Democrats propose national sick leave bill

[Mary Lou 681]

I like the idea, seeing as our sick days have been taken away from us, i work in a hospital btw. Sooo if you are sick you HAVE to use your vacation days for any days taken for sick. Oh and if you arent feeling well in work you have to stay and work at least 6 hours, nevermind if you are barfing or not, or leaving before the 6 hours is counted against you.

[Dr_LHA 3]

what kind of guard will be put in place to control/minmize abuse?

Daniel

:energetic:

Required note from the Doc for anything more than a day's absense? That's the rule my old job used to have.

Does your employer cover the cost for that doc notice (i.e. the co-pay one will have to caugh up to get it)? If not, I think such rule can be contested.

No, but it was also optional if you decided to claim the days off as sick leave. If you wanted to then the Doc's note is required, otherwise they mark it as vacation. Pretty simple really - are you vacation days worth more to you than a $10 copay.

Of course this gets complicated by people who don't have health insurance.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

This makes me want to hurl.

So basically it is saying that any 20 hour a week employee should have 7 days of paid vacation as a requirement by the government? Is this after they have worked 1000 hours or 50 weeks?

Paid sick days and paid vacations are benefits, not rights.

The government needs to stop making new laws, enforce the ones that we have on the books and stop wasting taxpayer time and money with more regulations and nonsense. This is the same as raising the minimum wage. It doesn't work people. Communism, socialism. Spreading the wealth. It fails. This is just one more step towards that. If you have an hourly job that doesn't have any benefits, go work somewhere else if you think you deserve them. If you are entry level and no one offers them, become better qualified. That is the beauty of our system. You choose where you work. People need to be responsible for themselves.

We have so many freakin' FREEDOMS in this country it is unbelievable that anyone in their right mind would applaud the government becoming more involved in their lives. We are FREE (a little less each day due to laws like these) and I for one would like to stay that way, both as an employee and employer.

Create an emergency fund. Show your employer that you are worth it. If you have the balls enough, demand it and see what they say. Say you will leave if they won't give it to you and let them know why they are soooo lucky to have you. Make it a deal between you two, but for Pete's Sake!! Leave Uncle Sam out of it!!!

Plenty of employers already provide this rather basic need (okay, call it a humane benefit) to their employees. Some chose not to. What's wrong with a level playing field? Can those that deny their staff basic needs not compete on a level field? Maybe they ought not to be in business then.

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

I also have PTO at work - vacation & sick in one pool. And for the first time in my career, my employer will pay out for days I don't use. In the past, I took 'sick' days when I didn't feel like waking up. Now, I intend to accumulate unless I'm really sick.

Instead of mandating sick leave, maybe the govt should just mandate that employers have to pay out for unused days. I bet you people will use them more responsibly then.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

I also have PTO at work - vacation & sick in one pool. And for the first time in my career, my employer will pay out for days I don't use. In the past, I took 'sick' days when I didn't feel like waking up. Now, I intend to accumulate unless I'm really sick.

Instead of mandating sick leave, maybe the govt should just mandate that employers have to pay out for unused days. I bet you people will use them more responsibly then.

Employers probably profit from not paying unused days. All of the jobs I've left so far, I've left with lots of accrued sick days - I think the most I ever ended up giving away were close to 20 that I accrued over 3+ years. Generally speaking, employees use 2-3 sick days/year. The remainder either goes back to the employers, gets paid out or they let you accumulate up to x days in case you really hit it bad once and are hospitalized for awhile or something like that. Either way, people shouldn't be forced to drag themselves to work while sick. It's not good for employers either as that may ultimately lead to multiple absences that could otherwise have been avoided.

I typically send staff home if they show up sick.

[KarenCee 3]

That would be great. I get 10 days a school term. I used those up early on with a week long hospital stay plus 5 more days of recoup time and a week of being with my sick daughter. Now my boss is telling me that I've been out too much. Those kinds of things were unavoidable. I feel like my job is in danger because of it, but what am I to do? Not take care of myself or my daughter? What good am I to my students OR my child if I'm sick?

*sigh*

[Jenn! 918]

I typically send staff home if they show up sick.

I wish more employers were like you. I just hate it when people come in sick and spread their germs all over my workplace just because they're trying to be good doobies.

[Niels Bohr 72]

This would be a benefit to students everywhere!

[KarenCee 3]

I typically send staff home if they show up sick.

I wish more employers were like you. I just hate it when people come in sick and spread their germs all over my workplace just because they're trying to be good doobies.

To be honest, I don't do that to be a good doobie. I do it because I have to. If your administrator tells you "when you're not here, you're not doing the job you were hired for"...what would you say?

[Jenn! 918]

I typically send staff home if they show up sick.

I wish more employers were like you. I just hate it when people come in sick and spread their germs all over my workplace just because they're trying to be good doobies.

To be honest, I don't do that to be a good doobie. I do it because I have to. If your administrator tells you "when you're not here, you're not doing the job you were hired for"...what would you say?

Well, that's what I meant when I said that I wish more employers were like him. Your administrator should not be telling you that!

Edited March 20, 2007 by jenn3539

[Caladan 19]

Not working with any more than intuitions, but it stands to reason that quite a lot of productivity is lost when people get sick, come into work, and get everyone else sick; people don't want to have to burn their 10 days of vacation per year for anything short of vomiting. Might be a good business decision overall.

[Ban Hammer 13,337]

My job even allows you to use your sick days as vacation days if you want. The important thing is that they're there. The extra days mean a lot, IMO, and I'll probably use them as sick days since I live in the North where everyone gets sick.

people in the south get sick too

[Aymerlu 3]

what kind of guard will be put in place to control/minmize abuse?

Daniel

:energetic:

Required note from the Doc for anything more than a day's absense? That's the rule my old job used to have.

Sometimes that totally sucks when you know you just have the stomach flu and you have to pay a doc to tell you that just so you can bring in a note for work. Expensive.

[BelwinMills 0]

My job even allows you to use your sick days as vacation days if you want. The important thing is that they're there. The extra days mean a lot, IMO, and I'll probably use them as sick days since I live in the North where everyone gets sick.

people in the south get sick too

I have sick days but this is great for people who don't. My sick days accumulate each year. If we have enough by the time of retirement we can use them to retire 2 years early. Maybe a incentive could be used for people who don't use them.

[Mirorgate 0]

My job even allows you to use your sick days as vacation days if you want. The important thing is that they're there. The extra days mean a lot, IMO, and I'll probably use them as sick days since I live in the North where everyone gets sick.

people in the south get sick too

You Lie!