Kaliena

I recently found out that my company only provides 5 personal days and no sick days for an entire year. I haven't been in the working field that long so I don't know how entirely unfair or fair it is, although I can say that now that everyone is sick (including my co-receptionist who is sitting next to me diagnosed by a doctor as having the flu!) that this seems slightly unreasonable.

If it's not too personal to ask, what amount of sick leave does your company give and the reason behind that amount of time?

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warrrreagl

2 personal days per year (non-cumulative), and one sick day earned for each 20 days worked (cumulative). On a typical 9-month college instructor contract, that's 9 sick days per year. We also have a sick day bank, whereby we voluntarily contribute 5 earned sick days to the bank for anyone who needs them beyond your accumulated number in an emergency.

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maleficent

5 personal days a year - -not able to be carried over - they are sick days or personal use days - use 'em or lose 'em - but its never a good time to use them so i usually just lose them

I once worked for a company that had unlimited sick days and while the majority of people didn't abuse the policy there were some that acted like high schoolers and did - thereby cancelling that policy.

I'm assuming that there's vacation time in addition to personal time - so people should just pace themselves...

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snowy

Sick day policies vary widely. My former employer offered no sick days for those on a wage, and no sick days for the permanent, full-time staff. They got 1 personal leave day a month, and they could use those as sick days when needed.

My friend works for the State of Oregon and he gets 1 sick day every 30 days as well as 1 personal day. My dad is a contracted employee of a school district in Washington and he only gets 3 personal days a year (non-cumulative), but his contract only covers so many days of the year--he gets the entire month of July off. He also accumulates about 1 sick day per 30 days. When he had to cash in his sick days when he left Washington some years ago for another job out of state, he had a year's worth (180 days) of sick leave accumulated. He was able to cash them out, which bought us new furniture Additionally, he gets days off for professional development, which are days to attend conferences and meetings, since he's the President of the league his school belongs to, and active in leadership for his field in Washington State.

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la petite moi

I get no paid personal days at either job.

However, if I'm sick at Starbucks, I can see if another person is available to cover my shift.

At my office job, if I'm sick, the office coordinator has to see if one of our few student assistants can cover.

StanT

No real policy though I do need a doctors note after 10 days.

Realistically, sick days" mean work from home and mute the phone when you throw up or flush.

maleficent

been there done that got the tshirt too many times

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The_Jazz

I get no sick days or vacation days. Then again, I can just not show up for work with no ramifications.

My assistants, however, start with 5 sick days and 2 weeks of vacation their first day on the job. Once they have 2 years tenure (I think), that gets bumped to 7 days and 3 weeks. It maxes out at 10 years at 10 days and 5 weeks.

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hotzot

no sick days , just personal days that you can use as sick days. 3 weeks on your first year, 4 weeks after that, after 15 years your get 5, after 25 years you get 6 weeks which is at max. Doctors note is needed after 3 consecutive days of being sick. We also get paid 5 days bereavement leave if spouse, kids, parents or grandparents die.

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Smooth23

10 paid vacation days(assuming you aren't talking about these) 5 of which can be carried over year to year. Point system for unpaid days. half a day is half a point, full day full point. Doctors excuse you get 1 point for all consecutive days you miss. Get 9 points and you're fired.

Arc101

You should come to the UK we seem to have it far better. If I have over 10 sick days in a year, which are paid then I have a chat with the manager to find out why I am off so much. Also I get 22 days paid holiday leave a year. This is not unusual. We also get 8 days off for public holidays.

m0rpheus

7 paid personal days per year (no carry over, if they arent used they are paid out). After that its unpaid.

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Cynthetiq

10 sick days, plus I can work from home.

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Cynthetiq

10 sick days, plus I can work from home.

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little_tippler

What are personal and sick days? Anybody care to explain to me?

Where I work I have 20 days paid holiday per year (does not include weekend days)- this is fairly standard in Portugal. I don't know about sick days...I don't get sick often and my boss doesn't actually count...but I work in a small company so that's probably why.

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Whether we write or speak or do but look
We are ever unapparent. What we are
Cannot be transfused into word or book.
Our soul from us is infinitely far.
However much we give our thoughts the will
To be our soul and gesture it abroad,
Our hearts are incommunicable still.
In what we show ourselves we are ignored.
The abyss from soul to soul cannot be bridged
By any skill of thought or trick of seeming.
Unto our very selves we are abridged
When we would utter to our thought our being.
We are our dreams of ourselves, souls by gleams,
And each to each other dreams of others' dreams.

