Sick days - at what point do you consider it habitual?

[beej]

I worked with a programmer one time, named Dan.  He missed so many days that we just started calling it a "Dan Day" when someone missed work. Everytime he missed another guy would go into Dan's cubicle and mark the day as a "Dan Day" on his calendar. He never seemed to mind the razzing he took over it, and I could never understand why they kept him. It had been going on for a long time before I had hired on. 

The long story short, Dan told me one time that he was trying to get his child support payment changed and the only way he could do it was to lose his job and take a different one for less pay. Management knew what he was doing and didn't oblige.  It was a weird situation.

[Tim Johnson]

We had an employee here that was averaging 45 sick days per year and ramped it up to 65 once I took over. These were fully paid sick days on top of his 5 weeks paid vacation, 2 weeks at Christmas and 4 personal days.

We terminated him for frustration of contract. It took about 2 years to get to that point though, tough process.

You should always plot the sick days on a chart to look for patterns...Fridays and Mondays are red flags if it is always on those days.

We have a chart on the back wall of my cubicle and use different colors for each type of absence.

[gcode]

Management knew what he was doing and didn't oblige.

years ago I was night shift foreman in a shop in San Marcos
We hired a young kid from the midwest as an operator .. no experience, but he was smart and learned quickly
One night, about 6 months in, he scrapped a large order of castings.
I asked him what was going on and he flat out told me.
Summer was coming and he came to Cali to hang out on the beach and surf. He scrapped the parts because he was trying to get fired and get unemployment to finance his surfing trip.
We had two big vibratory deburr tumblers out back. It was cold wet nasty work digging parts out of them.
It was something usually done by day shift when it was warm.
I told him there were some parts missing and to go find them.
Three night in, he figured out he'd be looking for those parts till the end of time and quit.
No unemployment for him!!!

[beej]

THAT right there, is very piss poor!
By being negligent, "management" were encouraging a situation for anyone to do it....

Yeah, well, there was a saying there, "If this place had it's shit together, they wouldn't but half of us."

[Matthew Hajicek]

Couple jobs ago, about a decade, I didn't know I was gluten sensitive.  I'd be in the bathroom at least half an hour every afternoon, feeling like crap.  It didn't occur to me that it could be food related, 'cause I hadn't changed my diet and it came on gradually.  We also had a machinist who refused to wash his hands, and I got some kind of cold or flu every other week.

Figured out the gluten thing, and switched to a company where people actually washed their hands, and almost never got sick.

[TSmcam]

IMO, if that's all he's using is what's allotted to him, it's all good in my book.

I'll tell you, for too many years I left vacation and other time on the table....felt like I "HAD" to do it.....not any more.
Where I'm at, here, I get 23 days/yr...I can carry over 10 days into the new year, so that means if I don't take everything I have, I lose what's remaining over the 80 hour carry over.

It was maybe, I dunno, a dozen years or so ago, I realized I was being stoopid not taking the time off that I have coming.....most places don't pay you for the remaining, so it's use it or lose it. 

I know I can be gone on any given day as I can leave on any given day. If I am not looking out for "me" who is?

Nope, the trouble is, he goes into negative. And that causes problems with planning. He doesn't give a shit, and does it anyway (well, I think his wife bosses him into it, because he is under the thumb majorly).

I dont care that he ends up with days off unpaid. I care because I end up with a gaping hole in production.

[JParis]

Nope, the trouble is, he goes into negative. And that causes problems with planning. He doesn't give a shit, and does it anyway (well, I think his wife bosses him into it, because he is under the thumb majorly).

I dont care that he ends up with days off unpaid. I care because I end up with a gaping hole in production.

In that position, he would be held accountable....a couple warnings and firing if it continued

[BrianP.]

