sick time

[toronto rn]

Just curious about how other institutions handle sick time. The hospital I work at has just instituted a new policy regarding sick time. The acceptible maximum amount of sick calls,for full time staff, is a total of 8 shifts which may be broken up into a total of 4 incidents. If you have less sick time you will be given a letter of comendation at the end of the year. If your sick time is excess of the acceptable average, a meeting with the nurse manager and employee health will ensue, to discuss ways to decrease sick time. If you have no sick days in a year the reward is a special tea and a pin. Big Whoop! I have heard other hospitals have monetary rewards, extra vacation or draws for no sick time.

[leosrain, BSN, RN]

Those signs you're describing are aimed at visitors and very clearly make that point. Have you ever been tempted like I have to whip out a sharpie and write on 'em "Staff, however, are expected to show up as usual."?

On our unit it doesn't take 8 sick days for the letter and chat... it takes more than 3 separate incidents of even a single shift in a year, or a single incident of more than 3 shifts' duration. HELLO!! We work with SICK PEOPLE!! We work SHORT!! We're getting OLD!! But we're not allowed to be sick. Nice. I have enough time in my sick bank to be off for 20 twelve hour shifts. For me, that's the same as 9 weeks! Too bad I can't take the pay.

Hi Jan! Knowing that we work in the same province and therefore contract, this surprises me. I have to admit that I don't know the rules regarding sick days, but nobody is every punished on my unit for sick calls.

I called in sick seven times last year on three different incidents...and as a result felt SO guilty. I was sure I would be talked to, but nobody said a word.

I think the Calgary Health Region is SO short-staffed that they're afraid to say anything. There's a general attitude these days of "do what you will, I'll just go work on a different unit." The units need nurses more than the nurses need the unit. We have almost TOO much power....

I just wish we would actually use it to affect some positive change!!! I'm still waiting for mandated nurse/patient rations like California. Don't worry, my breath isn't being held...

Sean

[NotReady4PrimeTime, RN]

Yeah, well, here in the north they're not so accommodating. The health region has an attendance policy that is applied to all employees at all facilities, and it breaks down as I've described. When a person calls in sick, they will get a phone call from a manager either the same day or the next day, but not really to see how the person's feeling but to assess how sick they really are, and when they'll be back at the bedside. I've been at the nurse's station when these calls have been made and it makes my blood boil. What if I've gone to the doctor or am sitting in the emergency room when they call? Or if I've taken a bunch of cold meds and am snowed and in bed? Do they then assume I'm out shopping? And when we have our annual performance evaluations our sick time is always mentioned. I have so much sick time in my bank that I could take a couple months off, so when I have my eval, the manager says something like, "You really haven't used any sick time, that's good." Others get letters from HR telling them they need an Occupational Health assessment to help them reduce their sick time if they've had more than three separate incidents of even one shift, or if they've had to be off for more than five days in any single incident (unless it's WCB, then they're already tied to OH&S, or if they've had surgery and have a doc's note). One coworker has migraines that are so severe she takes narcs for them... and she has annual OH&S reviews. Oh, and your comment about CHR being reluctant to make too much of it in case the nurse goes somewhere else... here sick time is one of the things they are required to look at when hiring new staff. It's on their reference check-list. So the end result is that many people are dragging themselves to work ill, sharing their misfortune with everybody they come in contact with. It's really not fair.

[leosrain, BSN, RN]

I think there needs to be a fair balance. On the one hand, employees should be able to call in sick without harassment, and on the other hand employees shouldn't take advantage. The challenge is finding the balance.

Since I had seven sick days last year, I made a resolution to call in less than that! I already used two for a cold...darnit! :)

Sean

[Fiona59]

Wait a sec. Under the AUPE (LPN) contract, management cannot call you at home to "see how you are doing". We have to provide a sick note for day two onwards of the sick time.

You know your contract inside out Jan, are you sure there isn't a similar clause?

[NotReady4PrimeTime, RN]

Wait a sec. Under the AUPE (LPN) contract, management cannot call you at home to "see how you are doing". We have to provide a sick note for day two onwards of the sick time.

You know your contract inside out Jan, are you sure there isn't a similar clause?

No, there is absolutely nothing similar in our contract. Nada. Zip. Zilch. However, Article 19.04 says, "Employees may be required to submit satisfactory proof to the Employer of any illness, non-occupational accident or quarantine. Where the Employee must pay a fee for such proof, the full fee shall be reimbursed by the Employer." (Emphasis mine.) There have even been instances where someone has had "excessive" sick time and the Employer has asked for authorization to view the person's medical records. What's wrong with THAT picture? It's a significant enough problem that UNA has issued a bulletin outlining the individual's rights under the Privacy Act and telling us to "just say no". Once you've signed that authoritization, the fine print says they can go through your chart with a nit comb whenever they want. Not a chance, buster.

[mpccrn, BSN, RN]

we accumulate 8 hours of sick time a month but it is put into an extended bank, which can only be accessed if you are sick for 4 consecutive working days, otherwise you use your vacation time if you want to get paid. this was done to stop the "mental health" days used by many nurses. in actuality, all it did was hurt the nurses that only called in sick when they were actually sick. those that abused sick time, still do. i normally go to work sick if i can stand on my feet for the 12 hour shift. i have better things to do with my vacation time then spend it sick in bed. sure it spreads disease, but if that was a concern of the hospital, i'd get sick time i could access when i'm sick!

[Fiona59]

Thank god we don't work in the US of A.

[NotReady4PrimeTime, RN]

Thank god we don't work in the US of A.

I hear that!!

[spiritmagejkt]

The policy where I work seems really different from what I'm used to. There were no disciplinary things laid out but you do have to have a doctor's note for more than three days. You don't have to say why your calling out when you do. Apparently that falls under HR or Occupational health. I'm not sure which off the top.

Nurses aren't supposed to get old and definetly not sick from my experience in the past. I"m not willing to test it any more than I absolutely have to.

The time you don't use goes into some kind of cumulitive bank which can be used to make up salaries where it falls short.

[spiritmagejkt]

Time wise int he US we had bank time. Sick time and Vacation are combined but the overall time is quite a bit less than if you had them seperate. I like how things are done better up here. Too bad it was so rough getting in here.