My company supposedly has an unlimited sick leave policy: in theory, you can take as many sick days as you need. In the past I’ve worked for companies that allowed a specified number of sick days (usually 1 per month, accumulating for a year); this led to a “use it or lose it” attitude, and almost everyone used exactly the number of allotted sick days per year. I worked for one other company that had an unlimited sick leave policy, and it worked wonderfully for both employee and employer. Most employees used only 3 or 4 sick days a year, unless they had a lengthy illness.
At my present employer, one’s unlimited sick days are subject to approval by one’s manager. My manager happens to be a micro-managing control freak asshole. I have some health problems (diabetes, several bouts of pneumonia). One year I took 5 sick days, and my manager called me into his office and reamed me out for taking too many sick days. I asked him how many sick days we were actually allowed under the unlimited sick leave policy, and he said, “zero”.
On several occasions when I called in sick, he was extremely rude and abusive. One time he kept me on the phone for over an hour, verbally abusing me for something that occurred the previous day. It would’ve been understandable for him to want information about the incident (which ultimately amounted to nothing), but he wasn’t after information – he was simply trying to make me miserable. Knowing what I’ll face when I call in sick, I have to be pretty sick to do it, which means I’m not up to defending myself or standing up to this asshole.
I finally figured out that the way the game is played is that you go to work no matter how sick you are. After an hour or two, it’s obvious to everyone that you’re miserably sick, and Mr.Manager tells you to go home, making himself look like a caring, compassionate guy. Meanwhile, one’s coworkers have been exposed to whatever you brought in, and they get to go through the routine in a couple of days.
Additionally, the company’s policy is that you can take only 40 hours of contiguous sick leave before you are placed on short-term disability at 50% pay. You can come back to work for one day after missing 40 hours and qualify for another 40 hours, but this isn’t practical if you’re in the hospital with pneumonia or a heart attack. According to my manager, it is strictly against company policy to use vacation time for sick leave, but he’s such a nice guy that he will bend the rules if you’re in the hospital. No one really believes that he would “bend the rules” if it were actually against company policy, because his number one concern is covering his own ass.
My company is very concerned with its image as “a great place to work”. The company likes to tout its liberal, caring policies. The truth is that workers are intimidated into coming to work sick, endangering the health of both the employee and coworkers, and that employees are forced to use their vacation time to avoid being put on short-term disability for a 2-week illness.