Sick time (mini rant)

[Demon-Xanth]

An employee that doesn't call in sick alot is a good thing right? Too bad that most companies don't reward that. At my work, I have accumulated 122 hours of sick time that I can use, meanwhile they ask me to use up vacation time to get it off the books. And people that get laid off get paid for vacation time but not sick time. So basically it becomes a "use it or you're a sucker" plan. And the suckers are the ones that are the most reliable. Now, if I called in sick every friday until the end of the year I still wouldn't use up my sick time and my boss would probably ream me out for doing so. The ONLY way I could possibly use up my sick time is to get hospitalized for a major illness or surgery.

To me it just doesn't seem right to ask the employees to take vacation time, buy out thier vacation time, put thier vacation time on a use it or lose it policy, and do nothing to reward NOT calling in sick ever other month. The only ones that are affected are the reliable employees.

 

[n0cmonkey]

Before I lost my job I had ~190 hours of paid time off (vacation and sick time) saved up. I got 1/3 of it as compensation.

 

[vi edit]

What pisses me off is that is that it's a huge double standard against employees that don't have a child. My employer, and many others that I know, let people use their sick days for stuff for their kids. Doctors appointments, exams, school stuff, and the times when the kids actually are sic, ect instead of vacation time. In many of this situations, they take off a whole day to do these things.

As a childless employee, I'm screwed because I don't have any other reason besides being sick, and faking sickness to get the day off, and if I don't use them up, I loose them. Some of the women in my office just "happen" to schedule some childs doctor appointments and what not conveniently right before the cuttoff occurs.

Humpf. :|

 

[n0cmonkey]

Originally posted by: vi_edit
What pisses me off is that is that it's a huge double standard against employees that don't have a child. My employer, and many others that I know, let people use their sick days for stuff for their kids. Doctors appointments, exams, school stuff, and the times when the kids actually are sic, ect instead of vacation time. In many of this situations, they take off a whole day to do these things.

As a childless employee, I'm screwed because I don't have any other reason besides being sick, and faking sickness to get the day off, and if I don't use them up, I loose them. Some of the women in my office just "happen" to schedule some childs doctor appointments and what not conveniently right before the cuttoff occurs.

Humpf. :|

There is a kid sick somewhere, take some time off to feel bad for it.

 

[FoBoT]

i have 384 hours of sick time on the books

i usually use 2-3 days a year, at the most

another guy in my group is "sick" 2-3 days a month

384 hours = 2.4 months

if i got sick tomorrow, i could, in theory, not come back to work until christmas

guess i need to get "sucker" tatooed on my butt or forehead

 

[Orsorum]

Originally posted by: FoBoT
i
guess i need to get "sucker" tatooed on my butt or forehead

I vote for forehead.

 

[BooneRebel]

Originally posted by: vi_edit
What pisses me off is that is that it's a huge double standard against employees that don't have a child. My employer, and many others that I know, let people use their sick days for stuff for their kids. Doctors appointments, exams, school stuff, and the times when the kids actually are sic, ect instead of vacation time. In many of this situations, they take off a whole day to do these things.

As a childless employee, I'm screwed because I don't have any other reason besides being sick, and faking sickness to get the day off, and if I don't use them up, I loose them. Some of the women in my office just "happen" to schedule some childs doctor appointments and what not conveniently right before the cuttoff occurs.

Humpf. :|

Yeah, it's really a blessing to me, and my whole family, when one of the kids gets sick. It's so much more enjoyable to stay at home and mop up puke from the bathroom floor than being up at the office. You're actually complaining that you don't get this opportunity? Do you really enjoy going to the doctor?

Sick time is a benefit. An opportunity to receive compensation when you are -unable- to be in the office. We're not talking about spending the day at the beach here...

 

[BooneRebel]

The ONLY way I could possibly use up my sick time is to get hospitalized for a major illness or surgery.

Is three months in the hospital worth a paycheck that you didn't work for? Seems to me like you're whining about being healthy. Boy, you're really getting screwed.

