I'm sure many other jobs aren't like this, but where I work we don't have to give any reason at all to use our sick leave. Since one of the official definitions of "sick" in the Cambridge Dictionary is "very good, excellent," you wouldn't even be lying.
92Good point.
Calling in sick:
Calling in, sick:
59Sick 🤙
18When I was hired on for my current job my boss explained that they don't require any proof to use our "medical time." While vacation time should be put in with a bit of notice, medical time was ours to use whenever. Literally said, if you wake up after a stressful few days and just want to enjoy some fresh air, just put it on the shared calendar that you're using some medical time. It can be as little as 1hr, it doesn't matter.
(Small company in the US btw)
10I don't think I've ever had a job where I had to prove my sickness. I know that doesn't apply to everyone but as long as you don't abuse it, taking the odd day here and there doesn't cause issues
6In Germany the employer isn't even allowed to ask what is the reason for your sickness. So you can just call in sick and that's it.
4That's pretty nice, it's basically additional leave days! I still prefer European style with unlimited sick leave, but you need a certificate from your physician.
3I’m sick of this job today.
2
I did once. I called my boss and just said I was in too good a mood to come in and I'll see you tomorrow. It worked.
42You had a boss worthy of trust. If only they all were.
22
As someone chronically Ill, I feel this so hard.
Every minute that I'm not at work I'm dedicating to making sure I'm likely to be well enough for work tomorrow.
I don't do anything after work without asking "how will this impact my health tomorrow?" and that includes things like not being able to sweep my own floor because I know I need to sweep at work and the nerve damage in my arms won't let me sweep twice in one day without keeping me up all night in pain, and if I don't get enough sleep, I'll get a migraine and won't be able to physically see anything.
Most of my days off are spent in agony trying to restore myself and desperately trying to reset my house and home life so I can keep up with work, without overdoing it on Sunday and making myself sick for Monday.
So yeah, on the one day a month where I wake up for work and I don't throw up or almost shit myself, and my heart rate is doing what it's supposed to do, and I can see and hear and feel my feet... The temptation to "call in healthy", so I can actually have a day off to enjoy myself for the first time in over a month is really hard to ignore.
I actually did that this week because Wednesday was my birthday, I went to work, it was a "bad workable day" (vs a "good workable day" or a "bad unworkable day") and Thursday I woke up feeling really good, I only had a 2 hour shift and it was just admin so I took my first sick day in 6 months and used it to do all my linens and towel laundry. It felt like a proper day off because I was healthy enough to get stuff done for myself, without being in pain or having to stop to run to the bathroom or let my heart calm down, or give up on folding because I can't feel my arms.
I can't do that every time I want or even need to though. My bank account is really good at forcing me to go to work, healthy, half dead, or heaving. Chronic illness is expensive, and some days trying to keep up with work feels like it costs my health more than not working. but sadly not working is not an option for me, because I'm capable of work, so I must. (and continue to push my gov for universal basic income)
For context as to how working while disabled messes you up. I got hit by a truck on the way to work last year, I got to the office and used their first aid kit to patch myself up. Booked a doctors appointment, told my boss I'd be leaving early, then kept working until my appointment.
My boss was fine with this, and then someone on reddit posted a photo of the crash and my boss saw, they realised when I said "I was hit by a truck" what I meant was "I was hit by a truck"
When asked how I was feeling, and reporting "no different to usual" my boss sent me to the ER because they thought I had a concussion and was acting confused. ER checked me out, dislocated shoulder and wrist, soft tissue damage here and there, but otherwise nothing major or serious or nothing I don't already deal with on a daily basis. I went back to finish my shift and my boss asked what I was doing working after I'd been hit by a truck.
I feel exactly the same level of pain today as I do every other day. If I take today off because this level of pain is apparently unworkable, it's a slippery slope, eventually I'm going to have to come back to work despite being in this exact same level of pain. This is my baseline, now I can truly compare it to being hit by a truck.
I used to be on a pension, I wanted to work because I wanted purpose in the neo-liberal hell scape of my society. but my mental health was too shot because of this deep rooted idea that I deserved rest just for being in any level of pain that was out of the ordinary, and subconsciously I would talk myself out of doing anything because I deeply believed I shouldn't have to.
But I don't have that luxury, my ordinary will always be "hit by a truck" level, so right now I either learn how to consistently work through it, or drop dead broke and homeless.
22In Australia, we could call that Carer’s Leave; Mental health days are a valid use case (at least at my work).
Edit: Mind you, we are also a country that needed to implement a Public Holiday ahead of the AFL Grand Final (similar to SuperBowl) because a significant portion of the population were taking ‘sick days’! 🤣
24Get yourself a boss that respects Mental Health days!
22Why do you want everyone to be unemployed?