I have always used my allotted time. Up until recently I would never miss more than that. Unfortunately starting last November I have gone through a rough patch and have missed more. Prednisone withdrawals in November were brutal. Then covid. Then between failing Humira and getting on to Entyvio I was completely out of control. Missed almost 2 full weeks and ended up in the hospital. I have burnt through 1 week of sick time and 2 weeks of vacation with one or two unpaid days taken. Can afford it. Still have 2 weeks on the books but will probably take another 3-4. I do everything above board and clear it with the bosses. That said I miss a lot less time than some of the younger guys here.

[CNCAppsJames]

There is no chronic health issue. It's usually "I have a stomach ache" or "I couldn't sleep last night".

THose are some dogshit excuses. That is EVERY Sunday for me when I travel on Monday and it sucks... finally to sleep at 3am, up again at 4:00am to 4:30am  to catch a 5:30am or 6:00am flight somewhere, and this year, it's been minimum 3 Sundays a month. But I get my old ass outta bed and on that plane, then to drive and to work wherever I need to be.

I get 10 sick days a year on top of my 5 weeks of vacation. I'm usually 2-3 sick days a year. Sometimes 1. Sometimes none. If I need to take sick day I do. When I had 'Rona... I actually didn;t take any days off. I was home anyway, I worked from like 8-11. Ate something I couldn't taste then napped until about 2 or 3, then cleared out the tech calls and that was my day. A few of those days were really light tech support days so I set my ringer loud and handled them as things came in and rested the rest of the time. Most importantly I didn't feel like I was not taking care of myself nor did I not fell like I wasn't working.

[neurosis]

THose are some dogshit excuses. That is EVERY Sunday for me when I travel on Monday and it sucks...

I agree.

And 19 times out of 20 his call-ins are on a Monday. That's the part that should be enough to prove a pattern.

My sick day ratio is similar to yours.  Typically one to two days a year. Some years 3 but very rare, and some years zero.

We get 5 paid sick days a year. I'm probably dumb, but I never use my sick days. I use vacation. It's a matter of principal to me. I never negotiated those days. They were forced by the State of Washington after I had already worked here over a decade. Again, that's probably dumb of me.  

I rarely ever take vacations. We don't have a 'use it or lose it' policy. The hours just continue to accumulate. I have more vacation time saved up than I'll ever use so I don't feel bad about using a day here or there for a sick day.
 

[CNCAppsJames]

I rarely ever take vacations. We don't have a 'use it or lose it' policy. The hours just continue to accumulate. I have more vacation time saved up than I'll ever use .....
 

That's nice. I kinda wish we had that policy. But the policy has changed. When I first started here any unused vacation time was cashed out. No banking hours. Now, we can bank up to 40 hours then the remaining unused vacation is then paid out. Perhaps it will change. Banking vacation is an accounting headache though. I get why they don't do it. When a large portion of yours staff has 20+ years, that's a LOTTA vacation time.

[neurosis]

When a large portion of yours staff has 20+ years, that's a LOTTA vacation time.

Yea, I'm actually getting nervous. If something ever happened to the company there is no way they would be able to cash me out at this point. I would probably end up losing it all.

I've been thinking about talking to them and seeing what we can do about bringing down some of these banked up hours I have.

[Incogneeto]

I've been thinking about talking to them and seeing what we can do about bringing down some of these banked up hours I have.

Uuuhh......Call in Sick?? HTH 


Give them to me   "HTH" also stands for "Help The Handicapped" .

[CNCAppsJames]

Yea, I'm actually getting nervous. If something ever happened to the company there is no way they would be able to cash me out at this point. I would probably end up losing it all.

I've been thinking about talking to them and seeing what we can do about bringing down some of these banked up hours I have.

That is the ugly part of banking a ton of time. If anythign happens, you're at THE BOTTOM of the food chain in terms of being a creditor.

[Matthew Hajicek]

That is the ugly part of banking a ton of time. If anythign happens, you're at THE BOTTOM of the food chain in terms of being a creditor.

Never let anyone accrue a massive debt to you.  You'll find it nearly impossible to collect.