 

[Parrotheader]

At least you guys are allowed to build up that much time. I'd LOVE to have our sick time (much less our vacation time) rollover in case I ever actually needed it. As it is, we're only given a rather small finite amount each year (can't even remember how much it is) and of that time we can only rollover something pathetic like 3 or so days to the next year. And God forbid if I was allowed to rollover my paltry 11 days vacation a year so I could maybe actually take a big long trip to someplace like Australia or Europe while I'm still young

I actually like my job for the most part, but since we're a private agency with ~60 people and not a large company which has to cater to broader interests our sick leave and vacation days suck. We get ONLY the basic holidays, none of the more minor holidays that most government and many large private sector employees get. Part of me is still tempted at times to go back and get my doctorate so I can maybe teach college somewhere. It might not pay through the nose (although usually fairly comfortable), but at least I'd have plenty of free time again.

 

[kranky]

Do you get a reasonable amount of vacation time? I always looked at accumulated sick time as a mini-insurance policy - if I got very ill/hospitalized/needed surgery I would still have some income. So I never minded piling it up, since I had regular vacation time too.

I know that some people use all their sick time, and that's up to them. People who miss a lot of work aren't rated as highly. So while they thought they were beating the system, I was getting promoted over them. Now those same people occasionally plead with me for special treatment when they really DO have a illness and not enough sick time to cover all the time off. And I have to say no, because they can't eat their cake and have it too.

 

[BillGates]

My company is the same way and it sucks...

Screw sick time being a benefit - because it's somewhat one-sided and targeted toward certain people.

You know damn well that tons of people (the crappy workers) use sick time as free short-term vacation days (abuse).

Then you have the people who are blessed with good health - they work many more hours than the sick and/or faker people, and get paid exactly the same amount.

 

[B00ne]

may I ask what sick-time is? Sounds weird - like u need to know in advance how long u might be sick if u become sick???

 

[Demon-Xanth]

My point is this,

If I have a stuffy nose due to allergies and don't feel like going into work I can:

A: Call in sick
B: Go to work because it's not a disease and just some allergies.


I usually choose B. I COULD choose A but I want to be a better employee, meaning I can't sit around the house and watch movies, instead I go to work and feel the same damned way.

 

[B00ne]

Originally posted by: Parrotheader
At least you guys are allowed to build up that much time. I'd LOVE to have our sick time (much less our vacation time) rollover in case I ever actually needed it. As it is, we're only given a rather small finite amount each year (can't even remember how much it is) and of that time we can only rollover something pathetic like 3 or so days to the next year. And God forbid if I was allowed to rollover my paltry 11 days vacation a year so I could maybe actually take a big long trip to someplace like Australia or Europe while I'm still young

I actually like my job for the most part, but since we're a private agency with ~60 people and not a large company which has to cater to broader interests our sick leave and vacation days suck. We get ONLY the basic holidays, none of the more minor holidays that most government and many large private sector employees get. Part of me is still tempted at times to go back and get my doctorate so I can maybe teach college somewhere. It might not pay through the nose (although usually fairly comfortable), but at least I'd have plenty of free time again.

wow u only have 11 days - thats pretty horrible

 

[Haircut]

Originally posted by: B00ne
may I ask what sick-time is? Sounds weird - like u need to know in advance how long u might be sick if u become sick???

I was wondering the same thing. Does sick time work the same way as vacations where you build up the time the more you work?

 

[vi edit]

Yeah, it's really a blessing to me, and my whole family, when one of the kids gets sick. It's so much more enjoyable to stay at home and mop up puke from the bathroom floor than being up at the office. You're actually complaining that you don't get this opportunity? Do you really enjoy going to the doctor?

Sick time is a benefit. An opportunity to receive compensation when you are -unable- to be in the office. We're not talking about spending the day at the beach here...

I never said that. I said routine exams for their kids that take one or two hours tops and using up sick days on it. Take the kid to the doctor at 8:00AM for a dentist appointment, get back from it at 10:00, drop the kid off at school, and then have the day to yourself.

 

[Demon-Xanth]

Vacation==no need to have a reason but need advanced notice
Sick==no advanced notice but you must have a valid reason

In my case I get 10 days a year of vacation, next year (after my 4th with the company) I think I get bumped upto 15. When my company asked me to use one vacation day a month to get some off the books for the next 4 months, that means almost half of my vacation time.

Edit: I get 5 sick days per year, I've used 3 in three and a half years.

