Why can't sick people stay home?

[genevieve]

...But a few years ago, they basically combined them into one PTO account, which sucked because the accrual rate went way down, and we ended up with just 14 days PTO a year. So if you got sick, there goes a week of vacation time.

I hate combined PTO leave. Not only does it tend to be way less (because of the payout issues/liability to the company), but people don't want to use their vacation for sick time, so it means most people will do anything to avoid using it for sick time.

I'm fortunate to work somewhere with very generous leave benefits, but it wasn't always so. 20 years ago I managed a coffee shop while the owners went to LA to become movie stars. I was put on salary, and before they left they made me sign something saying that if I was sick and needed someone else to cover my shift, the wages would come out of my paycheck. I signed it, because I rarely get sick. Wouldn't you know it - I got the sickest I'd been in about 12 years. Bronchitis. And I worked every single shift of my food-service job, because I had no insurance, made $7.50 an hour and couldn't afford to have my paycheck docked. The owners did feel bad when they heard how sick I was and they paid the bill for my doctor visit, but they didn't take back the clause about docking my salary if someone else had to work for me (which I'm pretty sure is illegal, but I didn't know that then).

I can still remember willing myself not to cough when customers were in the shop, and then going and hacking up a lung the second they left. I washed my hands A LOT during that time

[vesperholly]

How many people here actually get sick leave? If you do how many days do you get? And can you accumulate them each year?.

I get 5 days a year, they roll over every year and I think you top out at 30 days. I call in sick once or maybe twice a year, and I'm in my 7th year at my current workplace, so I probably have close to the max.

When I hit my 5-year anniversary, I got 3 weeks PTO. (plus last year I had 4 weeks of furloughs - talk about torture, 7 weeks off and no $ to do anything interesting) Everyone gets 3 personal days every year. All of this time is "granted" rather than earned (), and we cannot roll over time nor are we paid out for unused time off when we quit.

A friend of mine works for a giant corporate behemoth, and they get 1/2 day Fridays between Memorial and Labor days. Meanwhile I just lucked into having my days off be Friday/Saturday, instead of Monday/Saturday (and before that, sometimes Monday/Thursday or Tuesday/Saturday or some heinous combination). Needless to say, I am insanely JEALOUS.

[sk8pics]

We do not have a limit on the number of sick days per se, but on the 3rd occurrence and on up, on a rolling 12 month calendar, you have to bring a doctor's note. I believe we also have to bring a doctor's note if you are out more than 3 days in a row. This is obviously to keep people from gaming the system, and they figure, if you are sick that much perhaps you need extra medical attention. Also, you can be out up to 6 months continuously and still receive your full pay and benefits. I was out for a couple months when I broke my ankle, due to that and some complications. And then if you can come back for a day, a legitimate full day, that 6 month clock resets and you are eligible again.

Some people do come in when they're sick, but it's not too much of a problem. I've been very fortunate this winter and have not had a single cold. (knock on wood) And a friend of mine was pretty sick last Thursday and had kissed me goodbye 3 days before that and I still haven't gotten sick.

[numbers123]

Tp answer Aussie Willy, the employer that I had previous job
PTO = the first year you were granted the 6 major holiday pay, no PTO or sick leave then after the first year your hours were calculated on a % of time you work and number of years you worked the calculation % when up. Up to a limited amount. You could carry over some hours, but never more than X hours. Very complicated rules, but as Kasey said call ins are limited and you get reprimanded and then suspended.
This was a hospital setting, where you would think they wouldn't want you to come in sick.

[Cupid]

We get 15 personal time off days a year to be used for illness, funerals, mental health days, etc. What I notice with people is that they DO come in sick because they want to save their days off for impromptu sick days i.e., Mondays, Fridays. They wake up and think, crap, I'm calling in sick today because I partied too much last night, stayed up too late, the weather is going to be beautiful, etc.

Someone earlier up said they had to bring a doctor's note in. Well, our insurance makes us pay a $30 copay for an office visit, so that's a little much to ask low wage earners to cough up the money for a note.

