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As winter comes, I have noticed more people at work coughing and hacking up stuff constantly. It really makes me mad that people are selfish enough to come into the office when they know they're exposing everyone else to their germs.
My office has a very liberal sick leave policy, but people like to accrue leave because it translates into a nice cash reward upon retirement.
Do any of you guys have this issue of sick people insisting on coming to work and infecting everyone in sight? Does management take an active role in telling these people to go home and stay there?
Location: Stuck on the East Coast, hoping to head West
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I'm currently a remote worker so no longer have to deal with that. Also, my current employer allows sick employees to work from home to keep it out of the office.
The last office I worked in drove me nuts. Nobody ever took sick leave and seemed to compete with each other over who showed up at work the sickest. I actually caught mono from a co-worker. She knew she had been exposed to it, knew she probably had it and still showed up at work. We were desk-mates who shared a phone so my doctor thinks that is how I caught it (despite me wiping the phone w/alcohol wipes and trying to avoid her). I ended up missing weeks of work and had some long-term health effects. I didn't have enough leave so had to use unpaid leave to recover. Still makes me angry. Management was so freaked out about it that they started sending people home who looked sick. What a nightmare. All because some idiot didn't have enough common sense to take sick leave. People who are contagious, especially if they are exhibiting flu-like symptoms, should stay home.
If they didn't have the sick leave policy, I would come in every day no matter what kind of germs I had. I have had jobs, where if I didn't show up I didn't get paid. But at the federal government has no cash out of sick leave at the end, so you will have people calling off for a hang nail. 13 days of sick time is an awful lot, but you can schedule it off in advance and use it for dr appts or child care, so it works out in the end.
I'm currently a remote worker so no longer have to deal with that. Also, my current employer allows sick employees to work from home to keep it out of the office.
The last office I worked in drove me nuts. Nobody ever took sick leave and seemed to compete with each other over who showed up at work the sickest. I actually caught mono from a co-worker. She knew she had been exposed to it, knew she probably had it and still showed up at work. We were desk-mates who shared a phone so my doctor thinks that is how I caught it (despite me wiping the phone w/alcohol wipes and trying to avoid her). I ended up missing weeks of work and had some long-term health effects. I didn't have enough leave so had to use unpaid leave to recover. Still makes me angry. Management was so freaked out about it that they started sending people home who looked sick. What a nightmare. All because some idiot didn't have enough common sense to take sick leave. People who are contagious, especially if they are exhibiting flu-like symptoms, should stay home.
Your story sounds horrible. This is exactly what I'm trying to avoid.
We have a telework policy. Most of these people can do their jobs at home but still choose to come in. It's foul and makes me want to work from home. If I stayed home every time someone showed up to work with whooping cough like symptoms, I would be out for weeks.
I worked at a place that had no sick leave, only 5 vacation days a year (that you had to have pre-approved), and if you called off sick, you got an occurrence. If you went to the doctor, and got a note, the occurrence was removed, but you still did not get paid. Of course, they still expected a lot of unpaid overtime out of us (we were salaried). I had a bad case of ongoing bronchitis one winter, and one day when I took the mail up to the company controller (who made the stupid a** rules), I had an uncontrollable coughing fit as I was handing it to him. Mr. High and Mighty (the one who sent out the "we need you here all day, every day memo) asked me if I went to the doctor, and I said no, my doctor didn't have evening hours.
If they didn't have the sick leave policy, I would come in every day no matter what kind of germs I had. I have had jobs, where if I didn't show up I didn't get paid. But at the federal government has no cash out of sick leave at the end, so you will have people calling off for a hang nail. 13 days of sick time is an awful lot, but you can schedule it off in advance and use it for dr appts or child care, so it works out in the end.
I am a fed. Clearly no one calls off for a hang nail. There is a cash out policy at retirement time with limits.
Where I work we get no sick days. If we are sick we have to take it as a vacation day. If you're like me and have the barest minimum of days, it's really difficult to take sick time as you either using up your vacation allowance or having to take unpaid time off. We are not allowed to work from home. A lot of people show up for work because they have so much going on they literally can't be away from work or because they're scared they'll lose their job if they do.
If the sick policy is liberal then they should consider staying home, especially if they get paid for sick leave. One of my relatives works for the State and in his job you are not allowed to call in sick unless you go to a doctor. So, if you have the flu then you either have to go to work or spend money going to the doctor over the flu (which doctors would tell you just to get some rest and keep your fever down). Because of this policy, he shows up to work sick and gets as close as he can to his supervisors. They tell him to go home, and he says, "Not until you let me go home without going to the doctor." They say, "No, rules are rules" and he continues to work with the flu. He doesn't hate doctors, but he does hate wasting quite a bit of money and time over something that he can cure by sitting at home and resting.
On the positive side, he now has three years worth of sick leave and he's coming close to retirement .
And an appearance by the resident martyr who believes there should be no such thing as sick leave and thinks people should come to work and infect everyone or else not get paid in 3...2...
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