Do you have sick pay at work?

[dinneR ★]

We get quite a bit. I have used less than half of mine. There is no incentive to not use them. You won't get paid for unused sick days. You can't give them away. I'd like to see us switch to paid time off. Use it for personal days, sick days, or vacation. The choice is yours.

We were told we are using too many sick days. They kept telling us they weren't trying to discourage us from using them, but we are using too many. 

[Dottleshead ★]

I'm salary.  Which means I can basically take whatever time I want off -- providing I get my work done.  But yes, the sick time off and the 4 weeks of vacation is pretty rad.  

[Dottleshead ★]

9 minutes ago, dennis said:

We get quite a bit. I have used less than half of mine. There is no incentive to not use them. You won't get paid for unused sick days. You can't give them away. I'd like to see us switch to paid time off. Use it for personal days, sick days, or vacation. The choice is yours.

We were told we are using too many sick days. They kept telling us they weren't trying to discourage us from using them, but we are using too many. 

It's double speak.  We love you and support you -- but just get into work, dammit. 

[ChrisL]

10 minutes ago, dennis said:

We were told we are using too many sick days. They kept telling us they weren't trying to discourage us from using them, but we are using too many. 

Sounds like poor leadership to me. How can it be too many if it’s within you benefit plan?  If multiple people are taking too many days clumped together than shame on them for not planning accordingly.

This sounds to me like a them problem, not a you problem.

Our hourly  staff have a very robust vacation & sick but nearly all of my staff are contractors with shit for bennies...  I get unlimited PTO.

[Further]

nope. we are allowed to report off 6 times in a rolling year, one shift per report off.

If you go over 6 they talk to you, but they are having such hard time finding decent help that not much comes of it, unless you have other issues, and then it is one more nail in the coffin...

[Wilbur ★]

We get 15 sick days, 5 personal days and 5 weeks vacation plus statutory holidays.  I use the vacation and personal days but never the sick days. 

[petitepedal ★]

12 minutes ago, wilbur said:

We get 15 sick days, 5 personal days and 5 weeks vacation plus statutory holidays.  I use the vacation and personal days but never the sick days. 

WOW

I have been with my company for 17 years...5 weeks PTO zip that is it...MPLS has something about PTO that guarantees some time...but my thoughts are..we get PTO, so another 2 weeks don't really apply to us...Not my coworker...he takes those extra days.

Oops forgot holidays..3 days between Christmas and New year's..2 days for Thanksgiving..Memorial day, July 4 and Labor day..8 holidays. 

[dinneR ★]

31 minutes ago, ChrisL said:

Sounds like poor leadership to me. How can it be too many if it’s within you benefit plan?  If multiple people are taking too many days clumped together than shame on them for not planning accordingly.

This sounds to me like a them problem, not a you problem.

Our hourly  staff have a very robust vacation & sick but nearly all of my staff are contractors with shit for bennies...  I get unlimited PTO.

Nail on the head.

I asked why they are given to us if we are not expected to use them? We were told to use them if you are sick, but not use them if you are not. So you are saying we are using them when we are not sick? No, not saying that, but you are using too many. 

Our leader was quoting national statistics, but could not share them with us. In a previous meeting, she used her secret statistics to show us we were inefficient. I checked the actual stats and found she was off by almost 90%.

 

[shootingstar]

_{Yes. we get limited paid sick days.  It's 90% of our pay during sick days. Yes, some people try to work during a bad cold..they want the money. (I work in govn't so there's that extreme vs. others). There's an escalation process where after a short number of consecutive days, it's a doctor's letter, etc. If we don't use them, we are not reimbursed in any way.}

[The_Karen_Cooper_Incident]

I get four sick days a year, as of now.  With the Canadians buying us out, that is subject to change.  I have a feeling they are taking that away.

I had to use all four days when I got the flu earlier this year.  I was pretty sick, almost hospital sick .  If I have to use vacation days for this in the future, it might be time to look for another job.  So far, I'm a bit uncomfortable with some of the moves by the new company.

