Sick people at work and PTO policies...a work-related rant!

M

malkore

2
So Monday a co-worker (we'll call him JimBob out of disrespect) leaves because he feels ill, and his 1 year old is running a fever of 103F.

Tuesday was fine.

Wednesday JimBob is back at the office, snorting his snot back up into his sinuses every minute, and periodically runs to the bathroom to make horrible noises.

So I did everything I could to avoid JimBob cuz I didn't want his cold, flu or H1N1 (dude is nasty, he might have the black plague).

By the time I went to bed last night my throat was sore and it felt like my sinuses were trying to drain (post nasal drip).

Lovely.

This morning I feel just as crappy, and I'm not sure but these muscle aches don't feel like DOMS.

Here's the kicker though: I can't take any sick days. My workplace ONLY has Paid Time Off. We cannot carry over any PTO from the previous year...use it or lose it. Can't buy out the un-used hours either.

And I was only allowed to take PTO up through this week. Everything else is 'booked solid' so my usual plan to take the last 3 days of the year off as a 'sick day buffer' was spoiled.

Thus if I call in, because JimBob came back to work while clearly still contagious, I won't be paid.

I'm just pissed off at the whole situation because every year management sends us a questionaire, and every year every employee talks about the jacked up PTO issues, and every year they don't care and keep **** the same.

Now, I do have two PTO days scheduled...next Wednesday (for thanksgiving stuff) and christmas eve (again for more family time). I'm not dropping EITHER day of PTO just because management thinks it'll be too hard to track 43 employees PTO rollover to the new year. Plus we have this big corporate wide policy that says "God" comes first, then Family, then the Company.

Oddly enough the hospital my wife works at has well over 250 employees, and about 1,000 in their corporation...and they have no problems rolling PTO over every year. (not to mention she accrues way more PTO than me per year!).


So, I'm a little bitter and pissed off today because I'm gonna be sick this whole weekend if I'm lucky, or all next week if I'm not lucky and its H1N1. I already have my gloves on for the fight with my manager over this if I do have to take Unpaid Time Off.


/end of rant
 
That sucks.....I feel for ya :costumed4:

JimBob should never have been at work, but I bet it was because of the PTO that he was.

It's crap they don't fix that. If I had someone come in when they were sick...home bound....period.

I'm not one to get colds much, but the kids come home with them from school. It always pisses me off that they get sick because they go to school, and there are others who are conscious enough to keep their sick kids home!

geez.....

Hope you are feeling better soon :)
 
You're right that JimBob was in the same boat as me...no PTO left, and he doesn't have H1N1...or at least he hasn't hit a fever yet himself.

My weekend hobby plans might be ruined. Can't mess with making beer and wine when yer ill'in
 
Similar thing at my Wife's place, they have PTO but the first 2 or 3 days are unpaid. My wife only works weekends as do many at her place so for her to have more than 2 days off and qualify she'd need to be ill for over a week.

All that's happened is that people are now going into work with colds and fevers. She said that this one guy was visibly sweating from his fever but wouldn't go home because he needed the money to pay his rent. That just leads to others getting ill and also coming in to infect others because they can't afford the time off
 
And you're from the US too! Almost forgot that, does that mean you only get 2 weeks a year holiday? Damn, I get 25 days paid holiday and 20 days sick which is quite standard over here. It almost makes it worth putting up with our crappy weather
 
Typhon said:
And you're from the US too! Almost forgot that, does that mean you only get 2 weeks a year holiday? Damn, I get 25 days paid holiday and 20 days sick which is quite standard over here. It almost makes it worth putting up with our crappy weather
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Think it depends on where ya work. I don't think there has been a day that my hubby has had off that he wasn't paid. He gets enough PTO and sick days that he has never "runout" in the year and taken an unpaid day off....Just doesn't happen....

I'm sure in most lines of work however, this isn't the case.......
 
malkore said:
You're right that JimBob was in the same boat as me...no PTO left, and he doesn't have H1N1...or at least he hasn't hit a fever yet himself.

My weekend hobby plans might be ruined. Can't mess with making beer and wine when yer ill'in
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Messed up system is what that is....They aren't doing themselves any favors treating the employees with such disregard. It will actually cost them in the end. When people have to come in sick, they aren't going to be as productive, and if they get others sick, well you see the snowball effect it causes....