Fernando Pessoa, 1918

maleficent

personal days/sick days are just what they sound like -days youcan use for your own use.. We also generally get vacation time plus paid holidays on top of that - amount of vacation you get is usually dependent on whatever deal you cut going in - -or how long you've been with the company

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eribrav

Interesting system. Do the points go away after a certain period, or do they follow you around forever? Would a 30 year employee get fired because they just took their 9th sick day?

amonkie

No personal or sick days for all employess. No vacation time until after a year of service with the company - at that point, 1 week per year for the first 3 years.

Basically, if you're butt's not at your desk, you don't get paid.

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God of Thunder

I work in a union environment, so our sick/annual benefits are pretty good.

A new worker starts aquiring sick and annual (vacation) time from day one. However, they cannot use annual time for a one full year.

Sick time is accrued at the rate of 3.2 hours per pay period, which is every two weeks. Our contract stipulates that a worker is allowed 7 sick occasions per fiscal year. After that, however, sick time can be used but a doctors slip is required, as long as you have sick time available to use. A doctors slip is also required if you are out more than 3 days at a time, no matter how many occasions you have used.

Annual time is accrued at different rates, depending on seniority. I have been at the city for over 5 years, so I get 6.2 hours per pay period. There is no limit on annual time use, as long as it is pre-approved by your supervisor, and you have the time available.

The other good benefit is you get one "emergency annual" occasion per year. This means you can use annual time for whatever you want, without pre-approval. This is good for the flat tire, car accident, car won't start, hangover, etc. We refer to it as the "get out of jail free' card.

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pornclerk

I am a teacher and I get 20 sick days per school year. If I don't use them they count towards retirement days. For example, if you don't take your 20 sick days in a year you can retire 20 days earlier. I think we can bank up to 200. I can also take personal days for a list of reasons and they are paid days.

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rockzilla

Full-time staff where I work accumulate one paid sick day for every 30 days of work, up to a maximum of 85 days, you can carry these days over from year to year.
For vacation time, you're entitled to 3 weeks (15 days) during your first 5 years, 4 weeks (20 days) between year 5 and 10, and 5 weeks (25 days) for anything above 10 years. We can't carry vacation days over to the new year and can't choose to have them paid out, so a lot of people are using their leftover vacation time right now.
My company's reasoning is that sick time and absenteeism costs them a lot of money and other employees have to pick up the slack. I've seen more people let go for abusing sick time than I can count. And nothing pisses me off more than someone who I have to depend on at work who calls in sick just because they didn't feel like coming in.

ShaniFaye

We have unlimited sick time (which has been a godsend for me as far as my migraines go). We get 10 days vacation for 1 to 5 years of service, 5 days available after 6 months. at year 5 you go to 3 weeks at year 10 you go to 4.

We have medical leave as well, your time with the company decides what you get from 60-100% of pay. When I had my surgery in October and was out for 3 weeks, they let me bring the company laptop home so I could "work" if I felt like it so that I didnt have to take medical leave or use vacation days. When I went back to work thanksgiving week I still had 8 vacation days to use, if you dont use them you lose them and arent paid for them, fortunately this has meant I can take every monday this month off (plus the last monday in November) and the last three working days of the year

I love my company lol

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absorbentishe

I don't "get" any days. It's just the owner and myself, and we never discussed this. I guess if I couldn't make it in, I'd still get paid. I don't not go to work if I'm sick, unless it's a migraine, or something else that really knocks you out.

theycallmelisa

i can't remember what my employers offered as sick days, but i do remember they were completely unreasonable IMO (I think less than 2 per month is unreasonable though lol) Especially because none of my employers had a policy in place for those employees that could prove (with a doctors note for example) that they had a chronic illness. I was diagnosed with major depression a couple of years back, which caused me to miss alot of work, which I eventually got fired for. Also, when I was pregnant, I was sick quite a bit, but they still expected me to be just as healthy as the next person.

Borla

My company allows 5 personal days a year as well.

However, if you are in a salaried or management position, you are allowed to use your vacation time as sick time. I've been there nine years, and have 5 personal days, and 16 vacation days, per year, aside from holidays.