Shu Fang

[Ralphie ★]

3 hours ago, dennis said:

I checked the actual stats and found she was off by almost 90%.

84% of statistics are made up, and the other half are lies!

[Ralphie ★]

We can take them but it is strongly discouraged if you are not near death. Our big disincentive is nj disability takes over if you are oot more than 5 days, and it is a bureaucratic nightmare and takes forever to get part of your pay from the state. 

[maddmaxx ★]

When I was a salary worker at Pratt and Whitney we accumulated another 10 days sick time every year and the previous total was restored.  That meant that at the end of 10 years you had 100 sick days in the bank for catastrophic illness.  When they had massive layoffs for salaried people in the 90's, having that many sick days was one of the reasons your name would be on the hit list.

There was no benefit for not using them.  You would however get a strict talking to and possibly a hit on your performance review if you took "too many" for minor illness.  Consequently folks would come to work sick and spread it around thank you very much.

[Prophet Zacharia]

I have 27 days PTO to use any way I need. I can carry up to 5 days over to the next year. So I tend to use it all, annually.

[2Far ★]

1/1/19 they changed my 5 sick/PTO days and 10 vacay days to 12 PTO days. 

[Parr8hed]

Just PTO.  It all comes out of the same hours.  

[Guest]

I get 15 sick days per year. At retirement we can cash in 1500 hours to pay for our health insurance. That is usually enough to cover you until death.  

[TrentonMakes]

A couple years ago we went to all PTO.  In most years I haven't come close to using all my sick days so I prefer this.

[Longjohn ★]

My wife worked for a government contractor. They paid well and had great benefits. The one contract the government told them they had to add sick days to their benefits. They added sick days but told the employees they were free to use them for whatever they wanted.

[Indy]

I'm a contractor, if I don't work, I don't get paid.

 

Previously I worked at a place that did just the PTO.  I liked that, had 5 weeks off to use for what ever I wanted, no questions asked.

[ChrisL]

11 hours ago, dennis said:

Nail on the head.

I asked why they are given to us if we are not expected to use them? We were told to use them if you are sick, but not use them if you are not. So you are saying we are using them when we are not sick? No, not saying that, but you are using too many. 

Our leader was quoting national statistics, but could not share them with us. In a previous meeting, she used her secret statistics to show us we were inefficient. I checked the actual stats and found she was off by almost 90%.

 

I was always of the opinion, if we give them the days expect they will use it.  I also had an open line of communication & trust with my folks and just asked them to keep me in the loop.

 Hey boss, I think I’m coming down with something if you know what I mean...  A one day illness or two day?  Nah just a one day... OK gotcha, thanks for the heads up...

Its really not that hard...

[Razors Edge ★]

We have sick/personal days that reset at the beginning of each year and doesn't carry over.  We then have normal vacation days.  I've been at places with both "unlimited" sick and "unlimited" vacation, and both were sort of bullshit ideas since no place is keeping someone around and paying them if they aren't actually working.  I liked the company I was at years ago that had "sabbaticals" every five years (if I remember) of six weeks off.  Of course, I went to work for them as they were slowly phasing that out (2000's), so when my time was due, I got 3.5 weeks of sabbatical. Still, better than zero, but made me miss the go-go late-90's boom. 

[dinneR ★]

12 minutes ago, ChrisL said:

I was always of the opinion, if we give them the days expect they will use it.  I also had an open line of communication & trust with my folks and just asked them to keep me in the loop.

 Hey boss, I think I’m coming down with something if you know what I mean...  A one day illness or two day?  Nah just a one day... OK gotcha, thanks for the heads up...

Its really not that hard...

It really isn't that hard. They kept going back to saying we are not discouraging you from using the sick days, but if you do use them it is a burden. At no point would they acknowledge that is a passive way of saying don't use them. 

It was a shit show. I wish we would move to PTO even if it is less time than we currently receive.

[MoseySusan]

I have 13 days per year and it carries over, but there’s no payout for unused days.

