calling in to attend job interview? okay or not?

[EmiBlossom, ASN, RN]

I've been lurking in allnurses since 2008 when I got into nursing school, but first time poster.

I didn’t find too many topics about this in allnurses i did a search on reddit, and seems like it’s perfectly okay to call in sick to attend a job interview, but i take that with a grain of salt since they are not nurses who work in a hospital, lol. my current hospital nursing job gives staff members a set # of sick days they can use per year, which is kind of nice, been at the same hospital for 5 years now. i just got the interview date and time, and i work monday to friday days, all day.

i'm wondering if i can lose my job for calling in order to attend a job interview? the job interview also involves me signing some paperwork with my signature and the date of the interview and signing a form which releases and gives an okay for the representative to call my hospital to obtain employment history/record.

will my current employer find out and correlate the date of interview with the day i called in.

thanks

[Jedrnurse, BSN, RN]

Depending on policy, they can discipline for abuse of sick time. How is your record thus far?

Regarding them "Sherlocking" the overlap between your interview and your "sick" call, well, there's always the chance that the two will be connected. Not definite, but these things happen...

Does your employer offer any personal days?

[EmiBlossom, ASN, RN]

it's kind of vague as far as what sick time can be used for." it just says "sick days" which can be used fo sick reason or family sick reason. nothing about personal days. i have a good track record going to work, and not calling in sick. the first few years, i only called in once per year. then the last few years, i said if i have sick days left at the end of the year, might as well use up all those sick days for my personal mental health day lol.

during orientation, the presenter from human resources said they give us a set # of sick days per year and he mentioned if you need a mental health holiday coz you're just burned out, you can use your sick time

[Jedrnurse, BSN, RN]

10 minutes ago, EmiBlossom said:

it's kind of vague as far as what sick time can be used for." it just says "sick days" which can be used fo sick reason or family sick reason. nothing about personal days. i have a good track record going to work, and not calling in sick. the first few years, i only called in once per year. then the last few years, i said if i have sick days left at the end of the year, might as well use up all those sick days for my personal mental health day lol.

during orientation, the presenter from human resources said they give us a set # of sick days per year and he mentioned if you need a mental health holiday coz you're just burned out, you can use your sick time

Not to get too off track, but do your sick days not carry over from one year to the next? If they do (and in future jobs) I highly recommend not using them all because it's the end of the year. Building up a cushion of time for a possible serious illness (you or a family member) is never a bad thing...

[EmiBlossom, ASN, RN]

8 minutes ago, Jedrnurse said:

Not to get too off track, but do your sick days not carry over from one year to the next? If they do (and in future jobs) I highly recommend not using them all because it's the end of the year. Building up a cushion of time for a possible serious illness (you or a family member) is never a bad thing...

whatever unused sick days that I didnt use for that year does get carried over into my vacation hours. the sick days starts over again every new year, thats why i see a lot of nursing staff just using up all their sick days.

[Nurse SMS, MSN, RN]

Its fine. Just don't tell them that is why you are taking the day off.

[llg, PhD, RN]

Any time you get caught lying to your employer, you can get into big trouble with them -- because now they know you cannot be trusted to tell them the truth. No one likes having employees they can't trust.

The real questions are:

1. What are your chances of being caught?

2. What will the punishment be if you are caught?

Also, don't forget: If you get caught, it might ruin their recommendation of you for the job you hope to get. So you could be fired and also be listed as "ineligible for rehire." That's the worst case scenario.

You probably won't get caught ... but you might. Do you want to risk it?