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  • Sick Days

    Totally off-topic for divorce......

    I'm wondering how many people out there have sick days as part of their employment arrangement, and if so, how many of those days are assigned annually?

    I'm trying to manage my medical appointments. Thus far, I've used vac time, but I'm quickly running out, and it's only March. Someone else in the company advised me to use sick days.....but I have no idea what is reasonable sick time in one year?

  • #2
    Originally posted by MS Mom View Post
    Totally off-topic for divorce......

    I'm wondering how many people out there have sick days as part of their employment arrangement, and if so, how many of those days are assigned annually?

    I'm trying to manage my medical appointments. Thus far, I've used vac time, but I'm quickly running out, and it's only March. Someone else in the company advised me to use sick days.....but I have no idea what is reasonable sick time in one year?
    We get 5 days with a 5 day carry over from the previous year.

    I usually schedule my appointments for late in the day, and I work through lunch or work an extra hour here or there to try and not use my sick days.

    Comment


    • #3
      Originally posted by DowntroddenDad View Post
      We get 5 days with a 5 day carry over from the previous year.

      I usually schedule my appointments for late in the day, and I work through lunch or work an extra hour here or there to try and not use my sick days.
      Thanks for the info. I do the same as well with local appointments, but many of my appointments are not local or rather lengthy. For instance, in April I have to go 100km away - twice - to see two different doctors. And I have two local specialist appointments. I've waited over 3 hours in the waiting room for some specialist appointments, which makes planning really hard. I also have twice weekly appointments at the hospital for pain management. I think they're getting fed up with me here at work.

      I'd still like to be able to take some time off in the summer with my daughter as well.

      5 days.....not really a whole heck of a lot is it?

      Comment


      • #4
        Originally posted by MS Mom View Post
        Thanks for the info. I do the same as well with local appointments, but many of my appointments are not local or rather lengthy. For instance, in April I have to go 100km away - twice - to see two different doctors. And I have two local specialist appointments. I've waited over 3 hours in the waiting room for some specialist appointments, which makes planning really hard. I also have twice weekly appointments at the hospital for pain management. I think they're getting fed up with me here at work.

        I'd still like to be able to take some time off in the summer with my daughter as well.

        5 days.....not really a whole heck of a lot is it?
        It is not really. My supervisor is somewhat flexible. But I only have 1 kid with me and he is 20, so doesn't require much, can go to appointments on his own. And I've been lucky, I do need dental work, but other than that pretty healthy.

        Comment


        • #5
          We are not assigned an actual number of sick days. We have both a Short Term Disability and Long Term Disability program. After 5 consecutive sick days you go to STD which is 95% pay.

          Each work place is different and you really should talk to HR at your company.

          Comment


          • #6
            We don't really have an HR department here, which is why I'm curious as to what would be the norm before I have a conversation with my supervisor on it all. There is no STD policy here, only LTD - further limiting my options.

            I've only ever had one job where sick days were assigned - and that was 10 days in the year.

            I've only taken two sick days so far this year, but I've managed to use up almost 2 weeks vacation with appointments and court.

            Comment


            • #7
              I think that in my workplace, we technically have 10 days of sick leave we can take before either it turns into short-term disability or we need medical notes. In practice, people take what they need and don't worry a lot about making up the time, as long as the work gets done.

              But my workplace is pretty flexible - you can work from home, on the weekends, whatever. If your workplace isn't, it's probably wise to get out in front of this. If you don't have a HR department, can you schedule an appointment with whoever fulfills that function to talk about your medical schedule? Don't be apologetic or defensive - none of this is your fault - but point out that these are issues which you will be dealing with in the near future, and you want to work out a plan to maximize your effectiveness as an employee in the short and medium term while you address the issues that will enable you to be productive in the long term. Can you offer some form of time-in-lieu, like working on weekends? Stats?

              I think the important thing is not to get to a situation where people start resenting your absences or complaining about them without understanding what's going on. You don't need to tell everyone your business, but I think that being proactive about your need to take time off work as well as optimistic and positive about your continued commitment to your job can help to head off negative consequences.

              Comment


              • #8
                Originally posted by stripes View Post
                I think that in my workplace, we technically have 10 days of sick leave we can take before either it turns into short-term disability or we need medical notes. In practice, people take what they need and don't worry a lot about making up the time, as long as the work gets done.

                But my workplace is pretty flexible - you can work from home, on the weekends, whatever. If your workplace isn't, it's probably wise to get out in front of this. If you don't have a HR department, can you schedule an appointment with whoever fulfills that function to talk about your medical schedule? Don't be apologetic or defensive - none of this is your fault - but point out that these are issues which you will be dealing with in the near future, and you want to work out a plan to maximize your effectiveness as an employee in the short and medium term while you address the issues that will enable you to be productive in the long term. Can you offer some form of time-in-lieu, like working on weekends? Stats?

