use short term disability for doctor's visit

[DebbieB]

I am surprised the op's friend can't use sick days for that. Where I work, we can use sick leave for doctor appts, even if they are family member's appointments.

Each company has their own policies. I know there was a controversy in my department because people wanted to use their sick days to care for a sick child and were told no. So they lied and said they were sick. My company resolved it by coming up with a PTO system where you got extra PTO days every year but no "sick days". After 5 days of PTO due to illness (only yours), you can apply for short term disability, which is managed by an outside company. The outside company contacts your doctor to approve the time off.

 

[Friend of a Mouse]

At the end of the day the company needs to do their work. It sounds like this person's scheduling requirements are interfering with that. I have type 2 and go out of my way to make sure appointments are not during work hours. My PCP offers early morning appointments and our district has a clinic I can go to after work. I did have to take one appointment during school hours and am working with my principal to see if I can use comp time, otherwise it will be a half day for me, but I am not expecting her to allow it.

There are many options for your friend: Try to find a doctor with different hours, find a doctor in the same city as her job, so that she can go to an early appointment and still make it to work on time, etc. There are ways to work around it. If that is not possible, she needs to try to find a job closer to home.

Additionally, some of these you listed were not necessary. Many eye doctors have hours outside of normal work hours. If worst comes to worst, she can go to a LensCrafters or Sears which typically keep mall hours. I would not be happy if I had an employee taking off 4 out of 10 days for things that are not immediately necessary (opthalmologist, dentist, etc.) She needs to learn to space things better or just suck it up and use her vacation days.

 

[fac]

I am surprised the op's friend can't use sick days for that. Where I work, we can use sick leave for doctor appts, even if they are family member's appointments.

I didn't plan to respond to this any more, but what tasha99 pointed out was one of the problems.

When I met with her alone, we talked about work, she complained about her manager and even discussed leaving, I have always been her voice of reason as there is no guarantee on what type of environment she will be in (we discussed quite a bit at the time when we worked together) and in this economy, any new job can end soon, hence I always discourage her from leaving a job. The more I discussed / debated with her, the more I knew about her environment, and for this particular incidence, I have to agree with her that she should be looking for another job.

For people who said that when an employer hired someone they expected the person to be on the job, but when an employer hired someone and gave the employee sick time and vacation time, the employer should not expect the person to be on the job during the sick time and vacation time. (it is just like someone questioning whether a surgery is a medical necessity).

In this particular incidence, she told everyone including her manager and manager's manger that she would be using a sick day for doctor's visit for that Friday, she then reminded her manager again throughout the week, only to see her manager sent out a mail before 9:00 am copying to the management. (I suspected the manager was a whiner, and based on what she told me in the past, I suspected there was a rivalry going on, but it is besides the point here). Then they had a meeting only to find out the manager trying to pin on her that it was her problem when the other guy did not find someone to cover for Friday, after my friend showed her manager the mail, they began telling her that sick days were not for doctor's appointment. On the other hand, they knew it at least 2 weeks ahead. Yes, I don't think it is treating employees with respect and I am surprised that apparently it is acceptable in many of the work environments.

She could have not giving them a heads-up, scheduled her appointments and called in sick.

Anyway, as far as I knew, before the recent incidence, she went in late, with approval, on the average of around (or fewer) than once a month and as someone also pointed out it was not really excessive. She is now planning to group her appointments and using her vacation days, the reason for my post was to find out what she legally can use for those appointments. I had already suggested her to talk to HR.

I have no interest to discuss what the norm should be as it really depends on the manager or industry and it was not my question....I have to agree with her that it is not the right environment for her.

 

[LilyWDW]

Frankly, I am disturbed at the level of detail you know about this "friend" and that you are putting it out there in public.

Agreed. As a business person it bothers me that so much information has been posted by the OP about their "friend". Just because you are using a screen names doesn't mean it can never be tracked back to who you are. I mean, think about it. We know where it is, what doctor appointments are in question, what the manager has said, that the job is "exempt"... we have a LOT of exact details that could be easily put together by a manager. And if I, as a manager, was shown this, the "friend" would most likely be looking for a new job.

Though, honestly, as a manager I would not be putting up with the whole "Oh, I have a doctor's appointment (again) and need to come in late/leave early" any more. It has happened enough and it is clear the manager does not approve of it. Yet the "friend" keeps doing it. It's almost as if they don't care if they keep their job.

 

[sam_gordon]

I didn't plan to respond to this any more, but what tasha99 pointed out was one of the problems.

When I met with her alone, we talked about work, she complained about her manager and even discussed leaving, I have always been her voice of reason as there is no guarantee on what type of environment she will be in (we discussed quite a bit at the time when we worked together) and in this economy, any new job can end soon, hence I always discourage her from leaving a job. The more I discussed / debated with her, the more I knew about her environment, and for this particular incidence, I have to agree with her that she should be looking for another job.

For people who said that when an employer hired someone they expected the person to be on the job, but when an employer hired someone and gave the employee sick time and vacation time, the employer should not expect the person to be on the job during the sick time and vacation time. (it is just like someone questioning whether a surgery is a medical necessity).

