Is this firing justified?

[Atomic Playboy]

Well here's the disconnect. In America, businesses don't trust the workers and they want to spell out exactly how much time they are allowed to take off and what they are allowed to use it for. If you use a sick day to extend a vacation, for example, it might be a fireable offense. Employees, meanwhile, who have been conditioned to feel like management is constantly trying to screw them, try to game the system themselves, using every second of allotted time off regardless of whether they actually are sick. The European system seems to be based more on the honor system where people actually tell the truth about whether or not they were sick.... Which hasn't worked out so hot for places like Greece, so say what you will.

I guess it comes down to culture more than anything. I like the idea of an honor system of sick days rather than dictating exactly how sick I should expect to be for the entire year. But because of American employees' general attitudes, people would just game that system and ruin it for everyone. "Can't come in today boss, got a nasty case of... ummm... smallpox! Yeah, that's it. Best thing for that is to raft down the river I'm currently rafting down. See ya tomorrow maybe."

 

[Gooberlx2]

I never said it was complicated.

But that means if I'm sick, I can't take as much annual leave.

Why would anyone want that kind of system?

Well assuming the employer allowed a commensurate number of total days in the PTO pool, it shouldn't matter.

However, some employers are sticklers for sick=sick time, vacation=pto. With one large all-purpose pool, if you get really sick, you don't as easily run the risk of running out of paid days to cover the illness....you might just have to cancel or reschedule that vacation you planned later in the year.

Presently, my employer just allocates regular pto if/when I run out sick days. So, while they're different conceptually (the days do accrue at different rates, and sick time doesn't roll over annually), it's still just one large pool of PTO in practice.

 

[sze5003]

I have currently 25 days of paid time off. No sick days. We use the pto for whatever its needed. I'm not sure how they account for sickness, but I believe after saying you are sick 3 days in a row you need to bring the manager a note from the doctor. If you need to be home more than 3 days because you are sick, still need a note.

You run out? You don't get paid until you come back and work.

We are allowed to buy extra week or more of PTO. If we don't use it, it gets payed back to us. Or whatever you dont use you get it payed back.

 

[Gooberlx2]

I can't remember how many sick days I get, but I get 22 days as annual leave which can be used for whatever I want - sitting at home in my pants, going to the beach, whatever. Some companies will let you buy or sell a certain amount of days.

I then get whatever sick days/sick pay on top of that. If I'm not sick for the year, I don't get any money or additional annual leave.

So, let's say you get 10 days of sick leave per year.

What happens if you're sick for 15 days in a year? Say you catch mononucleosis in the Spring, and then develop a terrible respiratory infection in the Fall. Do they deduct the extra 5 days from your annual leave?