Sick Leave Policy: What's Yours?

[Nurse!Nurse!Hello?]

My facility recently revised our policy for using the sick time we have accrued. The administration claims the new policy is pretty much "standard" for businesses these days, and I am trying to determine whether it is or not. If it is, I will certainly reassure my co-workers. If not, I will most likely approach the powers that be with the information you--my fellow nurses--share with me!

Here's the scoop: we still accrue sick leave at a rate of 8 hours/month. However--and this is the change--we can only use 4 sick days per year. So, if an employee has already used 4 sick days, and then calls in sick again, the time will be paid from their accrued vacation time. The unused sick time continues to accrue, but cannot be used. (For example, a long-term employee may have several weeks worth of sick time on the books, but cannot use it if they exceed 4 sick days in the year.)

I'd really like to know whether other facilities have similar policies, so I am asking for your feedback.

How do you accrue sick leave, and is there a similar restriction on the number of days that can be used? Are you ever required to use vacation time when you have unused sick time on the books?

If you are willing to share the type of facility and the state in which you work, I would appreciate it (but only if you feel comfortable sharing that info, of course.)

I appreciate any and all feedback. Thanks!

[Bean79]

My current employer's policy does not really apply to your situation as we earn hours that are pooled together. So sick, holiday, and vacation all comes out of the same pool of hours.

But, I did work for a company once that automatically used vacation time if you call out sick. Their policy stated that vacation time will be used until the 3rd day out then the remaining time off will be taken from sick time. The only way around this is if you have a scheduled medical leave due to surgery, etc or in the even of hospitalization. As you can imagine, it was pretty frustrating having to lose vacation time just because you are sick. I remember thinking the policy was pretty stupid, especially when people were banking so much sick time that they were never able to use. Also doing things this way caused people to show up to work sick, when they probably should have stayed home. By the way I am in Florida. Anyway..good luck to all of you!

[Rose_Queen, BSN, MSN, RN]

Where I work, we accrue paid time off and short term disability, PTO at a higher rate than STD. All holidays, vacations, and sick days come out of PTO. STD can only be used for long term illnesses, and 3 days of PTO must be used first. STD is meant more for FMLA/LOA due to health issues/maternity leave.

It's not a set number of days that we accrue, it's a certain percentage based on how many hours you work, and the percentage increases with seniority. We also aren't supposed to drop below 32 hours accrued time when taking vacations, we're supposed to reserve that much for sick days.

[MultipNP, BSN, MSN, APRN, NP]

We get about 7 hours of paid time off per pay period, and an extended illness bank. When we call out, our PTO is automatically used. We are allowed to call out only twice in a year. Any over that, and we're "disciplined". According to our hospital's policy, Dr. excuses are considered for any more than 2 unscheduled absences. According to our unit director, though, it doesn't matter whether we're getting advice (with written explanation to our manager) from our Dr. to stay home or not. We're written up regardless. And, believe it or not, when this matter was taken to HR, they said that this policy was "at the discretion of the unit director"! Huh?!?! PLEASE. So, essentially, our Human Resources Dept. is not much of a resource at all! I thought that hospitals had these policies for a reason! I guess not.

[LilyBlue]

To tell you the truth I am not 100% sure. I've worked there then years, called out when I needed to (which was rare), called out when my children were ill (slightly more frequent) - and nobody's said anything, so I guess I haven't raised anyone's ire.

we accumulate 4 sick hours a pay period if fulltime.

[MultipNP, BSN, MSN, APRN, NP]

I should probably add that I am one who NEVER calls out unless I absolutely have to. I usually don't even use my 2 calls per year. I had to use them -- and had to go over -- when I was having pre-term contractions while pregnant. I was penalized for that. So when I had some other problems and showed up to work because I knew I could lose my job otherwise, my boss reprimanded me for that, too! It's a lose-lose situation for nurses.

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

our pto accrues at a higher rate -- paid time off includes both vacation and sick time.

you can use your pto for three occurances in a rolling calendar year without consequence. when i called in sick for the flu, that was one occurance. i felt better the next day and went in to work, but felt worse in the afternoon and went home early. that was a second occurance. on the other hand, when i injured my back, i was out for 26 straight weeks. that was also one occurance.

more than three occurances in a rolling calendar year has consequences -- four is a verbal warning, five is a written warning and after that you are subject to termination.

[Nurse!Nurse!Hello?]

The idea of counting "occurances" instead of actual days makes more sense to me. As it stands now in my facility, a bad bout of the flu would use up all the allowed sick leave for a whole year. We would then have to use our vacation time, instead of the accrued (but not-allowed-to-be-used) sick time.