How do you guys use your sick leave?

[RandomFool]

I use sick days for when I'm sick. I like my job so don't find myself needing to take days off for anything but vacation time or actual sickness. My company doesn't really have a set number of sick days you can use, but they keep track of how many you take. I've only used two of them so far which was for recovering from surgery.

 

[krunchykrome]

associates get 1 month of PTO per year. This PTO can be used for whatever we like, vacation, sick time, etc. This doesn't include the other 8 holidays we get off either.

I've never called out sick since I've been here. I've taken a few hours here and there if I leave early or come in late. We're salaried, so many people dont even use the PTO if it's only a few hours, but I try to be honest.

I'm taking 2 weeks off in Oct-Nov of this year for my wedding and honeymoon, and I'll probably take a few additional days off afterwards when we move into our new house.

 

[darkxshade]

I've never used a sick day but I'm curious, would it be ok to use one if someone close to you is sick and you want to stay in to care for them?

 

[zoiks]

I have the PTO plan. We can accumulate a max of 35days in sick/vacation days. The benefit is that we can accrue the days a lot faster.

 

[Turkish]

Originally posted by: DLeRium
So I figured my new job would give me 2 weeks of vacation time because I'm a new grad...

I was employed as a consultant in Washington D.C. after college so I was pretty much shaping my own schedule but my second job (current) offered me 22 business days off a year + 1 week off during Xmas (the entire company stops working) + 2 round trip tickets between Madrid and Istanbul each year, 3 hour lunch breaks during summer and half days on Fridays. Another reason to love Spain and Europe

 

[Turkish]

Originally posted by: JSSheridan
40% of all sick days are taken on Monday or Friday.

Is that supposed to mean something? Because each week day represents a 20% share of all sick days anyways so it's not surprising that 40% of sick days are taken on Monday or Friday.

 

[stinger25]

You can do what I do mostly and just use sick days for dental/medical appointments... I don't like to call in sick either.

 

[krunchykrome]

Originally posted by: Turkish

Originally posted by: JSSheridan
40% of all sick days are taken on Monday or Friday.

Is that supposed to mean something? Because each week day represents a 20% share of all sick days anyways so it's not surprising that 40% of sick days are taken on Monday or Friday.

he means that most people are "BS"ing when they call out sick. People usually call out sick for just one day. Realistically, If you're sick to the point where you cannot come to work, you're gonna be out for a few days at least.

I understand people just need a day off sometimes. Maybe they're just exhuasted or need an extra day to get themselves together. Employers should recognize this instead of forcing people to lie just to take the day off.

 

[Slew Foot]

Nurses around here use their sick days to go shopping.

 

[Nightfall]

Our sick and vacation time are combined into something called PTO (Paid time off). I get 15 total days per year. I have taken 1 sick day in 2 years because I take good care of myself. Since I don't have sick days that go to waste, it all works out well for me. More vacation time FTW.

 

[Vonkhan]

Sick days when the gf is extra frisky in the mornings

 

[Miklebud]

Originally posted by: Jeff7181
Call it a mental health day.

*DING!* I'm very rarely sick. So, with my 6 sick days, I'll take "Mental Health Days" when I'm in need of a day off.

 

[child of wonder]

Having two young kids, my 5 sick days per year go towards taking care of them when they're sick.

 

[dainthomas]

Originally posted by: krunchykrome

Originally posted by: Turkish

Originally posted by: JSSheridan
40% of all sick days are taken on Monday or Friday.

Is that supposed to mean something? Because each week day represents a 20% share of all sick days anyways so it's not surprising that 40% of sick days are taken on Monday or Friday.

he means that most people are "BS"ing when they call out sick. People usually call out sick for just one day. Realistically, If you're sick to the point where you cannot come to work, you're gonna be out for a few days at least.

I understand people just need a day off sometimes. Maybe they're just exhuasted or need an extra day to get themselves together. Employers should recognize this instead of forcing people to lie just to take the day off.

Woooooooosssshhhhhh!

40% of workdays are Monday and Friday, noob.

 

[MmmSkyscraper]

When I'm too sick to work, that's when I call in sick.

 

[Gooberlx2]

Originally posted by: kranky
Here's the thing with sick days. If you are in a job where it causes problems when you are a sudden no-show, and if your boss doesn't like people using sick days as extra vacation days, you can end up screwing yourself.