6We have that where I work, I just recently found out. We generally don’t need to give a reason for sick time unless it’s more than two days, but mental health is a valid reason. I think we need a doctors note for more than two days, but I’ve never had to get a note. I don’t generally call in sick more than two days unless I’m very sick. It’s easy enough to just take a few days off if we give a couple days notice and as long as we have enough coverage. I’ve never been told no for a vacation request. It’s nice.
3I think we need a doctors note for more than two days
I don't understand that policy. The only times in the last 4 years that I've needed more than 2 days of sick leave was because I had covid, and I think that's a very common experience. And people with covid should absolutely not be going to the doctors office and exposing themselves to the sick and elderly. If someone has covid, you should be telling them to stay home. We're currently in the middle of a worldwide pandemic.
2
Shorten the work week, give better pay per hour for when you're there, allow remote working wherever it makes sense, lots of other things to make an employee feel better about their work and also give them the opportunity to live life outside the job. Amazingly it's been found that companies that do things like that not only have better production results, they retain people longer. I know, who would have guessed?
19But if the workers are happy, is it really Capitalism?
6If the bottom line is bigger than last quarter, yes. It's getting companies to try things that they see as riskier that's hard, when cutting costs is always easier and gets some results faster than any progressive ideas.
2
If the average employee takes 4 sick days and you don’t sick seems like you should get a “well” day.
9Company i work for kinda has that. We can call in without a reason but the time lost is deducted from a set amount of hours allocated for such things. It is set up so that even if you show up aminute late, the deduction is an hour from your "bank"
6I was with you until the minute late thing. That's crap. Grace period?
Not that I try to be late, I'm 99% early. But I'd be ticked to lose an hour because of couple minutes late on a bad morning. Though I guess some people may need that painful motivation to not abuse the system.
11I mean the only thing it does is if you're a minute late, you might as well go get a coffee and sit down in a park and be 59 minutes late.
2Right. If they take an hour for being a minute late, they should also give one for being a minute early.
3
I think my boss would be cool with this. I got back from vacation on Wednesday last week and immediately asked if I could take a half day on Friday of the same week.
Usually I don't have to explain anything as all time off is requested via an app but since my vacation fell during a busy period I thought I should check.
6"I'm not paying you today. We got lots of profits and I don't feel like wasting it on employees."
4They do this with wait servers, cooks, farm hands, and construction people. They also conduct layoffs to create more short term profits
5"Thank you for doing the work. It's done now, so I don't need it any more, so I won't be paying you. Also you can't sue me because you read my magazine once back in the 80s and it's in the fine print, but here's a t-shirt with our logo across the front and back, and a commendation on your CV. It says, 'good worker, no complaints.' That's exec talk for, 'you can screw this guy over without worrying, so go ahead and hire him.'"
2
Lol that every day at work. They never feel oile paying employee a fair wage.
2On call
1
I do this all the time. Everyone with pto has this ability but they are anxious and paranoid.
5No but really.
5That would be called vacation time vs sick time in my org, but there are definitely differences in when/how they're used.
Sick time is like, "I don't feel good today, I'm just not working today."
Vacation time is like, "I'm feeling pretty good today, I'd like to take a feel-good day. But I better schedule schedule it a couple weeks out, check with my manager, make sure there are no deadlines coming up, make sure someone else can cover for me," and so on.
4Right, and the point is that there should be no stigma against just taking the day off like one would a sick day.
8Combined PTO (along with a salary job not needing coverage) does have its downsides, but it's nice just being able to use PTO whenever without needing any sort of proof. I can just wake up in the morning and decide I'm not working that day. No fuss, no doctors notes, no nothing. As long as I'm not blowing off important meetings or deadlines, no one cares
4
If someone requests PTO, I don't ask questions unless it's literally in the day of or the next day.
1Why would you ask questions when it's the same day? Like, don't all sicknesses start being noticed one specific day and thus you take sick leave starting that day? That's literally the only way it makes sense at all
Seems like you're an asshole boss to me
0You should read these memes slower so you can pay attention more. This meme is about calling in healthy on the day of. People don't know if they're going to be healthy in two days. So your comment has the opposite meaning of the one intended. You're saying you do ask questions if someone asks for time off on the day, and therefore that you're a restrictive boss who wouldn't allow this meme.
4I ask so I can answer if someone asks me. Asking != denying.
1
I've been at companies with generic PTO and companies with explicit sick leave which is considered additional to PTO.
The theory of sick leave is that people with serious or chronic illnesses need that additional time and shouldn't be compelled to come in at the expense of their long term well being. Also, if you've got the flu, don't show up and spread it around just have some extra days to get better.
If you want to get ideological about it, this is the nut of the whole "From each according to their ability, to each according to their need" thing the 19th century leftists were talking about. I do get the broader argument that we should just have more PTO generally speaking, shorter work days and work weeks, and more time for ourselves and our loved ones. But I think segregating out "sick leave" specifically for people who need additional time to recover form illness is generally better policy than handing someone a (often smaller and stingier) set of generic PTO and telling them to spend it on the worst days of their life.
2
Sounds like a mental health day.
1