[judiz]

I'm a preschool teacher and do you know how many times I have been sick this year because parents send their kids in coughing and sneezing? I had one poor child vomit from coughing so much and because he didn't have a fever, we couldn't send him home. Love it (sarcastic here) when parents fill their kids with tylenol to lower a fever so they can get a few hours of work in until the fever returns and they have to pick their kid up. We always know because the kids tell us mommy gave them the red medicine for a fever.

[mrr50]

An acquaintance, please note that i don't want to claim anything closer, owns a company that allows five sick/vacation days per year for the first 5 years, no carryover. The pay is just above minimum wage. health insurance is not good. Need additional sick time, you're fired. no kidding. he is quite gleeful about it.

[Sarah]

12 sick days per year
15 vacation days per year
4 personal days per year

Sick leave can be carried over, but only up to 90 days.
Vacation leave can carry over up to 30 days. Any more than 30 days will be lost on December 31st
Personal days do not carry over.

Same here except I only have 3 personal days (eventually I'll have 4) and our calendar ends June 30th.

Unfortunately, I'm a new employee and must earn my vacation/sick time and cannot use any leave for the first 6 months. I was just out 2 days with a horrible stomach flu and had to take it as unpaid leave. I have the sick time already, but can't use it. Talk about frustrating. I'd have taken a 3rd day off, but couldn't afford to. Luckily I was sick Th/F and had the weekend to recover, but I was still so weak on Monday. But, not contagious.

This is the first job I've had that actually gives me vacation/sick days/benefits. It's really hard to take time off when you don't have pto. If I can work, I need the money (that said, most of my sick days are usually migraines where physically I can't do anything but lay around in a dark room)...

[Aceon6]

We get 80 hours to cover our own sick time, medical appts, staying home with a sick child, school events, etc. In addition, staff get 80-160 hours vacation time based on length of service. The unused time cannot be carried over.

[GarrAarghHrumph]

So I will ask a question.

How many people here actually get sick leave? If you do how many days do you get? And can you accumulate them each year?

Sorry that was three questions.

Where I am you get 15 days each year (I think 5 are without a certificate) and then what you don't take gets carried over to the next year.

I am in the US, and I am salaried, not hourly. In all the places I've ever worked, that means 0 sick days. Here I have 0 sick days, maybe 17 vacation days (I've been here 10 years, so have more vacation time than many people here), and 3 personal holidays. Nothing carries over.

[Gypsy]

I "earn" 4 hours of sick leave per every pay period (8 hrs a month), but since I work for a government office, you are expected not to use your sick time. After all it is taxpayer money. (This is a very frustrating statement to me because most people forget that government workers pay taxes too.)
So, I feel very guilty when I have to call in sick.

[numbers123]

My son started a new job yesterday. Mostly HR/policies orientation. He was trying to understand the paid time off policies and ask about illnesses/sick days. He was told - just don't be sick or call in sick. JUST DON'T GET SICK OR CALL IN SICK.

[antmanb]

I'm in the UK and started my current job last year and it is the worst place i've worked in terms of holidays (but the best place in every other way!).

I get 20 days paid annual leave per year (Jan-Dec) (plus the 8 bank holidays we have in the UK). I also accrue one extra day per full calendar year I work up to a maximum of 5 extra days. So after 5 years I'll be up to (the more standard for my industry of) 25 days paid holiday.

Sick days are separate from holidays and are all on full pay, I think for the first year it's 10 days, and then increases with time up to a maximum of 30 days. There is some employment law cases out there to suggest that if you are sick when you take a holiday you should be entitled to get the holiday back as you were actually sick.

You are allowed a "reasonable" amount of time off for medical appointments, dentist etc without having to make up the hours.

There are various policies in place regarding time off for bereavement on full pay, depending on the relation of the person etc it can be up to a week with full pay.

I think UK employment law has gone a long way to protect employees.

Ant

[Habs]

I made my husband stay home from work today. He woke up with a fever, chills and a bad cough but insisted he was okay to go into the office.

A few of my co-workers have been in and out this week with the same symptoms. Count me in as one who wishes sick colleagues would stay home.

At my current job have 15 sick days/year to use with no loss of pay (I also have three weeks vacation time and work on a flex program where I have every second Friday off). Sick days and vacation days both carry over, so I'm quite lucky that way.