 

[FoBoT]

Originally posted by: Haircut
Does sick time work the same way as vacations where you build up the time the more you work?

it does at the company i work for
first two years of employment, you get 5 days per year
after that, you get ten days per year

you can only accumulate 90 days, i am half way to the 90 days, so in about 4.5 more years i will max out, assuming i don't get cancer or need open heart surgery or something bad like that and actually need it


also from our HR web page

Sick leave is intended to provide pay continuation to associates who are unable to work due to their own non-job related illness or injury and for associates who are unable to work due to the illness of a spouse, child or other household member or for any other absence that would qualify as FMLA leave.

 

[odog]

i haven't called in sick in three years..i'm the only one out of 100+ employees that has gone more then a year. every other tool i work with pulls the monday/friday sick day action. which pisses me off more then anything else.

i have so far gotten a pat on the back... and a 10 cent raise... and it has been so worth it

sarcasm.....

why don't i call in sick...... because colds, are nothing, the flu... bahh nothing... and the most important thing.. nobody does my job the right way(aka the way i do it)

i will not call in sick then have to pay the price for a week after some tool gums up the works! stupid people make me NOT CALL IN SICK.

 

[Haircut]

Originally posted by: FoBoT
it does at the company i work for
first two years of employment, you get 5 days per year
after that, you get ten days per year

you can only accumulate 90 days, i am half way to the 90 days, so in about 4.5 more years i will max out, assuming i don't get cancer or need open heart surgery or something bad like that and actually need it

So, if you are off for more than 90 days then you don't get any more than the 90 days worth paid?
Where I work we are allowed 3 periods of sick time per year, although you can have more at a manager's discretion, and as long we have a doctor's note there is no set time period.

 

[FoBoT]

nice post e-phex , that about sums it up for me, also, i inherited the "work-a-holic" gene from my dad

Originally posted by: Haircut
So, if you are off for more than 90 days then you don't get any more than the 90 days worth paid?

yes, if you are sick longer than the days of sick leave you have, they stop paying you

due to the FMLA , i don't think they can fire you out-right, but you won't get any pay from the company, at some point you would start getting short term or long term disability, if you buy/pay for that insurance, but it is only a percentage of your normal pay. while using sick leave , you get your full salary

 

[XMan]

This thread is interesting!

Where I work, we don't really get sick time . . . if you're sick, you get a doctor's note, and it's paid just like a regular day. It's actually against company policy to use vacation time for your illnesses. After a certain extended period of being off sick, however, you are put onto short-term disability. Sometimes even then they will finagle the rules a bit. A friend of mine got a liver transplant, and is actually still out. They avoided putting him on short-term disability by saying he was assigned to a work-at-home administrative assignment.

 

[Parrotheader]

wow u only have 11 days - thats pretty horrible

Actually, that makes it sound worse than it is. I mean my personal 11 days vacation (the typical 2-weeks plus an extra day for young employees) PLUS the usual holiday vacation days (I think there's something like 6 or 7 of them.) I realize you have to pay your dues and all and I'm now only 2 years away from earning 3 weeks vacation. I just get irritated that I can't roll my vacation days over since I'd LOVE the opportunity to take a BIG vacation to someplace overseas while I'm young, but that's hard to do on only 2 weeks vacation. If I could rollover my vacation days then that would be possible, but unfortunately they won't let us do that. The sick leave policy doesn't really bother me all that much since I can often work from home or just make up the time on my own if I want to.

 

[Spamela]

Originally posted by: Demon-Xanth
An employee that doesn't call in sick alot is a good thing right? Too bad that most companies don't reward that. At my work, I have accumulated 122 hours of sick time that I can use, meanwhile they ask me to use up vacation time to get it off the books. And people that get laid off get paid for vacation time but not sick time. So basically it becomes a "use it or you're a sucker" plan. And the suckers are the ones that are the most reliable. Now, if I called in sick every friday until the end of the year I still wouldn't use up my sick time and my boss would probably ream me out for doing so. The ONLY way I could possibly use up my sick time is to get hospitalized for a major illness or surgery.

To me it just doesn't seem right to ask the employees to take vacation time, buy out thier vacation time, put thier vacation time on a use it or lose it policy, and do nothing to reward NOT calling in sick ever other month. The only ones that are affected are the reliable employees.

122 hours is good "insurance" to have. i broke my collarbone/shoulder in 3 places in a bike race a few years ago & used 120 hours of sick leave (and i should have taken another week off).

 

[yakko]

Our company let's us schedule sick days so we don't lose the time. I usually call in about once a month to use my time.