Going to Work Sick

[Suze]

Ok I've held off till now- got to tell what happened to me this last month.

Our company has started a "personal evaluation review" ICK This has caused nothing but bad feelings all around since this will also affect our yearly "cost of living raise"

Now in the last year I was off three times with something that I really had no control over.

I sprained my ankle off a day
I had two bouts with cellulites in my face once I was told to say home for a day till the antibiotics kicked in and the second time I was off for 4 days because I was in the Hospital till the swelling went down. (I like Vicaden and the Daludnum isn't bad either )

Well when my person review came up I was told I had 7 occurances against me. (I was sick with the flu once) 8 and up get you a warning

Even though I had Dr's slips to stay home they counted against me! And just how are you suppose to work when they PUT YOU IN THE HOSPITAL (my face swelled to the point I had to pry one eye open, I was getting antibotics by IV every two hours. And each day in the hospital counted as an occurance.

This is not going to be pretty when this kicks in for real.

[ShadesOfGrey]

Ok I've held off till now- got to tell what happened to me this last month.

Our company has started a "personal evaluation review" ICK This has caused nothing but bad feelings all around since this will also affect our yearly "cost of living raise"

Now in the last year I was off three times with something that I really had no control over.

I sprained my ankle off a day
I had two bouts with cellulites in my face once I was told to say home for a day till the antibiotics kicked in and the second time I was off for 4 days because I was in the Hospital till the swelling went down. (I like Vicaden and the Daludnum isn't bad either )

Even though I had Dr's slips to stay home they counted against me! And just how are you suppose to work when they PUT YOU IN THE HOSPITAL (my face swelled to the point I had to pry one eye open, I was getting antibotics by IV every two hours. And each day in the hospital counted as an occurance.

Can you write a letter to your HR Director? I was once written up for a completely fabricated story of a supervisor (not my supervisor) and it was mentioned in my review.  I figured, hey, if they are going to put it in my personnel file, I should put something in there too.  So I did. 

Tell them simply (not complaining - this is meant to be a civil and professional comment in your place of work) that you think the policy is unusually strict and adversely affects otherwise exemplary employees - and use your case as an example.  Remind them that you had no choice in the matter to stay out of work when you were in the hospital and that you gave them as much notice as possible.  Then remind them of your good work ethic and how so few people were adversely affected when you were out, and you made up for lost productivity (not time, since presumably, you are entitled to sick time off) by working extra hard/staying late, etc. (you get the point - all the good things you have done regarding your time off and your value as an employee in general) 

I am a firm believer that every transgression (etiquette or otherwise) does not require one to 'cut off contact' or 'complain/raise hell' etc.  Usually there is a process to address complaints, and that should be utilized to the fullest extent before raising holy h***. 

oh, and dont forget to request in the letter for it to be put in your personnel file and cc your supervisor.

good luck 

[Suze]

I have thought of this and am thinking about doing it.  I could understand if a bout of several days off would count as one occurance (after all you wern't coming and going willy nilly) but each day?

You would think that after 27 years in a place you would get a LITTLE consideration.

If I had been off for more than 7 days sick pay would have kicked in and it would not have counted against me at all. <sigh>

Oh and I am just one of the lowly factory workers. (electronic sub assembly) So we always get the fuzzy end of the lollypop it seems.

Suze

[ShadesOfGrey]

I forgot to add - I am sorry that your policy is so strict, sometimes it seems no matter what one does, s/he is backed up against a wall...

[Suze]

Tell me about it -- It just seems that you can't win right now.

I have had a bad two months - 3 funerals did not help in the least - then we were told that we had to update our training. No biggie, it comes around every so often. 

But with the stress of dealing with the funerals and then Mom in the Hospital (Gall Blader, not a biggie, but) I couldn't focus on the "written" part of the test and just skimmed by.

(would have had to take it again till I passed it - also a stupid thing in my opinion. Why bother with the test if the will spoon feed you the info till you pass)

Now this BS

I am just so worn down with this right now.

