so I was grateful, but since I don’t like being home for long, I was back to work 4 days after my surgery (2 of those days was a Sat & Sun that I’m normally off work anyway).

Sometimes I wish I had another person at my job to help (it’s just the doctor I work for an I), but then when I hear about annoying things others do, like in the original post, I’m happy to do the extra work and have no aggravation.

 

[Cheburashka]

There is a crazy shortage of bedside nurses right now (for various reasons). When someone calls in sick it really affects everyone else on staff. My company doesn't utilize travel nurses anymore to fill in the gaps so everyone suffers.

I totally get this. The same situation exists at my job. There are shortages, and when people are out it can affect everyone else.

I just don't think the fact that shortages exist and employers aren't able or willing to cover the shortages means that workers need to take it upon themselves not to take the leave they're entitled to.

In a way it's the opposite. Because work is so stressful now with the shortages, it's even more important to take the leave you have for mental health if nothing else. That's what I sincerely recommend to the OP.

 

[Kathryn Merteuil]

PRE-Covid, I had near perfect attendance. I was out one day in like 2 years because DH got pneumonia and ended up in the hospital.

Nowadays.... yea I have ended up using A LOT of sick days due to Covid. Between having it 2X myself and quarantining due to exposure etc. I am not the only one though, everybody in my department has had Covid at least once and everybody has had to quarantine more than once.

They used to have a policy that if you used up X amount of sick days, you were subject to disciplinary action and it did go on your "evaluations". That policy has been revised to say if your absences are Covid related, they are not factored into your attendance record.

We are understaffed as it is, and when anybody is out it hurts the whole team. However, there is no way around it. It is just the world we live in and we have to adjust. Believe me, I have been feeling this all week because we are at under 50% staffed right now due to people being on vacation and one being out with Covid. It is truly exhausting to be the poor soul who shows up to work some days.

 

[AndreaDM]

We have a general PTO bank, and then short term disability if you're off a longer amount of time. The PTO depends on how long you've been with the company, I have been there less than 2 years so I'm at 4 weeks. Personally, I like to take all the days as vacation time if possible, but I usually leave at least 1 day in case I do get sick or something random comes up. Last year I had to use up that one day in Dec. because they don't roll over, but I hadn't been sick enough to take a sick day. I try to schedule all appointments (just went to dentist yesterday) at the earliest of the day, that way I hardly miss any time and can work over lunch if needed to make up the time. I'm on a hybrid schedule at my job, office 2 days, home 3, so if I'm just "feeling crappy" I'll just work from home in my sweatpants instead of calling off like I would have in the past. To the OP, yes I'll admit, I would be super annoyed at a coworker who took that much time and left others to do his/her work.