sick days

alphachiohmy · #1 12-10-2002, 09:54 AM

In honor of how crappy I feel today

(sore throat and all that jazz) I want to know ... if you work full-time how many sick days do you get a year? Or if you take classes are you given any days to take off? Would you take a day even if you were not sick and what would make you take a sick day? Ever been caught not actually sick?

I think I am going to tough it out to work today, but I have taken sick days and not actually been that sick, although one day I had bad headaches. Both days, were nights that our alumnae group had either a happy hour or our guest bartending philanthropy... So it was for a good cause.

Rhonda

MoxieGrrl · #2 12-10-2002, 10:05 AM

I get 6.36 hours every two weeks for sick days, but I'm not sure of how that adds up over a year. So far, it's being used for crazy doctor's appointments that I should have made a while ago. Also, I'm using some days for Christmas Eve & New Years Eve.

Hope that you start feeling better, alphachiohmy!

tcsparky · #3 12-10-2002, 10:07 AM

I teach school, and we get 9 sick days and 5 personal days a year. The sick days are free, but the personal days cost $50 a day.

ZTAMiami · #4 12-10-2002, 10:30 AM

I'm staff at UM and we get 12 sick days a year accrued biweekly. We also get 2 floating holidays (you can use them whenever) and at least 10vacation days (depending on how many years you've been here) also accrued biweekly. Plus every national or university holiday!

Not to mention free tution........

ladybug1116 · #5 12-10-2002, 11:03 AM

Don't even get me started on my vacation/sick day plan. Bear in mind...I work in a hospital...open 24/7/365. We do not automatically get holidays off. Your first year you accrue 5.5 hours every pay period (2 weeks). That is for sick, holiday, vacation, everything. It really sucks (in comparsion to other healthcare facilities and in comparison with the rest of my industry). It equals 18 days over your first year but you must accrue the time before you can use it. That makes it very hard to take holiday time and then have a little vacation here or there because it doesn't accrue fast enough. It's the major gripe from everyone at this hospital. I actually served on an action team for the hospital which helped present ideas to the VP of HR for better PTO (paid time off) plans (among other issues). Next year I will accrue almost 8 hours every pay period (automatic bump to the next level...2-5 years of employment)...which isn't as bad....

33girl · #6 12-10-2002, 11:04 AM

We don't get sick "days" as such but rather "ocurrences." If you are sick with mono for 2 weeks, that's one occurrence. If you call in 3 separate times and are out one day each, that's 3 occurrences and will get you disciplined if they are too close together. The point is to prevent people from calling in sick bogusly and keep the really sick people out of the office.

SSS1365 · #7 12-10-2002, 11:31 AM

Our sick days and vacation days are grouped together, so altogether we start out with 18 per year, plus a floating holiday. After working 5 years, your sick/vacation days increase. It's not too shabby... And yes, I have used a sick day and not actually been sick...

greeklawgirl · #8 12-10-2002, 11:52 AM

I get 10 days gratis per year, plus the option to purchase up to another 20 days. We buy the extra days with a monthly allowance we are given to purchase our benefits, which is in addition to our salary. I buy the maximum--20 days--even if I don't use it all, because I get the money spent for unused time back at the end of the year.

We also get 10 holidays, which is great. Its nice to know that I have 30 working days in the bank, but the only downside is that those 30 days cover everything--sick, vacation, personal time, bereavement, etc. If you get really ill, or need some kind of surgery...it could wipe you out of your time for the entire year in one fell swoop.

Hope you're feeling better soon, Rhonda!

DeltAlum · #9 12-10-2002, 12:02 PM

Let me approach this as a long time manager...

First, as you can see above, sick days vary drastically from company to company and situation to situation.

Here's the most important thing: Sick days are just that -- days that the company allows for unavoidable illness. Sick days are NOT additional vacation. If you're not there, someone else probably has to cover you/your job. That costs the company money, and cut into profits, and, in the long run, the smart company will begin cutting back on those benefits. Your benefits.

ladybug1116 · #10 12-10-2002, 02:21 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by DeltAlum
Here's the most important thing: Sick days are just that -- days that the company allows for unavoidable illness. Sick days are NOT additional vacation. If you're not there, someone else probably has to cover you/your job. That costs the company money, and cut into profits, and, in the long run, the smart company will begin cutting back on those benefits. Your benefits.

Well let me be devil's advocate if I may. This doesn't apply to me b/c my PTO all comes out of one bank with a constant accrual, but....

I know that sick days often do not "roll over" from year to year which means at that end of that year the employee will "lose" the sick days if they go unused. The employee will often feel that this is a benefit owed to them...and just b/c they didn't get sick does that mean they don't get the time out of the office just as their colleague did. If there is no consequence to using a sick day without actually being sick, then what really stops someone from using/abusing this "benefit"? Do you make the employee bring in a doctor's note and decrease the lack of trust in the work environment? Do you offer another benefit for those not using all their sick time so they don't feel "cheated" out of a privelege?
Just some thoughts.

I'm looking to go back to school for Health Administration with an emphasis in HR...so if anyone really does have answers, please share them.

FuzzieAlum · #11 12-10-2002, 02:55 PM

My sick days do roll over indefinitely. Here's one big incentive, for the future moms at least, not to waste them: You can save up a big chunk to really extend your maternity leave.

Right now I think I have about six or seven weeks of sick time accrued. It's good to know if I get knocked into a coma, I'll keep getting paid for a while!

Also, for every six months we go without using a sick day, we get an extra vacation day. That's another incentive not to use sick time indiscriminately; I figure I have to be out "sick" more than one day to make it worth it.

FuzzieAlum · #12 12-10-2002, 02:56 PM

My sick days do roll over indefinitely. Here's one big incentive, for the future moms at least, not to waste them: You can save up a big chunk to really extend your maternity leave.

Right now I think I have about six or seven weeks of sick time accrued. (We get 3.69 hours every two weeks). It's good to know if I get knocked into a coma, I'll keep getting paid for a while!

Also, for every six months we go without using a sick day, we get an extra vacation day. That's another incentive not to use sick time indiscriminately; I figure I have to be out "sick" more than one day to make it worth it.

Kevin · #13 12-10-2002, 03:10 PM

It doesn't accrue but I believe it's 1 week per year of sick days and 2 weeks personal leave. Management does its best to make sure you aren't told of these things but they're in the employee handbook

DWAlphaGam · #14 12-10-2002, 03:19 PM

I get 10 sick days, 2 weeks vacation, and 3 personal days a year. Vacation rolls over for 2 years, sick days roll over indefinitely, and you lose personal days at the end of the year. The catch is that if you quit, you get compensated for accrued vacation time and personal time, but not for sick time. So, if someone knows they are leaving soon, they tend to try to use up their sick time because they know they're not going to get anything back for it.

AKA2D '91 · #15 12-10-2002, 03:40 PM

I receive 10 days per year (not including a professional day), which can carry over to the next year . I carried 1.5 days from last year. I now have 6.5 days remaining.