[Venus193]

However, if I took a sick day (or vacation day) it counted as a mark against me. Too many marks, and you get fired. The stupid thing was that if you used all of the sick days and vacation days that you were "allowed," you would have been fired before you got through half of them. (For example, say we had 5 sick days per year and 5 vacation days per year, but you were only allowed 6 marks before you were fired. Makes tons of sense...)

This is beyond outrageous and should be regarded as a human rights violation.

[audhs]

>>>>Even though I had Dr's slips to stay home they counted against me! And just how are you suppose to work when they PUT YOU IN THE HOSPITAL (my face swelled to the point I had to pry one eye open, I was getting antibotics by IV every two hours. And each day in the hospital counted as an occurance.>>>>

I had a supervisor put a note in my performance review for a spelling error I made in an entry.  She didn't seem to think the fact that I got sick (run to the ladies room kind of sick) in the middle of the entry was an excuse for the fact that I didn't catch the error.  I went home right after I got sick and then to the doctor who had me take the next 3 weeks off work, for some reason it never occured to me check my spelling before I left. 

The one good thing about that job was if you were sick you could take time off without worry of retubution.

[Tabris]

I'm not sure that I *want* someone with a fever of 103 to be processing my insurance claim or entering my credit card payment into the database, you know?

As for being a student, how much learning does someone do when she's thinking about her pounding headache or can't focus on her textbook because her eyes hurt too much?

It just seems like it's more productive to stay in bed one day and recover faster than to operate on two cylinders for five days.

[Venus193]

Anyone else think that this is all meant to be an exercise in social Darwinism?

[Reika]

Anyone else think that this is all meant to be an exercise in social Darwinism?

In what way? That the businesses that do such things won't last? Sadly, I wish that were true but they seem to be thriving.

[weber06]

I hate it when people come in sick.  But we have paid sick days.  However, this is the first company where they've kept track of them with an iron fist.  God forbid I ever get the flu and something else in the same year.  I've stayed home when sick.

As for working from home, my boss tried that last time he was sick.  Because he's run out of sick days.  He used them for something else.  So he stayed home and "worked".  But watch me try to work from home sick.  He'd never go for it.  Maybe because he thinks I'd be as out of touch as he is.

[Cyndi]

Lots of people at dad's work are sick. He brought it home and we both had the bug together, but mom didn't get it. Hopefully he won't bring anything else home before Christmas.

So I say why expose everyone else? One uncovered cough or sneeze in an enclosed space can get everybody else sick.

[IndianInlaw]

My son worked at an amusement park.  When the employees were sick, they had to bring in  a note from the doctor.

Since they had no insurance, they had to not only lose a day's pay, but pay a doctor.

All this on minimum wage.

[fklwmn]

However, if I took a sick day (or vacation day) it counted as a mark against me. Too many marks, and you get fired. The stupid thing was that if you used all of the sick days and vacation days that you were "allowed," you would have been fired before you got through half of them. (For example, say we had 5 sick days per year and 5 vacation days per year, but you were only allowed 6 marks before you were fired. Makes tons of sense...)

This is beyond outrageous and should be regarded as a human rights violation.

It's actually fairly common in corporate environments. The last company I worked at that did not have a policy like this was one that didn't pay you for ANY time off. no sick days, no vacation days, not even when the company closed for holidays.

[freakyfemme]

However, if I took a sick day (or vacation day) it counted as a mark against me. Too many marks, and you get fired. The stupid thing was that if you used all of the sick days and vacation days that you were "allowed," you would have been fired before you got through half of them. (For example, say we had 5 sick days per year and 5 vacation days per year, but you were only allowed 6 marks before you were fired. Makes tons of sense...)

This is beyond outrageous and should be regarded as a human rights violation.

It's actually fairly common in corporate environments. The last company I worked at that did not have a policy like this was one that didn't pay you for ANY time off. no sick days, no vacation days, not even when the company closed for holidays.

But, I hope you didn't run the risk of getting *fired* for being sick.