Sick Policy

[DrFaroohk]

Would it be unreasonable or maybe even illegal to make it policy that if you're calling in sick, barring certain emergencies, you'd better be on your way to the ER? I'm getting sick of people calling in sick with a case of the sniffles or some heartburn.

[Banrion]

As far as I am aware, it is not illegal. I have worked in places that any call offs on the same day as your shift required one of the following: A doctors note that explicitly stated that you were unable to work due to illness, a death certificate, or a car repair bill including a tow fee. Anything else was unexcused and a write up. I should note however this job explicitly required that you have "your own DEPENDABLE transportation" Despite the fact that this was listed under job requirements, it was also followed up on in the interview. Answers of I have a ride, I am going to take the bus, or any other answer that meant you did not have 100% control of your transportation were generally not hired. There were a few people who rode their bikes to work, and lived within reasonable distance to do so, and even if there was a problem with the bikes, they could walk to work.

[GingerBiscuit]

Hmm, see, I'm not sure. I have been very ill before- not hospital ill, but certainly not able to work (the three days I spent throwing up come to mind)

And I also called in the day after my long-term pet died, as I didn't think it'd be appropriate for me to be bursting into tears every five minutes. But then, I only call in sick when I genuinely think I can't work.

I'm not sure how you'd police that. I know part of my impetus is I don't get paid for sick days unless I'm off for more than three days, so if I can work, I will.

[auntiem]

Where my SO works, if you don't have a doctor's note and you call in the day of shift you get a mark - you are only allowed three in a year before you are fired. So that way if you are calling in with something legit that you don't need to see a doctor for (like food poisioning) you are ok, but if you call in constantly with "brown bottle flu" you aren't.

[wagegoth]

In the USA, it's going to vary from state to state, so you should contact your local labor commission or equivalent to find out, or if your company has a legal division, ask them.

[Seshat]

Would it be unreasonable or maybe even illegal to make it policy that if you're calling in sick, barring certain emergencies, you'd better be on your way to the ER?

Is it easy for people to go to the doctor where you are? Can they get in to non-emergency doctor easily, on the same day, and affordably?

People DO get sick with things they don't require an ER trip, and I think it's unreasonable to clog up the ER with people who just need a doctor's note excusing them from work.

(Heck, I think it's unreasonable to clog up the medical system with people who just need a doctor's note, but clogging up the ER is worse than clogging up the local general practice.)

I guess the question you need to ask yourself is this:
If a person's calling in because they've got a case of the squits (or anything else that a doctor can't actually help them with) and they're going to be useless and incredibly unpleasant to be around at work, is it worth making them haul themselves to the local doctor just to verify to you that they do have it?

[TNT]

We get 8 personal days a year that we can use for unscheduled call-offs without penalty. It works for us, but we're a big outfit and the absence of one person isn't going to be too disruptive.

I don't see where requiring a doctor's note would be good. If the company provides health insurance, they're not only missing an employee for the day, they're also paying for a (usually) unnecessary doctor visit.

[Bright_Star]

Would you really want someone sick enough at work that they're throwing up every 5 minutes or so weak that they could barely do their job? It's only natural-people DO get sick enough that they ought stay at home BUT not sick enough to waste a doctor's time.
& why make a policy that makes emplyees afraid to call off for fear of losing their jobs? Why would you even want to go to work sick knowing that whatever it is you have you're liable to end up making everybody else sick?

[blas]

We have it pretty good in my department at the factory......and people know if they start to abuse the supervisor's kindness and understanding, it could VERY SOON become a zero tolerance sick policy.

For now, if it's a dangerous snowstorm, slick roads, power outage, blew a tire, even stuff like oversleeping is alright as long as you call and tell the supervisor that you're coming in late...

But I have a feeling pretty soon one of our dumbass temps will start calling in every night for weeks straight because of sniffles and our nice way of calling in will be taken away and become really Nazi strict.

Hell we have temps who call in sick on their second or third night! Way to make an impression!

[wagegoth]

I've worked at a few places that had a policy that if you were out three days or more you had to have a doctor's note. Now, I might have the flu, but there's not much a doctor can or will do about it, unless you start running a high fever or vomiting or having diarrhea for more than two days, so I'm probably not going to go to the doctor, although I might miss more than three days. And I would resent having to go if I felt that bad.

I think it's best to just set up general attendance policies, where more than a certain number of days out in a month or a quarter means a verbal warning, then written warning, etc. You would have to take government mandated leaves and genuine illnesses into account, but people who keep calling off on weekends or after benders would have to do better or be gone.