Years ago I had to call in to an answering machine to report an absence. The school mascot was The Magic, and the principal, a passive aggressive authoritarian,  recorded this message: “Thank you for reporting your absence to the administration at XX Middle School, where the magic of learning keeps on working.” 

[jsharr ★]

The boss is pretty cool about paying hourly people when they are out sick.  I have never used all my sick days or vacation days in all the years I have worked here.  

Dallas just passed a law requiring companies to pay sick time to hourly employees, but as we already do more than the law requires, it will not affect us.

[Zephyr]

I am almost embarrassed to answer this.  I get 240hrs (6 weeks) annual leave and I get unlimited sick leave.  The only stipulation is if you are off for longer than three days you need to see a doc and medical reports go to the health services branch of work.  If you are not able to return to active duty you will be medically discharged.  I know a guy that blew his knee out on his own time, was off for 6 months then three months part time on light duties.  Still got full pay.  Three months after returning to work he injured the same knee on a fun run and was off for another 7 months.  We also have no claim to workers comp if injured at work as we just keep getting paid.  

Having said that, I have taken 5 sick days off in the last 11 1/2 years.

[Dottleshead ★]

5 minutes ago, Zephyr said:

Having said that, I have taken 5 sick days off in the last 11 1/2 years.

You really know how to beat the system.

[Ralphie ★]

51 minutes ago, Dottie said:

You really know how to beat the system.

Hey, he is Dudley Doright you know!

[JerrySTL ★]

4 hours ago, Parr8hed said:

Just PTO.  It all comes out of the same hours.  

This.

[Kzoo]

Just now, JerrySTL said:

4 hours ago, Parr8hed said:

Just PTO.  It all comes out of the same hours.  

This.

It all eventually comes out of the same dollars.

As someone who has to make these rules and enforce them I can say I'd rather do anything else but this.  Over our 28 year history we have gone from vacation and sick time to straight PTO and then back again - with variants in between.  There's always people that can't work in the system.  We had one employee that would use all his PTO in the first quarter (probably to make sure he got it in case of a firing or something) and then would be in my office crying later in the year when he was out sick - year after year....  Others have wanted to abuse sick time.  I can say we have a good group of dedicated employees at this time and I'd do what I can to go over and above for them.  And we have.  We also have to consider that we have clients that have expectations as well and they don't include our employees time off.

As an employer I understand the need for time off.  I also understand that we are paying people to be productive because that's what we do.  The proper balance can be a pain.

[dinneR ★]

24 minutes ago, Kzoo said:

It all eventually comes out of the same dollars.

As someone who has to make these rules and enforce them I can say I'd rather do anything else but this.  Over our 28 year history we have gone from vacation and sick time to straight PTO and then back again - with variants in between.  There's always people that can't work in the system.  We had one employee that would use all his PTO in the first quarter (probably to make sure he got it in case of a firing or something) and then would be in my office crying later in the year when he was out sick - year after year....  Others have wanted to abuse sick time.  I can say we have a good group of dedicated employees at this time and I'd do what I can to go over and above for them.  And we have.  We also have to consider that we have clients that have expectations as well and they don't include our employees time off.

As an employer I understand the need for time off.  I also understand that we are paying people to be productive because that's what we do.  The proper balance can be a pain.

Isn't that a situation where you can deal with the problem employee rather than blaming everyone.

The irony of our situation is that I have used less sick time than the two people telling me this is a problem.

[Razors Edge ★]

26 minutes ago, Kzoo said:

We had one employee that would use all his PTO in the first quarter

I use all my "sick/personal" days first.  I get them Jan 1, and whatever my next vacation is, I use them before using vacation.  I can think of no reason why anyone would use vacation before using sick/personal time except if they are at a max carryover of vacation hours.  I have never been at a max (no accruing) vacation level and never plan to be.

[Prophet Zacharia]

1 hour ago, Zephyr said:

I have taken 5 sick days off in the last 11 1/2 years.

I think I have taken two days off for illness in the last 18 years, when I got strep throat.

[Parr8hed]

56 minutes ago, Kzoo said:

It all eventually comes out of the same dollars.

