Is it wrong to use paid "sick days" as vacation days from work when not sick?

In My Humble Opinion
101

All my bosses have been good with using sick time for doctor’s appointments - it’s kind of a ‘it’s all about your health’ thing. If I’m going to the doctor it’s to make sure I am not ill so I can be productive and they’d rather I burn an afternoon of sick day then not get preventative care and be sick for longer.

I don’t take my sick days unless sick or going to see the doctor. Sick days don’t accrue here (you just get 1 a month). So if I don’t abuse my sick days, and then I end up getting sick for 4 days, my boss understands I’m really sick and pays me for all 4.

102

That’s probably the right way to do it. It strikes me as absurd to claim that a company “awarding” you 5 sick days every year is not a form of benefit/compensation. They describe it as such after all. If the company wants to take the view that sick days are only for real sicknesses then they shouldn’t assign a specific amount to any one person since health doesn’t work that way.

What does your company do with doctors visits and when an employee’s kid gets sick? Any circumstances defined to mental health days?

103

All of it really depends on the other leave policies Some people would prefer a single bucket of PTO. I wouldn’t , because the accrual rule would no doubt be the one which limits me to 300 hours of annual leave on a specified date, not the 1500 hours of sick leave I can currently accrue. PunditLisa’s employer’s policy sounds good- if you’re covered by long and short term disability. I’m not , unless I buy my own policy. And I wonder what her employer does when a relatively new employee needs to take off three or four days a month for chemo , or wants to take off two afternoons a week for physical therapy. As long as I have sick leave available and can document the appointments, I’ll be paid for those two afternoons a week, without any “suggestions” to find a therapist who can see me before or after work. And if I don’t have sick leave available, I’ll know in advance that I won’t be paid.

My husband once had a job with no stated sick leave policy. Employees referred to it as “unlimited” sick leave . It wasn’t unlimited. It’s just that like American Express , you didn’t know the limit until you hit it.

104

It’s not wrong. They company has already added the cost of these sick days into your salary. The fact that you can’t roll them over means you’re actually loosing money if you don’t take them. If you weren’t loosing money, they’d pay for every day you didn’t use or give you comp time. My friend works somewhere where roll over isn’t allowed, but you get a lot more than five sick days, and if you don’t use them by a certain date you get that many days off at the end of the year paid. I think it’s wrong they’re trying to screw you out of time/money. As I said, your salary is based on a percieved notion that you’re going to be taking X time off. Any of that time you don’t use is at your loss.

105

You work for me and take all of your allotted sick days I’m laying you off the first chance I get. Lazy pricks. Stop whining and get to work. Lazy pricks.

106

Why bother giving your employees sick days if they can’t use them without the fear of being laid off? What if someone genuinely needs them?

107

We have two kinds of leave. There’s “Annual Leave” which is the “Has to be booked in advance” kind of leave, 4 weeks per calendar year, builds up if unused, approximately 2.5 days per fortnight.

We also have “Personal Leave” which is an allocation of 18 days per year. This can be used as prebooked leave for appointments or scheduled surgery or time off work to look after kids if you’ve got them. It’s also your “sick leave” allocation, it covers illness, family illness, car broke down and I couldn’t get to work, an emergency of some sort (medical or not) has come up and I can’t get in today type situations. If you take more than 3 days personal leave in a row, generally it’s because you’re ill and you may be asked to supply a medical certificate. If your paid personal leave expires, you can take unpaid leave if it’s required. This is a one-off block allocation on your anniversary date, it doesn’t accrue throughout the year, though I don’t believe it expires from year to year (so you can carry unused leave over to the next year).

Our level director, as well as all upper management, are proponents of what they call “Doona Days”. IOW if you can’t be fucked to come into work, what’s to be achieved from forcing you to come in? If you need a mental health day they’d rather you take it, and come in the next day feeling better. If you take too many mental health days, then management gets involved and employee counselling takes place - why are you burning through your leave? What’s wrong? How can we help you sort this out?

(Incidentally, on top of this we also get compassionate leave which can be offered if something catastrophic like sudden hospitalisation of a loved one occurs [however documentation supporting this from the hospital or a medical professional is required], bereavement leave, which is what it says on the box, and parental [maternity or paternity] leave. Oh, and the public holidays, we get about 10 of them a year too. And flex time, when the workload is high enough)

The amount of leave I get here is on the high side comparatively speaking, but the idea that your “personal leave” is yours to do with what you wish, be it be physically ill, need to book appointments, look after the kids in an emergency or just because you need a day to regroup yourself, is not uncommon in workplaces over here, at least not larger companies and government departments. The very combative nature of employee/employer relations in the US has me scratching my head some times, I must admit (don’t even get me started on the “HR is not your friend, don’t even give them the time of day” meme that comes up around here when discussing workplace issues. Bizarre)