Calling in sick next to a day off ?

[beaujolais]

Does your company have a problem with you calling in sick next to a day off? At mine they do. Is this a new item of concern in business or have companies always looked at this?

Note that I''m someone who have never taken advantage of sick time. They also pay you for any sick time you don''t use. Further, I have every other weekend off (meaning I work every other weekend) and have off one day during each week. So, percentage wise, I am scheduled to work more days that are next to a day off than someone who works Mon. - Fri.

If someone does not overuse sick time, I find it a bit silly. Seems a bit micromanaging. Esp. considering I don''t work a regular Mon. - Fri. schedule.

Your opinion/input?

Thanks.

 

[elrohwen]

I think in your case with your schedule, it does seem a bit silly. In general, I can see why employers track it, but I don't think there's a need to bring it up to an employee unless it happens more than once or twice. Obviously even with a Monday-Friday schedule, people do occasionally get sick on Mondays and Fridays!

ETA: This rule makes more sense if it's in relation to holidays and vacation days than just "days off" which could include weekends.

Also, at my company, we have no official sick days and can theoretically take as many as we want. However, with no official sick days I'm usually inclined to take less out of guilt than if I had a set number to use. I'm not sure how many you have to take in a year before they get suspicious, but if you're out for 3 days straight you need a note from a doctor.

 

[April20]

At my last company, the formal policy was that you could not take a sick day after a vacation day or holiday. It wasn''t necessarily enforced unless someone was abusing the system.

At my current company, all of our time is PTO. Everything is lumped together- sick, vacation and holidays. I''m not sure if there is a policy regarding this given how our time off is awarded.

 

[tlh]

Kinda. But it honestly irritates me. We have a few people who I WANT to be written up because it really STINKS to have to pick up the work load of someone who is sick EVERY monday or friday, or who''s kid is sick EVERY monday or friday. I''m serious when I say it is ONLY mondays and fridays... and about 1-2 times a month. I have to pick up their work volume because we have deadlines, and my coworkers cannot be reached. They say they are working from home, so they don''t lose a PTO day. But it really sucks for someone that dresses for work and does their own workload as well as the workload of someone else - they are clearly NOT working from home. The worst part is... if anyone complains, instead of punnishing the offender, the right is lost by the rest of us.

 

[ficklefaye]

i''ve done this a few times before, but i actually did get sick after taking a weeklong vacation, my boss didn''t seem to have any issues with it, but i can understand if they did if someone was abusing it, my office does have problems when use sick days as day offs, but most companies are like that right?

 

[strmrdr]

general rule around here seems to be you don't show up the day before and after a holiday you lose your holiday pay.
The only exception is a doctors note or a death in the family.

In general it is frowned on taking Fridays and Mondays off but there usually isn't a rule but it will be taken into consideration for employee reviews.

 

[strmrdr]

one company a friend of mine works at it is a policy that if you call in sick they can require you to go to an immediate care clinic at their expense that day.
They have made people do so.

 

[iheartscience]

I don''t think there is a specific rule at my job. I actually was sick this weekend with a stomach bug and I emailed my boss on Sunday to tell him I wouldn''t be in Monday. He didn''t say a thing about it. I rarely call in to any job, though, so I''m sure it doesn''t seem suspicious in my case.

 

[Shoopy]

My company doesn''t. I''m sure there are bosses here (this is a large company) that say something but mine does not, neither do the department heads. I guess because we''re all salary employees, the bosses know that if we want to take a longer period off we would just request it. No need to lie and say we are sick. There have even been times when I''ll have a Friday off for example for a holiday and I''ll call my boss on Sunday to let him know that I''m not coming in on Monday because I''m still out of town. So if we do call in sick, they know its legit and won''t say anything.

 

[D&T]

I work for a very lax small company, and I''m just honest about it but I also have the ability to work from home, I don''t pretend to call in sick... I use PTO. many companies I''ve worked for in the past have gone away of giving "sick days" and incorporate them into PTOs instead. But if you are truly sick which I have been over a holiday weekend, then I''ll call in, and everyone I have worked for in the past and present has been fine.

 

[coda72]

My opinion is that I am so thankful I work for myself now so I don''t have to deal with corporate nonsense! Really though, unless you abuse the system I don''t see why taking a sick day after a vacation day should be a problem.

