Close Topic Options

Calling In Sick

Calling Sick

Humans usually have a certain number of 'sick' days they can have for the year. If they have not used these special days already employees tend to do so around Christmas time or the end of the year regardless to them being really sick or not. This thread covers two aspects of this:

1. Is it correct or within the worker's right to do this - call in sick when they are not
2. What are some of the more ridiculous excuses you have heard for being 'sick' when you knew they were not

Sick Calling

NO! Sick days are not required to be paid by an employer. And it is because of people that do this and abuse the privilege that a lot of employers don't give as many if any paid sick days as they once did. On top of that, this time of year a lot of people have scheduled vacations and most employers run their businesses on a skeleton crew when they can to accommodate their employees as best as possible. If someone calls in sick it makes it so much worse on whomever is working, especially this time of year. I personally have had to work on days that I have had vacation scheduled for because people have called in sick. If a person is truly sick I understand and have no problem doing whatever needs to be done and take care of the situation. However if they are not and I have to cover for it chances are I will not be doing them any favors in the near future.

I had a 16 year old tell me that he was passing a kidney stone once. I am honestly not sure if that is possible, but I ran into him at Wal-mart not two hours later.

Calling In Sick History & Civil Business Politics

1. No, it is never OK to call in sick when you are not. If you call in and are not sick, you are going to be hurting someone else who has to pick up the slack. Personal days and vacation days are for days like that.

2. One of our shift workers called in with west nile virus once. He was back the next day...hmmmm...

Sick Calling

No, it's not right to take a sick day, if really you are well. Not only does somebody else have to be called out to cover your shift, but I was always brought up being told by my parents, that if you claim you are sick and you are not, but get paid sick pay for it, then this amounts to theft! You have taken the money under false pretence, and this has always stayed with me.

The most ridiculous excuse I have ever heard, is when I used to look after old people, and one of the workers was always off work sick with a bad back every time it was her turn to do the weekend shift, but was always well by the Monday!
It became an irritated standing joke for the other staff, as she got the double pay for doing nothing, and the double weekend allowance was only payable once, the poor sucker who ended up covering her weekend shift only received flat rate!
So unfair!

Sick Calling

Cost of sick staff could be $13b - report

Sick days and employees who battle through illness but with reduced productivity are costing the economy billions of dollars every year, a Treasury paper says. Ref. Source 9