As someone who has to make these rules and enforce them I can say I'd rather do anything else but this.  Over our 28 year history we have gone from vacation and sick time to straight PTO and then back again - with variants in between.  There's always people that can't work in the system.  We had one employee that would use all his PTO in the first quarter (probably to make sure he got it in case of a firing or something) and then would be in my office crying later in the year when he was out sick - year after year....  Others have wanted to abuse sick time.  I can say we have a good group of dedicated employees at this time and I'd do what I can to go over and above for them.  And we have.  We also have to consider that we have clients that have expectations as well and they don't include our employees time off.

As an employer I understand the need for time off.  I also understand that we are paying people to be productive because that's what we do.  The proper balance can be a pain.

When the organ donor people went to straight PTO it was a gigantic clusterfuck.  You have salary people that work 9-5.  You have hourly people that work weird shifts.  12-24 hours plus of call at a time.  You had salaried people like myself that worked 90 hours one week, and 12 for the rest of the month.  How do you dole out hours based on this.  When you give me sick hours, if I call in for Monday it's funny because I might take 8 hours of sick time but be getting out of 28 hours worth of work.  Same with vacation.  

When we made the switch I had like 570 sick hours or something crazy.  When you only had 9 people in the state to do a job as critical as that, you just don't use sick time unless you're admitted to a hospital or your kid is having open heart surgery.  (On a side note, my fellow workers covered all my shifts that month and my employer refused to let me use any sick or PTO hours but yet they still paid me.  They also sent me a honeybaked ham meal.) 

[sheep_herder ★]

Working for the Feds, I got sick leave and vacation time.  I am one of those that detested people that came to work sick.  When I got sick, it impacted my productivity at work, as well as, my operation at home.  I've mentioned this before, but I would take vacation and credit time and still work on manuscripts at home, and same with sick leave.  Even when I was not at the office, I still worked.  I was off for an extended period when first diagnosed with diabetes, mainly because of blurry vision. Even then, I got a temporary prescription lens and finished a case writeup and manuscript.  My last boss was one of the touchy feely types that wanted to see you in the office, sick or not, but I did not give in to his cares, but he couldn't gripe, as I was still producing. Again, I am really glad that I am retired.

[BR46]

I never had a job where I got sick pay.

[Airehead]

I get six weeks vacation that fails to accumulate if I have more than 175 hours in the bank.  I seem to lose about 13 hours. Month because I am at the cap. I just took two days. I worked 14 hours my first day back and 12 yesterday and 13 today. Seems my vacation wasn’t exactly free time. 

We get three personal days that do not roll over. We get 10 sick days per year that roll over until you have 200 of them. You then hit the cap. 

We get paid out for vacation when we leave but not sick. 

I cannot tell you how many employees, at all levels, have almost nothing in their accrual bank. I cannot figure that out. I always try to plan for a worst case scenario. 

[Zephyr]

3 hours ago, sheep_herder said:

I am one of those that detested people that came to work sick. 

Those guys drove me nuts.  I have had to send guys home who came in sick, because if we are sick we cannot dive and having one idiot get us all sick was not acceptable.

[sheep_herder ★]

3 hours ago, BR46 said:

I never had a job where I got sick pay.

I never had a full time job where I got a bonus.

[ChrisL]

With my job from hell I stopped claiming vacation days the last 2 years as I couldn’t completely break away.  Dumb ass VP really screwed up a working system.

Anyway CA law indicates if an employer offers vacation, “use it or lose it” is not legal so all vacation must be paid.  CA also has a state wide Sick Pay law and you can bank up to 24 hours.

Needless to day I had a fat final check with 35 days unused vacation plus sick time!

[Square Wheels]

7 hours ago, JerrySTL said:

This.

That

[KrAzY]

No sick time, but I can call off whenever I want. I could also make it a PTO day if I want. 

I was thinking of talking to my boss about only working 3 days a week and just killing all the vacation days I have stacked up. This can be done for about 2 years by my calculations.. I'm doubting he will go for it though

[Chris...]

My wife has 868 hours in her sick bank