Should high absenteeism be cause to be fired?

[Emergent]

My hospital seems to be cracking down on absenteeism. The second person this month in our dept was just fired. He has a wife with severe medical problems. He also calls in for bs reasons I suspect.

He was fired while his wife was hospitalized and he called in. That seems like kicking a man while he is down to me.

I'm wondering, is nursing only for people with no health problems in themselves or their immediate families?

[Emergent, RN]

Maybe a better method of funding for sick days would be to pay each employee a bit more money in lieu of PTO time, and we all self-fund our vacation/sick time. We can all, then, be adults who save money to prepare for sick time. That way, there would be a natural motivation to not call in for nothing. It would eliminate us trying to get away with playing hooky and having our employers treat us like naughty children.

I'll be you'd have much better attendance without sick time! Employees could even have a percentage of their extra pay automatically put into a special account if they didn't trust themselves to discipline themselves.

I agree that there should be some accountability regarding this. On the other hand, people have problems, chronic illnesses, sick children, parents on hospice. There should be something in our system to allow for that!

[caliotter3]

Get unemployment, what a farce! My unemployment is less than minimum wage, the equivalent of working less than 16 hours in a two week period. Takes two pay periods of this to make my rent without money left over for a car payment, or car insurance, or the utilities, or food, or a cell phone, or gas for the car, or .... And I have had more than one employer ensure (through fraudulent statements if necessary) that I didn't get the less than minimum wage unemployment!! And they wonder why employment attorneys have business.

[Caffeine_IV]

To be eligible for FMLA leave, an employee must work for a covered employer and:

• have worked for that employer for at least 12 months; and
  
• have worked at least 1,250 hours during the 12 months prior to the start of the FMLA leave; and,
  
• work at a location where at least 50 employees are employed at the location or within 75 miles of the location.
  

FMLA is great when you are eligible but it doesn't cover all various possibilities.

I definitely think management should do something about those frequently absent. There are always 1 or 2 that abuse the policy and are allowed to slide by with no warnings due to favoritism or whatever else. F

[liberated847]

My favorite is when we are told not to come to work if we have flu like symptoms yet they turn around and ding you when you follow their policy

and call out with flu like symptoms.

[UnaNayeli]

Ebola-like virus, anyone?

[Palliative Care, DNP]

Unless the person has FMLA then yes they should. I am sorry but absenteeism makes everyone else work harder. Nurses are already burned out.

[brandy1017, ASN, RN]

If you have a chronic illness you would be smart to get FMLA to cover yourself. There is intermittent which covers people who have frequent call offs. I think it is harder to get staff coverage for intermittent and is easier for management if you just took three months at one time. We usually mandate if someone calls in and they are not able to find other staff. Rarely we work short, usually if a CNA calls in. There are a couple coworkers who have medical leave and it is frustrating when they are scheduled because you never know if they will actually come in or take off and leave you short! Nobody likes working short!

[RNKPCE]

Maybe a better method of funding for sick days would be to pay each employee a bit more money in lieu of PTO time, and we all self-fund our vacation/sick time. We can all, then, be adults who save money to prepare for sick time. That way, there would be a natural motivation to not call in for nothing. It would eliminate us trying to get away with playing hooky and having our employers treat us like naughty children.

I'll be you'd have much better attendance without sick time! Employees could even have a percentage of their extra pay automatically put into a special account if they didn't trust themselves to discipline themselves.

I agree that there should be some accountability regarding this. On the other hand, people have problems, chronic illnesses, sick children, parents on hospice. There should be something in our system to allow for that!

I agree that this would probably stop many of the BS sick calls. Though I would worry that people who really shouldn't be at work would come in sick to avoid losing pay.

[Delicate Flower]

I think it's interesting that peope seem to know when someone is calling in for "BS reasons." How do you know? Do they tell you?

Yes, there are some who do advertise their bad intentions to call of for a stupid reason, so then it is obvious. But in most cases, I think you have to give people the benefit of the doubt.

I don't think anyone should be penalized for staying off sick, when they are actually sick. I do not want you and your germs around me at work. Likewise, I do not want to be coughing all over my immunocompromised patients and slogging through 12 hour shifts feeling like the worst kind of crap when I am sick and should be home in my bed.

For me, it actually wouldn't matter whether I had paid sick leave or not. What matters is the policy: If I am going to be punished for calling off, then I will come to work sick. Yes I wear a mask and wash my hands, but I will drag my butt to work and get through it somehow if the alternative is going to affect my status at my job. I think that is a sad state of affairs for us to be in, in the healthcare industry.

I think you should be able to call off when you are sick, period. Paid time until you don't have any left, then unpaid, but not getting in trouble or penalized for getting yourself healthy and keeping your germs out of the hospital. If there is a fear of people abusing the system or faking it, require a doctor's note. If there is a fear of people using their doctor/NP friends for bogus notes, then make people go to employee health.

[RNKPCE]

How you know it that they go around asking people to switch shifts with them and no one does and then guess what they are sick on that same day. Most people are actually sick but I'd guess at least 10% of sick calls are people who aren't. I've heard people say when management toughened up on time off " if I don't get the days off I want, I'll just call in sick"

I don't believe for isolated sick calls one should have to go to a doctor for a note or employee health. In no way do I want to drag myself out of bed when sick with a 24 hour GI illness, to go to the doctor or into employee health to justify my sick call.

[Stephalump]

We have a point system.

You're allowed a certain number of points per 6 months (the number we're given seems fair to me) and disciplinary action follows if you exceed that number.

If you call in (for any reason) more than two hours before your shift, you get 1 point. If you call in less than two hours before your shift, you get 3 points. It's no fault. Doesn't matter if you're laid up with the flu or you just decided you didn't want to get out of bed. Points are given. It doesn't matter if you have PTO. Unless the time off was scheduled, points are given.

[ArtClassRN, ADN, RN]

Of course no one should be fired for having a sick family member.

That being said, the nurses I see having the most trouble with absenteeism are the ones who regularly call in "sick" when they have social events to attend, then when they really ARE sick, act all surprised when management gets all over them.