However, two years ago I had used all of my time except for two days when December rolled around. I planned my last two days for mid-December, which was granted. Unfortunately, I got walking pneumonia the last week of the year, and I was out of days!!! I fought to come in for half a day, each of the last three days of the year. The COO (my manager's manager) consented to let me get paid for those days, without making the hours up. Basically, I had been responsible and not used my days up, but I happened to honestly get very ill the last week of the year, so he cut me a break.

My company also has a pretty decent "short term disability" program. If you've been there at least a year, and have some medical condition that causes a minimum of five consecutive working days worth of abscenses, you still get 100% pay without using any sick time. Your total temporary disability time available varies by seniority (I think I have 10 weeks per year saved up if I were to have an issue requiring it to be needed). But it makes it very nice if you have a medical emergency, or need some type of surgery.

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jt6879

12 sick incidents paid in any given 12 month period. After that need a Drs note. Unlimited personal and vacation time though as long as its approved and you have the time.

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Average_Joe

To start, 18 days of PPL per week, which includes sick leave. Every 3 years of employment, one day is added until 25 years is reached. PPL time is carried over year to year until a max of 400 hours is reached.

Lady Sage

2 personal days, 10 sick days and 4 weeks vacation.

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BadNick

Fortunately our business continues to go quite well so we try to liberalize policies to help employees deal with work life. A few years ago we changed from "sick days + vacation days" to simply "PTO" personal time off days, to be used for sick, personal, or vacation at employees' discretion. It seems to be working quite well, except that I have a hard time using them all up since thankfully I don't get sick much.

1st quarter hire: 20 days
2nd qtr hire: 12 days
3rd qtr hire: 7 days
4th qtr hire: Oct. hire 4 days; Nov. hire 3 days; Dec. hire 2 days

Years of Service:
less than 6 yrs: 20 days
6 thru 10 yrs: 25 days
11 thru 14 yrs: 30 days
15 thru 24 yrs: 35 days

On a less related note we have this notice posted:

WORK BREAK - EMPLOYEE NOTICE
Due to increased competition, cost escalation and our keen desire to stay in Business, management has deemed necessary a change to your terms of employment. It will now be compulsory to do something called work in between tea breaks, coffee breaks, smoking breaks, lunch breaks, toilet breaks, etc. Management intends to call this "the work break".

pan6467

I get like 3.5 personal time hours and 4 for vacation every pay, then I get 4 Hosp hours every pay, and I can bank the holiday (so instead of getting paid double time when I work them I get time and a half and 8 hours added to personal time.

Basically it boils down to like 11 personal days, 13 Vacation and then whatever I add from banking holidays, there's 9 holidays. It's like a whole month.... and they can pass over to the next year. Vacation maxes at like 30 days though, personal maxes at 25, but hospital never matches.

I liked the working for double time, but taxes take it and the idea of being able to use that day and take it off when I want is far more appealing, so I'll be banking my holidays.

I also like the idea of hospital days. Not only are you paid in the hospital but they pay you at home for recupe time and there is no limit to those, they stay until you need them. But then again you have to be in the hospital or at home with a drs. excuse recovering.

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Charlatan

No personal days. I think we have sick days. Regardless, if you call in sick you need a doctor's note. No exceptions.

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Val_1

I accrue 4 weeks of vacation a year (can carry over up to 300 hours), and have 2 weeks of sick days.

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Psycho Dad

5 sick days a year, no personal days and 3 weeks vacation.

The sick days roll over if unused and once so many hours (120 I believe) accumulate, the company "buys back" the unused sick pay at 50 cents on the dollar. The vacation is use it or lose it.

As far as fair, if I don't like it, I can look for another job. I must like it because I've been at my job 22 years.

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Stick

I'm self-employed, so I get nuthin'.

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ktspktsp

10 vacation days a year (that goes up as one stays longer at the company) , can carry up to 120 hours. 1 personal day, 10 holidays, 10 sick days. I cannot use my sick days for vacations.

Xera

The last real job I had was at Early Head Start. I worked a full 12month contract. I got one personal day per month and one sick day per month. I was required to take the personal day every month. The health specialist said that we could reduce burn out rates for the job if we all took one day a month for "mental health" but that was also the only vaction we were alotted. I think it was done that way to keep us from accumulating 12 vacation days a year and taking an actual for real vacation, which in my opinion would have served much better for reducing burn out.

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dlish

i work for myself. i dont know what a day off is..even if it is a sunday!

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