In this particular incidence, she told everyone including her manager and manager's manger that she would be using a sick day for doctor's visit for that Friday, she then reminded her manager again throughout the week, only to see her manager sent out a mail before 9:00 am copying to the management. (I suspected the manager was a whiner, and based on what she told me in the past, I suspected there was a rivalry going on, but it is besides the point here). Then they had a meeting only to find out the manager trying to pin on her that it was her problem when the other guy did not find someone to cover for Friday, after my friend showed her manager the mail, they began telling her that sick days were not for doctor's appointment. On the other hand, they knew it at least 2 weeks ahead. Yes, I don't think it is treating employees with respect and I am surprised that apparently it is acceptable in many of the work environments.

She could have not giving them a heads-up, scheduled her appointments and called in sick.

Anyway, as far as I knew, before the recent incidence, she went in late, with approval, on the average of around (or fewer) than once a month and as someone also pointed out it was not really excessive. She is now planning to group her appointments and using her vacation days, the reason for my post was to find out what she legally can use for those appointments. I had already suggested her to talk to HR.

I have no interest to discuss what the norm should be as it really depends on the manager or industry and it was not my question....I have to agree with her that it is not the right environment for her.

Look at the bolded... what is the actual company stance regarding "sick time"? It is VERY possible "sick" time can not be planned in advance. Yes, maybe she was able to do so in the past. Maybe they simply let her skirt that policy. Now they're enforcing it.

 

[Janepod]

Look at the bolded... what is the actual company stance regarding "sick time"? It is VERY possible "sick" time can not be planned in advance. Yes, maybe she was able to do so in the past. Maybe they simply let her skirt that policy. Now they're enforcing it.

Every job I have ever had, from folding jeans at Urban Outfitters 25 years ago through investment banking, sick days were *never* to be used for planned doctor's visits. Only for when you woke up that morning and were too ill to come in to work. Planned doctor's visits were evening, weekend, lunchtime appointments. (Or, once you had been there a while and proved yourself, you come in a little late or leave a little early.)

 

[Allison]

Every job I have ever had, from folding jeans at Urban Outfitters 25 years ago through investment banking, sick days were *never* to be used for planned doctor's visits. Only for when you woke up that morning and were too ill to come in to work. Planned doctor's visits were evening, weekend, lunchtime appointments. (Or, once you had been there a while and proved yourself, you come in a little late or leave a little early.)

To be fair, in my work experience, sick time is used for doctors appointments. Where I currently work, we can use it in 1 hour increments. It can also be used to care for family members who are sick. This is not the first place I have worked with this kind of policy.

 

[Ceila]

I am really surprised that your friend cannot find any doctors or dentists with evening and weekend hours in NJ. If she is anywhere near the the Short Hills/Livingston area I can give some recommendations for both.

And I can cover a good bit of south Jersey!

 

[dakcp2001]

Ok. I'll bite. This employee is not someone having a major health issue that needs time off to care for it. This is someone with poor organization and poor time management skills. The rest of us figure out how to schedule our routine dentist, mammogram, and Md. appointments and still show up at work. Having type 2 diabetes ( non insulin dependent) is an issue, but the amount of actual DR appointments for this is not going to be as excessive as the op is making it seem. Take a PTO day off once a month and have that be your day for appointments. That s what the rest of us do. PT can be done on nights or weekends. A lot of MD appointments can be too. It is one thing to need extra time off while dealing with a health issue, it is quite anther to be scheduling elective procedures and routine appointments and expect the rest of your coworkers to handle the burden week after week.

 

[teacherforhi]

Every job I have ever had, from folding jeans at Urban Outfitters 25 years ago through investment banking, sick days were *never* to be used for planned doctor's visits. Only for when you woke up that morning and were too ill to come in to work. Planned doctor's visits were evening, weekend, lunchtime appointments. (Or, once you had been there a while and proved yourself, you come in a little late or leave a little early.)

Our employee handbook specifically states that one can use sick time for doctor's appointments. I can only take it in half-day or whole-day chunks unfortunately. There's no coming a little late or leaving a little early. Someone has to teach the class. I also can't leave my class unsupervised during lunch. Of course, lunch is only 25 minutes, so there wouldn't be time for a doctor's appointment anyway.

 

[sam_gordon]

Every job I have ever had, from folding jeans at Urban Outfitters 25 years ago through investment banking, sick days were *never* to be used for planned doctor's visits. Only for when you woke up that morning and were too ill to come in to work. Planned doctor's visits were evening, weekend, lunchtime appointments. (Or, once you had been there a while and proved yourself, you come in a little late or leave a little early.)

To be fair, in my work experience, sick time is used for doctors appointments. Where I currently work, we can use it in 1 hour increments. It can also be used to care for family members who are sick. This is not the first place I have worked with this kind of policy.

Which just goes to show it's specific to employer. So, as I mentioned, the OP's friend needs to find out what her employer's policy is.