You'd think they would get wise to this......

yeah, the moonshine may just have to wait for another day :)
 
Sorry to hear about that Malkore. I know at our company we have established a lot of work from home procedures to allow people to still work even though they are sick so they don't have to take PTO. We would rather you go home and be sick and pay you then have you come in and work and get others sick. I work for a rather large company so maybe that is why (2500 employees on the campus I work at). Good luck getting the gloves on, I hope you don't need them. Stay healthy

As to Typhoon's comment about amount of time, I think it depends like NLL said. I get 10 PTO days a year 15 vacation, 12 holiday and then I have something like 500 hours of STD (short term disability for those joksters out there). So it probably depends on the size of your company and what the managements thoughts are around time off.
 
The problem is I work in a call center, so I can't do half my job from my house.

I've worked here 6 years now and I get 3 weeks of PTO. And that includes days I am sick.
Just the major holidays off too.

thank god we aren't a 24 hour call center!

btw I'm running a very slight fever, so I should be contagous and spreading the funk further. Huzzah! Vengence will be mine!

We'll see how corporate likes it when this whole branch is out sick for a week and has no PTO to spend.
 
malkore said:
The problem is I work in a call center, so I can't do half my job from my house.

I've worked here 6 years now and I get 3 weeks of PTO. And that includes days I am sick.
Just the major holidays off too.

thank god we aren't a 24 hour call center!

btw I'm running a very slight fever, so I should be contagous and spreading the funk further. Huzzah! Vengence will be mine!

We'll see how corporate likes it when this whole branch is out sick for a week and has no PTO to spend.
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We have a call center at the location I work at and several of those individuals work from home. The company sets them up with a work phone at home that they "turn-on" the days they are at home and anything that normally would have been routed there goes to the phone at their home. Maybe check into that. It is nice because on days where you are "sick" and really just don't want to go in but could still work, you can, but sitting on your couch or lying in bed or cooking breakfast for the family :)

Hope that fever goes away and you get to feeling better.
 
Well just an update, it wasn't H1N1 and I missed no work. this 'bug' has moved into my throat now, and while its not a sore/scratchy throat thing, it does feel like i've been screaming for days, and i'm on the verge of losing my voice.

This year I'm thankful that I have the next 5 days off and won't have to take phone calls so my throat can rest and heal up.
 
People should not go to work or school when sick. People need to understand this but they don't. I understand that you may not have any sick days or that catching up is a bitch. But that is not worth getting other people around you sick. You have no regard for other people around you. It's one of the worst things you can do in my opinion.
 
malkore said:
Well just an update, it wasn't H1N1 and I missed no work. this 'bug' has moved into my throat now, and while its not a sore/scratchy throat thing, it does feel like i've been screaming for days, and i'm on the verge of losing my voice.

This year I'm thankful that I have the next 5 days off and won't have to take phone calls so my throat can rest and heal up.
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Hope you get the rest you deserve :)

take care......
 
jetouellet said:
People should not go to work or school when sick. People need to understand this but they don't. I understand that you may not have any sick days or that catching up is a bitch. But that is not worth getting other people around you sick. You have no regard for other people around you. It's one of the worst things you can do in my opinion.
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Maybe you should try having a mortgage to pay and kids to feed, ethics quickly change when you need money to feed kids and you get sick pay.

I think you're way too quick to judge and take the moral high ground here; empathy goes a long way in life.
 
malkore said:
Well just an update, it wasn't H1N1 and I missed no work. this 'bug' has moved into my throat now, and while its not a sore/scratchy throat thing, it does feel like i've been screaming for days, and i'm on the verge of losing my voice.

This year I'm thankful that I have the next 5 days off and won't have to take phone calls so my throat can rest and heal up.
Click to expand...

Hope you feel better.
 
Typhon said:
Maybe you should try having a mortgage to pay and kids to feed, ethics quickly change when you need money to feed kids and you get sick pay.

I think you're way too quick to judge and take the moral high ground here; empathy goes a long way in life.
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I know. I am being a little too judgemental on adults who work while sick. But I have no empathy for people who go to school while sick, they can just spread their germs everyone without realizing it, and I hate that. I especially hate when younger kids are sent to school when sick because they don't know what they're doing and they have no problem with coughing in people's faces and blowing their nose on their hands.

I probably sound like a germaphobe don't I?
 
This is what you do with JimBob. Basically, bring some "left overs" (wink, wink) from home, and "share" (wink, wink) with JimBob.
 
jetouellet said:
I know. I am being a little too judgemental on adults who work while sick. But I have no empathy for people who go to school while sick, they can just spread their germs everyone without realizing it, and I hate that. I especially hate when younger kids are sent to school when sick because they don't know what they're doing and they have no problem with coughing in people's faces and blowing their nose on their hands.

I probably sound like a germaphobe don't I?
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I would buy a big bottle of Hand Sanitizer to bring to work. I haven't gotten majorly sick in years from work and I usually do so because I wipe with hand sanitizer every time I touch someone or come back from the bathroom.
 
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