Dear, Anita,
I feel like I am coming down with the flu. But I have used up all my accrued sick time and I really can’t afford to be off without pay. What should I do?
Another reader asks:
Is it legal if I call in sick to take my elderly mom to the doctor? She doesn’t have a car.
Dear, Flu-ey Louie,
Over half the companies in the U.S. offer their full-time employees paid sick days as a benefit. Many of these businesses use an accrual formula that allows workers to earn a certain number of hours per pay period, and many have a use-it-or-lose-it policy about carrying over sick days into the next calendar or employment year (check with your HR department). But the goal is to have a system that allows sick employees to take care of themselves and keep them out of the workplace. Presenteeism – attending work while sick – often costs employers as much as absenteeism! If you go to work sick, and infect three co-workers, who don’t stay home and infect three more co-workers… well, soon the whole office is down for the count. Here’s a video on how to avoid the flu:
To decide if you should go to work or not, ask yourself three things: 1) Are you contagious, 2) Would you be a danger to others (a groggy airline pilot, for example), and 3) Would you be productive? If you are just sneezing or have a stuffy nose, you’re probably good to report for duty. Just be sure to wash your hands often during the day. If you have a sore throat and ache all over, stay home. A fever can also be the deciding factor. Check out WebMD’s “Too Sick to Go to Work?” cold and flu quiz.
Louie, if you can access your e-mail and work documents from home, offer to do this so you will technically not need to use a sick day.
Dear, “Mom’s Taxi,”
I can’t give you an exact answer about whether you can use a sick day to drive your mother to the doctor, because I am not privy to your company handbook. Some companies reserve paid sick leave for the employee or their immediate family –
meaning spouse and children. Whether or not that extends to your parents (if you are not your mother’s primary caregiver) can be a gray area.
I like the trend toward giving employees PTO (paid time off, or personal time off) that combines sick time with vacation and personal days all in one big bucket rather than sick leave with rules and regulations about how time can be used. After all, employees are mature, responsible adults. Hopefully, they will have enough self-control and foresight to not use all of their personal days in the first quarter for that round-the-world three-week vacation and save some PTO for the proverbial rainy day.
Readers: Do you go to work when sick? Has an ill co-worker ever given you the flu?
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