When we have people working at a customer site for a few weeks, calling in sick is a problem since they can't do what they were supposed to do with someone out. Customers don't like that. We have to try to find someone else to cover, which rarely works out.

We have some managers who get irritated when new employees play the sick day game on Mondays/Fridays. They don't say anything about it, but it hurts the employee's reputation in the company. Other managers don't really care.

I would think in an office-based engineering job, no one would mind a whole lot if you called off sick.

Very true. It was a huge PITA and an immensely increased workload when I or anyone called in sick, back when I worked animal care. We would always take note of people who called in sick way more than they should.

Now that I work in an office, nobody cares...it's awesome.

 

[Turkish]

Originally posted by: dainthomas

Originally posted by: krunchykrome

Originally posted by: Turkish

Originally posted by: JSSheridan
40% of all sick days are taken on Monday or Friday.

Is that supposed to mean something? Because each week day represents a 20% share of all sick days anyways so it's not surprising that 40% of sick days are taken on Monday or Friday.

he means that most people are "BS"ing when they call out sick. People usually call out sick for just one day. Realistically, If you're sick to the point where you cannot come to work, you're gonna be out for a few days at least.

I understand people just need a day off sometimes. Maybe they're just exhuasted or need an extra day to get themselves together. Employers should recognize this instead of forcing people to lie just to take the day off.

Woooooooosssshhhhhh!

40% of workdays are Monday and Friday, noob.

I am glad someone got the point.

 

[pstylesss]

First year at my job I get 2 weeks of vacation, 2 personal holidays, and 12 sick days. But the only thing you can use right away is your 2 personal holidays. The rest are built up in 4 hour periods (or however each one is calculated) per pay period and you cannot go "in debt" with them (however sick time is an exception). If I don't use up any sick days the first year then I get 12 more the next year for a total of 24 sick days, and so on. Same goes for vacation. We're also allowed to work over time and call it comp time. So I usually build up a couple days with those before I use them for leisure time off. I friend of mine has works up something like 30 days worth of come time.

 

[Capt Caveman]

Originally posted by: ZeroIQ
First year at my job I get 2 weeks of vacation, 2 personal holidays, and 12 sick days. But the only thing you can use right away is your 2 personal holidays. The rest are built up in 4 hour periods (or however each one is calculated) per pay period and you cannot go "in debt" with them (however sick time is an exception). If I don't use up any sick days the first year then I get 12 more the next year for a total of 24 sick days, and so on. Same goes for vacation. We're also allowed to work over time and call it comp time. So I usually build up a couple days with those before I use them for leisure time off. I friend of mine has works up something like 30 days worth of come time.

:shocked:

 

[QurazyQuisp]

My mom who works for the City of Grand Rapids gets 5 weeks vacation and over a week in sick time per year. She can trade sick days in for more vacation time, but it's not a 1:1 deal. it's like 2:1 or something.

Although she really doesn't have anyone to keep tabs on her besides the city manager. She's the head of her department. So I suppose she could just use sick days for whatever, but she's a tad more ethical then that.

 

[Axoliien]

I never use sick days. Where I work we can accrue them and then get them paid out in full when we leave or retire. If I keep them all stocked up, I get paid at my final pay rate and not current pay rate, and I have plenty of other time to use in case of emergencies. Working 5 days a week plus some extra when required isn't so hard...

 

[AmpedSilence]

I've called in sick twice in the almost ten years i've worked. The days are better used as extenders to your vacation time since they are "sick/personal days".

 

[brtspears2]

Job interviews.

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: DLeRium

yeah hooray for our broken school systems still not on a PTO concept).

Horray for kids who think they know everything! Differentiating sick and vacation days has advantages. At my company, the carry-over policies differ for different types of PTO. I can only carry over 5 vacation days to the next year without special permission, but I can carry over as many sick days as I want. This is so I can build up sick days and use them to supplement my company's short-term disability policy.

You live in California, right? I believe California law requires employers to compensate employees for unused paid time off, no matter what type it is. So your school lost nothing by having a teacher use her sick days.

Edit: Using sick days at the beginning/end of a vacation or before a long weekend is not a smart idea. It's obvious to your employer that you're abusing them.

 

[2Dead]

I tend to just work from home when I'm not feeling well. Only when I can't get out of bed or sit in front of the computer at home do I take a sick day.