[DrFaroohk]

I guess the idea would just be to cut down on abuse. I sort of see it like...the rules are going to be broken no matter what they are. however, maybe it wouldn't be as bad. I.e. people now will call out because they have a slight headache, which to me isn't really worth it. My knees hurt, my back hurts every day, i go to work. I got serious emotional problems, I still get my butt to work. Part of that is because I know it's really, really important that I be there. If we had an overstaffed place where one or two people calling out sick was no big deal, I'd take days off all the fricken time.

Obviously...if you've got bad, bad, bad diarrhea, well, assuming immodium didn't help, yeah, take the day off. Projectile vomiting? You're excused. Your kids are sick? Cool, no problem.

Oh, your best friends cousins brothers sisters former roommate died? TOUGH SHIT GET IN HERE! Whats wrong, you just "don't feel good"? I really, really don't care.
GET TO WORK.

[Catwoman2965]

Our policy is, you get 3 "occurances" for a total of 5 days, within a 12 month period - and its done on a rolling basis. An occurance could be that you are out for one day, or 3 or 4 in a row, and no dr.'s note is required. If you are not out anymore within the next 12 months, or are out maybe one day, you're ok.

If you go over the 5 days, you get put on what's called "attendance control' - however, there are exceptions. I was in the hospital once for almost a week, then home for almost a week. I ended up on disability, so i needed a dr.'s note anyway to come back, but since I had exceeded the 5 days, even though it was one occurance, my boss had to "discuss" it with me, but he knew the score, and basically said, i have to have this discussion, but I KNOW why you were out, so no problems. They just want to keep things consistent with everyone.

That being said, the co. is aware of who abuses the policy, and who doesn't. They look at patterns; calling in on fridays and mondays, etc. - and excessive absenteeism, and address that on a case by case basis - so as long as you are within the guidelines, or even not, but have a reasonable excuse, you're ok.

I don't really agree with co's that require you to have a dr's note for every single absence - as some of you pointed out, you could be puking up a lung, or its coming out the other end, or both, and are absolutely miserable, not to mention contagious - and shouldn't be at work, but if you GO to the dr., there is absolutely nothing they can do for you - and who's ever able to get an appt on that ONE day you're out sick? So its just stupid in my opinion; I can see requring a note after so many days out, but just for one day, no necessary.
.

[Seshat]

My knees hurt, my back hurts every day, i go to work. I got serious emotional problems, I still get my butt to work.

I had that attitude. Until I completely collapsed with CFS & MCS & probably Fibromyalgia. And because I hadn't been taking my problems seriously, and hadn't realised that months of 'it's only a little worse than yesterday' ends up amounting to serious illness, by the time I collapsed and was diagnosed it was really bad.

Now I take unexplained pain, aching and general lassitude seriously. On the other hand, one of my questions to the pain doc was 'am I damaging anything if I work through fibro pain?'

The trick is to continue if the pain (or other symptoms) isn't an indication of potential damage, but to stop if it is (or if it's contagious). Figuring out which is which is the problem.

[MadMike]

I've worked at a few places that had a policy that if you were out three days or more you had to have a doctor's note.

My job is the same way, which I think is reasonable. If it's something that will pass like a cold or the flu, it's better just to stay in bed and let the thing pass. You might make yourself sicker by dragging yourself to a doctor, who won't really be able to do much for you anyway.

I get frequent migraines myself. If I wake up with just the start of one, or it starts to hit in the middle of the day, I'll usually tough it out. But every so often, it's bad enough that I'm not going to be of any use at work, and it's better just to take some pills, draw the shades, and stay in bed until it passes. Having to go to the doctor would be a huge waste, as he won't be able to do anything for me, and will make it take longer for me to get over it, not to mention the fact that when I get them really bad, the only thing I want to do is sleep it off.

[Lostfiniel]

Not too long ago I still had my own gallbladder. Along with it, I had gallstones. Before it was diagnosed I would be at work and feel some mild pain...it would increase. A couple times it would get to the point where it was hard to breathe...I thought it was an anxiety attack or something of that nature.

One day it got to be too much and I had to call my manager and tell her to find someone to take over my shift. When I got home I went straight to bed and took some pain pills but nothing worked. We finally went to the ER and after several hours told me I had the gallstones and I would be prone to similair attacks if I ate any fatty foods. We decided we would schedule a surgery and I went home.

The surgery kept being postponed because people at my work were quitting or being fired. But at the same time, I was having problems with these attacks that would come on. One of my co-workers mentioned that our managers were getting impatient with all these sick days I had. We finally hired enough people that I could take the time and barring one occasion I haven't had to call in sick since.