I recently started a shiny new corporate job, which incidentally is the first time I’ve been paid on salary and not by the hour (yay!). The company handbook allows for some mandated holidays (like Christmas, Labor Day, etc.), 10 vacation days/year, and 5 paid sick days which can not be accumulated from year to year. I happen to be of pretty sound constitution and rarely get sick - even when I do it’s fairly minor and I tend to work anyway.
I feel like if I claim those sick days when I’m not actually sick it would be kind of “playing hookey” and would feel wrong, yet I’d also feel like they were wasted if I didn’t use them. What is the typical rule of thumb here?
It’s wrong to take a paid sick day if you’re not sick. You made an agreement with the company, and if you break that agreement, your being dishonest, and in a sense, stealing.
I think it’s wrong to take a sick day if you’re not sick. That said, I think companies are a bit short-sighted in not allowing employees to roll over their sick leave to the following year. I’ve been a permanent employee in my present job for four years (casual before that, so no sick leave entitlements). I’ve taken no sick days in that time but if I needed an operation with a few weeks to recuperate, I’d have enough sick leave up my sleeve to see me through.
Although it’s dishonest, I can see why employees take all their sick leave entitlements if they’re not allowed to save them up for a later time when they might really need them.
I say use it or lose it. If you can’t roll-over your sick days to next year then use them for days when you feel blah, feel like sleeping in, or have to do some errands. Who cares right? Does the company want a doctor’s note from you if you take a sick day? If they don’t then use every sick day you’re allowed to.
Nothing wrong with not going to work with pay. The company gives me paid time off to not be at work as a benefit. I currently have 3 weeks of paid time off and by hell I’m using it all!
I think it also depends on the type of work you’re in and how much you love your company. When I worked at the cabinet factory (a job that I really liked) if I took time off it would effect productivity and other people would have to work harder because of it. I would feel bad taking time off even when I was sick. Whereas now I loathe my current job with a passion and I do very very little in the way of actual work so I don’t give a shit.
Of course. When I take time off, I expect to be paid for it. You seem to be stuck on the term “sick day”, which implies some sort of lying or thievery on my part if I fake being sick. My current employer doesn’t even call it sick time, it’s all lumped under “Paid time off”. That means I call work and say I’m not coming in and they say, OK see you tomorrow.
I used to work for a company that gave use 12 sick days per year, and you could roll them over year to year, up to a max of just over 100 days (can’t remember exactly). So it was in your best interest to save them up, because if you got really sick or needed surgery or something it was basically like having short-term disability with 100% pay. But then if you were fired/laid off/quit, you did not get paid for the accumulated days.
When I worked there I only use a couple days a year and I had accumulated about 15 days halfway through the second year and I got quite sick (chronic illness) and had to use all of those days within a few months. If I hadn’t had those days, I would have had to take unpaid sick days.
In general, I wouldn’t feel comfortable using paid sick days as vacation if they can roll over. If the sick days don’t roll over every year, I might use a couple for days when I’m a little sick and technically could come in, but you might as well stay home and recuperate better. Or do you have kids or a significant other? Can you use your sick days if you need to stay home and take care of them when they’re sick? Or if you need to take a day off to take care of an aging/ill parent?
You don’t have sick days. Some of us do, and the rules for my job allow sick time to be used for illness or medical appointments for a member of my household. If I call and claim one of those is true when it’s not, I’m lying.
I don’t even have sick days, I just have tracked personal time. If you start abusing it (and, fortunately or unfortunately, that’s a term that’s subject to interpretation) you will hear about it, but most of the time it won’t be questioned. Heck, the company’s own guidelines says it’s for illness, emergencies, and appointments that can’t be scheduled outside business hours.
As for “honoring your agreements”, I would say that these days it is very much a one-way street. The company has no loyalty to you, just self-interest and that it is wise to both remember that and be willing to behave the same way.
Yes you should always honor your agreements. Say hi to The Man for me.
The whole “sick day” vs “vacation day” seems sort of outdated to me. In my line of work, I am either “in the office” or I am “working from home”. And since my boss stole all my staff and works from home a lot because he has a 2 hour commute, it’s pretty much at my discretion.
The only time I take “paid time off” is when I am traveling and unreachable.
Sometimes you just need a day off even though your are not physically ill. If the company allows you sick days then take one. just don’t bitch when you DO get sick and don’t have any left.
I have a very low threshold for “sick”. If I have to do anything that involves my health, I feel fine taking a sick day. So if I have to pick up drugs at the pharmacy, I can take a sick day even if I could just go after work. Usually I come in anyway, even on days where I’m what a reasonable person would call “sick”, but the point is that I could take the day if I wanted to.
But I think it should be clarified that sick/vacation/PTO days aren’t about permission to not be at work. It’s permission to get paid for not being at work. Those days are about money, not labor. They’re therefore fungible. Take the days off now and if you should have some terrible injury, just take leave without pay. It all works out the same in the end.
It’s not steeeeaaaling!1!! any more than when you go over and above your ordinary duties for the sake of the company then the company is steeeeaaaling!1!! from you.
One rule - don’t lie to your employer or superiors. If the sick days are for when you are sick only, then don’t take them unless you are sick. Act like you expect to be treated like an adult and you just might be.
If you will lie about the reason for you’re taking time off, would you lie about a bigger problem at work (say a forgotten compliance filing)? If so, I wouldn’t want you working for me.
The part about not being able to accumulate the hours is what complicates the issue. I only use sick leave if I’m sick or seeing a doctor or taking care of a sick kid. But then again, I accumulate sick leave year after year. Right now I could be out for 37 weeks if I had to. If I had to use it or lose it, I’d be tempted to use it. Whoever thought that that policy was a good idea needs a swift kick to the crotch.
I call it a mental health day, because we do need them. I work hard and never take a sick day during our busy season unless I am actually sick (in which case my boss practically throws me out of the office - she’s a bit of a germaphobe).
In this job, thankfully, I have plenty of vacation and my sick days accumulate, so I don’t take them, but I would feel no qualms if I really needed one. I’d probably explain, though.
And no, I don’t lie about bigger problems at work. That’s just stupid. If you’re going to treat us like drones we’re going to lie to your face. If the corporate culture understands that everyone needs time off, we’ll relax a bit and you can punish the transgressors.