Can an employer penalize you for calling-in due to illness?

We're having some issues related to absenteeism on our unit, which resulted in our director auditing the attendance of every employee on the floor, and subsequently meeting with each and every one of us to discuss said attendance. I was given a "verbal warning", which I had to sign, due to having 3 call-ins over the last year. Yesterday, we had to take my 3-year old to Urgent Care, as it was evident he had bilateral conjunctivitis. I had to call-in today, because there's no way he could go to daycare, he needs antibiotic eye gtt TID, and has been spiking fevers of 102-103. I know from my meeting that 4 call-ins = a written warning. (At five, we lose our yearly bonus and are suspended for a couple days - it goes on from there.)

My question is - is this legal? I know my call-ins were illness-related (either my own or my 3 year old). I've gotten sick a lot over the last year, thanks in large part to working in an incredibly high-stress medical/telemetry unit and being exposed to every bug out there, which I then take home to my family, of course. I've been wading through FMLA, and it appears to me that illness would be covered, and I shouldn't be penalized for it, right?

Advice or information? I didn't find anything specific to the healthcare field in FMLA, which is the usual excuse when my employer does things like this.

[NeoNurseTX, RN]

Getting in trouble for calling out sick drives me nuts. If I come to work with a fever, I'm going to get my patients sick..therefore increasing the costs / length of stay for them...especially since I work with infants! I wish a doc's note would CYA and I do always get them if I'm sick enough to go.

[Atheos]

So Sorry you are working for an employer that is using their policy to hide the fedral law that protects parents. If you have children or a family member that is depentent, (you are caring for when they are ill) you are protected. I work for a large company who has a focus of $$$. They pulled the 3 days a year call in policy. After the Union and the NLRB got involved we discovered that the Law protects parents from losing their job when caring for ill dependent family members. It's called "Kinder Care".

I just did an extensive search on Google and in Lexis/Nexis and didn't find anything related to a law called "Kinder Care."

Or Intermittent Leave.

The only federal law concerning this is FMLA leave and there are many restrictions on it's use.

I think you are talking about 'KinCare.' California Labor Code 233

(a) Any employer who provides sick leave for employees shall

permit an employee to use in any calendar year the employee's accrued

and available sick leave entitlement, in an amount not less than the

sick leave that would be accrued during six months at the employee's

then current rate of entitlement, to attend to an illness of a

child, parent, spouse, or domestic partner of the employee. All

conditions and restrictions placed by the employer upon the use by an

employee of sick leave also shall apply to the use by an employee of

sick leave to attend to an illness of his or her child, parent,

spouse, or domestic partner. This section does not extend the

maximum period of leave to which an employee is entitled under

Section 12945.2 of the Government Code or under the federal Family

and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (29 U.S.C. Sec. 2606 et seq.),

regardless of whether the employee receives sick leave compensation

during that leave.

This law ONLY allows parents to be paid sick time when caring for a child or other person. It does NOT guarantee sick time. In fact most state laws state the same kind of thing. Whether the Healthy Families Act in Ohio, KinCare or others. They all guarantee paid sick time but do not actually address time off, even when sick.

So, the employer is still clear. They, with agreement by several state and federal courts and the DOL, do NOT have to allow sick days. Just because they offer paid sick time does not obligate them to allow sick days off. They only have to pay if they do allow it. The only time one would legitimately have a case would be if the new attendence laws were enforced selectively. The fact that they are getting everyone protects them. An employer can legally change any policy, at will and with no prior notice. The verbal warnings serve as adequate notice.

Any time someone calls in sick, if it is NOT covered by FMLA, the employer is within their legal rights to terminate the employee.

[Angel0411]

You're doing it correctly. On any job I've ever had for the past 45 years, though, I have seen selective, inconsistent application of policies, especially attendance and tardiness. It just all depends on who you

are, how valuable you are to the boss. People in power do what they want. Rarely are they totally fair.

Very true. I had a boss at my last job that "set people up" and I didn't agree with the way she handled things...luckily she allowed me to make my own decisions. I, personally, treated employees the way I would like to be treated. I hated writing people up for absences that had legitimate reasons, but the fight should be to change the policies, not the way they are enforced.

[CheyRN]

i'm not sure why you think i said that people with kids deserve more consideration than someone with ca. your problem is that you feel picked on because you are childless, which i do understand and i do sympathize with you on this. however, please re-read my post. i did not say anyone deserved more leniency when it comes to calling off. i said that i think it is just as tough to bring up kids and hold down a job as it is to have cancer and hold down a job. both are very difficult and the wise employer will try to help both parties.

btw, i"m not a single parent and i don't expect anyone to take up slack for me and i don't expect anyone to ease my way in life.

first of all, don't think for a minute that i am "childless" by some supposed cruel twist of fate. i am childfree by choice as i don't 1) like kids and 2) have a very poor health history on both sides of my family and would never subject another human life to the trials that my family has had to endure. having supported several family members through various cancers, up to and including hospice care and death, your original statment may have hit a little to close to home and taken a bit to personally by me. better support systems for all employees are way overdue, unfortunatly the work culture in most facilities does not encourage that. at the risk of highjacking this thread, how about some constructive ideas on how engage those better systems? any ideas out there?:typing