[Mozart]

I get 0 sick days, 0 personal days and 0 vacation days. If I am not at work I don't get paid. That includes sow days. We have had 6 1/2 so far so my bank account is suffering A LOT

[acraven]

US federal goverment allows (for most employees):

13 days of sick leave per year. Accrues without limit. Employees under the old retirement system (pre-1983) get pension credit for their unused sick leave, which can increase their pensions by up to 5% or a bit more. Newer employees get half-time credit, I think (new policy, because they finally figured out that a lot of folks were getting "sick" very frequently in the last year before they retired).

13 days of annual leave (vacation) initially, increasing to 20 days after 3 years and to 26 days after 15 years. I believe the standard carryover limit is 30 days, but this figure can be higher in some cases. Unused annual leave is cashed out when you resign or retire. If there are any federal holidays falling within that cashed-out period, retirees get paid for them as well.

10 paid holidays per year.

There can be some variation at individual agencies. For example, the Postal Service allows salaried personnel to take up to 4 hours off without being charged leave; this is very helpful for medical check-ups, funerals, and the like. But there's no overtime or compensatory time if salaried USPS employees work more than 40 hours a week.

[Prancer]

I'm a preschool teacher and do you know how many times I have been sick this year because parents send their kids in coughing and sneezing? I had one poor child vomit from coughing so much and because he didn't have a fever, we couldn't send him home. Love it (sarcastic here) when parents fill their kids with tylenol to lower a fever so they can get a few hours of work in until the fever returns and they have to pick their kid up. We always know because the kids tell us mommy gave them the red medicine for a fever.

I do know this happens a lot; I volunteered in the elementary school clinic for years and saw this all the time. It is infuriating.

But finding a sitter for a sick child is almost impossible, and employers tend to be much more understanding of the sick child problem when the school calls and says that the child is sick that they do when the parents call and say that their child is sick. When you have kids and you miss work because of them, there is often a lot of resentment from your co-workers who have to cover you, and using your leave to take care of them means you don't have any yourself if you catch what they have. And some managers couldn't care less if your kids are sick; you have to go in, anyway.

So they send their kids in sick, which makes their kids miserable and the other kids sick.

I never had to make choices like that, but I have some compassion for the parents who do (as opposed to the parents who have lots of sick leave and could easily take time off, but don't want to deal with their sick kids--and yes, I met a few of those, too).

[Rex]

When I was sick a couple of weeks ago, I came in thinking that I was better. But I was not so, I took the next day off. I had to come in that Friday - no one else is trained to get the newsletter out. But then I wiped my phone and computer down, and came home early. I was so out of it that I got some of the dates wrong on the watchbill and calendar . I spent that entire weekend in bed. If you are sick, stay home. I have learned my lesson.

[GarrAarghHrumph]

I get 0 sick days, 0 personal days and 0 vacation days. If I am not at work I don't get paid. That includes sow days...

You don't get any days off to deal with your pigs?

[Anita18]

This is the first job I've had that actually gives me vacation/sick days/benefits. It's really hard to take time off when you don't have pto. If I can work, I need the money (that said, most of my sick days are usually migraines where physically I can't do anything but lay around in a dark room)...

Yeah that really sucks. Another of my coworkers gets sick all the time, not only colds but really bad migraines. She sometimes finds a way to get to work but not always. (If it's a migraine, she buckles down and tries to feel better, then goes to work later in the day. My boss is fairly lenient about scheduling too. It's probably why we're still fairly productive despite being a really small group. )

But she's a really smart, productive person when she IS here - she's achieved more in a shorter time than most grad students even with all of her hours off and her recurring migraines. And we work in a place where it's impossible to telecommute. I don't get why more employers don't make it possible to telecommute when it's possible for your job. When I was out for a week with the stomach flu, I couldn't get up and walk around, but I could still read and do computer work. (I got a lot of reading done that week. ) Employers forcing sick people to come in for stuff they could do at home is just stupid. Then again I've heard a lot of really stupid things going down for the sake of "looking productive," even in a scientific lab setting where supplies are not cheap.