                I think the important thing is not to get to a situation where people start resenting your absences or complaining about them without understanding what's going on. You don't need to tell everyone your business, but I think that being proactive about your need to take time off work as well as optimistic and positive about your continued commitment to your job can help to head off negative consequences.
                Part of my issue here is that we don't have a real HR department, and the person who handles the HR duties is actually my direct supervisor. My supervisor works 60+ hours a week, doesn't seem to understand why people don't want to be at work all the time. I've been pretty open and honest with my supervisor on the medical/court issues....but it seems like a never ending request for days off. Just another source of stress for me. My boss' daughter, who also works here, just came back after only a few months of mat leave, which was probably paid by the company anyway, though I'll never know that for sure. There is a lot of inequality here in the way people are treated and paid, that's why I wondered what the norm would be.

                Tough spot. But, I don't have any choice really. It has to be the worst part of dealing with disability.

                I'll try and talk with her next week. I don't handle this stuff well because I'm the one that's most disappointed with myself, my health and the impact it has on work.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Ms Mom... I just want to let you know, try not to be nervous about speaking to your supervisor about this sort of thing.

                  I had an issue last year with my direct supervisor. He told me in a performance review that I had too many appointments and it was not acceptable. I suffer from severe back issues due to an injury and 2 surgeries that happened over 10 years ago. I have been dealing with the back pain for 10 years and I will continue to do so. When my supervisor told me this, I was rather hurt. I always give 110% a work and put in usually 50-60 hours a week. I am paid salary so my company gets more out of me work wise than they would someone who gets paid hourly.

                  After this performance review, I cut back on my appointments, this lasted for about three months. Eventually it got to the point where I was not keeping up on my appointments enough and I completely regressed in my progress. I eventually got to the point where I could not get out of bed. I let the fear of losing my job or upsetting my supervisor get in the way of taking care of myself.

                  About 8 months ago my supervisor was let go. During a discussion with my higher ups, I unloaded everything, as I was at the point where I wasn't sure I could do my job any longer. What ended up happening is I was given as much time off as I required for appointments and was told to cut my work down to 35-40 hours a week to get my body back. I wish I had of had this conversation earlier with my higher ups because I could have saved myself a world of pain the past months.

                  Be strong and remember, an employer cannot let you go for medical appointments. They may not necessarily like it, but an employers job is to ensure work gets done and push their employees to get this work done.

                  Best of luck!

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Originally posted by Berner_Faith View Post
                    Ms Mom... I just want to let you know, try not to be nervous about speaking to your supervisor about this sort of thing.

                    I had an issue last year with my direct supervisor. He told me in a performance review that I had too many appointments and it was not acceptable. I suffer from severe back issues due to an injury and 2 surgeries that happened over 10 years ago. I have been dealing with the back pain for 10 years and I will continue to do so. When my supervisor told me this, I was rather hurt. I always give 110% a work and put in usually 50-60 hours a week. I am paid salary so my company gets more out of me work wise than they would someone who gets paid hourly.

                    After this performance review, I cut back on my appointments, this lasted for about three months. Eventually it got to the point where I was not keeping up on my appointments enough and I completely regressed in my progress. I eventually got to the point where I could not get out of bed. I let the fear of losing my job or upsetting my supervisor get in the way of taking care of myself.

                    About 8 months ago my supervisor was let go. During a discussion with my higher ups, I unloaded everything, as I was at the point where I wasn't sure I could do my job any longer. What ended up happening is I was given as much time off as I required for appointments and was told to cut my work down to 35-40 hours a week to get my body back. I wish I had of had this conversation earlier with my higher ups because I could have saved myself a world of pain the past months.

                    Be strong and remember, an employer cannot let you go for medical appointments. They may not necessarily like it, but an employers job is to ensure work gets done and push their employees to get this work done.

                    Best of luck!
                    Thanks Berner. I'm a 110% employee as well, but it's been tough to be that in this job. For two days out of five I have pretty much nothing to do. Doesn't help divert the attention away from the pain much. In my previous job I worked long hours, if I had to, and if I didn't, I didn't put in unnecessary time. That was boss' orders. In this one I'm so micromanaged and it's discouraging. It's also a huge piss off to have to take vacation time for days I wouldn't have anything to actually do at work anyway. It's slow at work at the moment - waiting for the winter melt...LOL

                    I've tried to be honest with her, but I don't want to let out too much information regarding my health because she's in the direct position to fire me as well.

                    I avoid Monday and Tuesday morning for appointments - they're the two important days in my job. But with specialists I just get a notice in the mail, or a phone call pretty much telling me when it is, not a whole lot of choice. I'm really hoping that May will bring an end to the medical analysis.

                    Comment

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