 

[KimberlyH]

It depends on whether or not the company is having issues with people using sick time to take a day off, especially if they''ve used all of their vacation time. If a company has a PTO policy with no sick days offered it shouldn''t be an issue, but if an employee recieves sick and vacation days they should be used as they are meant to be.

 

[MonkeyPie]

Date: 6/8/2009 3:53:14 PM
Author: April20
At my last company, the formal policy was that you could not take a sick day after a vacation day or holiday. It wasn''t necessarily enforced unless someone was abusing the system.

Ditto this. At my last job I had to do it once when I got stranded out of state and forced to miss my flight. (Long story.) I didn''t get reprimanded, though, because I rarely used any sick time anyway.

 

[sparklyheart]

That seems odd that you get in trouble for calling in the day before/after you don''t even work.. Although at my work, if we call in the day before or after we are scheduled for vacation then it counts as two occurrences instead of just one for normal call-ins (meaning if your last day of the week to work is Tuesday but your vacation days don''t start until the next week but you call in on that Tuesday the you get in trouble) . Since we do self-scheduling but can be moved, this prevents people from calling in just to extend their vacation. Our manager keeps track of the # of Mon/Fri call-ins, weekend after payday call-ins, regular weekend call-ins, and payday call-ins in addition to all the normal weekday call-ins.. They used to be VERY lenient about call-ins and found themselves frequently understaffed, so now things have changed a bit.

 

[isaku5]

When I was teaching, we had 20 days a year for sick leave. In addition, any unused sick days could be carried over to the next year and so on. Some teachers were able to accumulate 300+ days - enough to take their last year before mandatory retirement off. Quite a few took advantage of that so the policy was changed. The new policy was that you could use all your accumulated sick days for illness, but only 90 days would qualify for the retirement gratuity at the end of your career. The gratuity was calculated at the current salary per day, multiplied by the number of sick days left over - a handsome sum to be rolled over tax free into a Registered Retirement Savings Plan.

The policy has probably changed in the last few years, but what we lacked in salary as teachers was made up by the benefits.

There was no rule at all about days off before or after a holiday, but you certainly got dirty looks from other staff members if you did it - not because they had to cover your classes, though. There was a ''bank'' of ''supply teachers'' for that.

 

[Lauren8211]

Hmm... no place I''ve ever worked has looked down on it more than any other day.

If you''re sick, you''re sick.

Obviously abuse of sick days is a different issue.

You get your set number of sick days, I don''t see why you can''t use them as you see fit.

 

[beaujolais]

Thanks all, for your ideas/opinions.

--- really STINKS to have to pick up the work load of someone who is sick EVERY monday or friday, or who's kid is sick EVERY monday or friday. ---

Sure, but where I am, if you EVER, EVER, EVER call in sick next to a day off, you hear about it. So, that means we somehow go in when we are really sick (cause it's next to a day off, so we'd better show) and then call in the next day (if that is not next to a day off). A bit twisted.

I never overuse sick time, either. They do this to all of us, though. Sigh.

 

[mysterylover]

Having worked in HR for a large (100+ employees) company, my first thought would certainly be that the employee was faking it. The sheer percentage of employees who will pull that stunt makes me think that way.

Your circumstance may be legit; your employer won''t think so.

 

[hawaiianorangetree]

I called in sick on my last day at work before i was due to take a week long holiday and everyone was fine with it to the point of having comments like ''well you don''t want to be sick on your holiday'' said.

I think if you are sick, you are sick, it shouldn''t matter when it happens.

 

[Lynnie]

I think that it''s your sick time that you''ve earned, so you should be able to use it when you need it, even if it means using it next to a weekend or holiday.

I''m a nurse, and only work 3 12-hour shifts a week, so chances are if I have to call out, it will be before or after a day off. Calling out on a weekend is generally frowned upon where I work (I have to work every 3rd weekend), and if you call out on a Sat or Sun, you have to make it up (work a weekend day or night that''s not "yours").
I wish I got paid out for unused sick time. We have a "use it or lose it" rule. I have about a month''s worth banked up.

 

[Haven]

Nobody ever questions me or my colleagues about sick days, even if we take them off next to a day off or holiday.

I''m a teacher. We get 16 sick days and 2 personal days per school year. We can accumulate up to two years'' worth to use at the end of our career towards retirement years. As for the ones we use, everyone assumes we are professionals and we know when it is fit to use them, so we''re never questioned about why we are taking the day off. (Most of my colleagues rarely call in sick, it''s so hard to miss a day of work, it''s almost more work than actually showing up.)