[Vito Andolini]

first of all, don't think for a minute that i am "childless" by some supposed cruel twist of fate. i am childfree by choice as i don't 1) like kids and 2) have a very poor health history on both sides of my family and would never subject another human life to the trials that my family has had to endure. having supported several family members through various cancers, up to and including hospice care and death, your original statment may have hit a little to close to home and taken a bit to personally by me. better support systems for all employees are way overdue, unfortunatly the work culture in most facilities does not encourage that. at the risk of highjacking this thread, how about some constructive ideas on how engage those better systems? any ideas out there?:typing

i should have said "empathize" instead of "sympathize". and i honestly did not stop to wonder why you are childless - fate, choice -. i just, as stated, think it's just as hard to raise kids while working for someone else as it is to have cancer and be bound by an employer's policies and limited empathy. let's face it - being less than filthy rich, independently wealthy, related to royals or their equivalent in countries without royals makes for a lot of problems. lack of money is a serious problem in life.

i used to feel as you do - i did not want kids because i felt it was wrong to bring others into this rough world. so i do understand at least some of where you're coming from.

as for how to change things - it will have to be via unions, legislation, or the return of jesus. whichever comes first. i think we need to make our legislators aware of how painful life is for some people and get

them to pass laws that take some power away from employers.

[nurseklw72]

I got in trouble for the same issue. I'm a single mom. Between my son & I, there's no way we're going to keep call-ins under the mandated 5 a year. I found a way to work around the whole call in issue. I only call in if it's my son who's sick. When I'm sick, I show up at work looking like death warmed over. The boss agreed that I was definitely sick and sent me home. No call in, no point against my record. I was hoping to throw up in the floor just for good measure because I think it's ridiculous that we're only allowed 5 days a year and we're exposed to all kinds of illnesses. Administration and their rules aren't exactly based in reality.

[MaryAnn_RN]

Getting in trouble for calling out sick drives me nuts. If I come to work with a fever, I'm going to get my patients sick..therefore increasing the costs / length of stay for them...especially since I work with infants! I wish a doc's note would CYA and I do always get them if I'm sick enough to go.

Just before Christmas I woke up feeling unwell, too late to call in so managed to get to work. Temp kept going up, when it was 39.7 despite paracetamol (acetaminophen) they sent me home.

[chevyv, BSN, RN]

I just started orientation for a lpn position in ltc and was floored when they brought up that even if your sick and have a doctors excuse, it will still be held against you! They reasoned that anyone can call their doc and have them fax over an excuse without seeing you. My doc would never do that. I would have to go in, get checked and then ask for the excuse.

I had to take a step back and tell myself that at least I won't have to get my feverish butt up out of bed and go get checked out for the excuse. If I'm sick or my children are sick, I'm calling in. When I get some time under my belt (new lpn), and find another job, I'll tell them this is one of the reasons why I'm leaving.

[BabyLady, BSN, RN]

Discrimination in the workplace is alive and well, but FMLA was not designed to protect someone from what a company lists as excessive absenteeism...regardless of how ridiculous the number may be.

In your case...the company has set the standard at 4 absences before a written warning. If you are married, then your husband probably needs to split the absences with you. I know as mothers we want to be the one to be there, but at the end of the day, we can't put our jobs at risk and take a day off for every illness.

When I worked full time and my children were still in daycare, I did have a backup to daycare. It was an older lady that would agree to watch one or both of them on occasion, when they had a minor illness that would keep them out of daycare, but something that a responsible adult could manage. This also worked when the weather was bad and the daycare would close. This has worked well for me, but you have to really, really trust the person.

However, I would have stayed home if one of my children were spiking a fever...b/c that can take a turn very easily and that's too much to put on someone else.

That is the only advice I have to give b/c everyone does need a backup to daycare.

[RNKPCE]

I got in trouble for the same issue. I'm a single mom. Between my son & I, there's no way we're going to keep call-ins under the mandated 5 a year. I found a way to work around the whole call in issue. I only call in if it's my son who's sick. When I'm sick, I show up at work looking like death warmed over. The boss agreed that I was definitely sick and sent me home. No call in, no point against my record. I was hoping to throw up in the floor just for good measure because I think it's ridiculous that we're only allowed 5 days a year and we're exposed to all kinds of illnesses. Administration and their rules aren't exactly based in reality.

If we go home sick that is can't finish our shift that counts as being absent.

I wonder if the people who work at the hospital at desks jobs such as those in billing have the same absence policy as us. If I have surgery on my foot and am in an orthopedic shoe I can't work but a someone in billing probably could .

[Vito Andolini]

she's just clueless and selfish.

for ruby and the person who has been battling cancer and for anyone else who thought my statement insensitive: please accept my apology for not being clear. certainly i see a difference in cancer and minor, by comparison, childhood illnesses, although some of the latter, if not treated, could cause complications, charges of child neglect, serious legal problems, and the like.

the point i apparently did not make clear is this - a person with cancer must have lots of time off for treatment, surgery, and rest. a person with a sick child also has to have time off to take care of that child - going to the doctor, the pharmacy, making sure the child gets proper home care and med administration. both of these problems create difficulty for an employed parent who gets punished for taking sick time.

i am absolutely not clueless or selfish and if i seemed that way, i do apologize. also, i'm a he, for what that's worth. sorry for any upset and i hope this helps clarify. and i hope the person with cancer is much better. god bless.

[RedWeasel, RN]

We used to have 5 days alotted, then they took one away which I found highly insulting...anyway I really wish they could give us 5 days...now, say you call in one day. Another day you are off and another co-worker calls in and they call you in to work. I think if you came in extra for that person the sick day you took should fall off....erase it so to speak....I think it would really help moral and people may be more willing to work extra if they know that they are knocking off some sick days....PLUS the Main Thing is that people won't come to work sick. People are afraid to call in when they don't know what the future holds. They savor those sick days and don't use them. If it is a more fluid system people won't come in sick and Patients will not get our germs.