Sick days in the US...and job security

canesdukegirl, BSN, RN · Aug 10, 2010

We are allowed 6 sick days in a 12 month cycle. If we clock in late (late is considered 6 minutes after start of shift) 3 times in a year, it is considered an absence. If we forget to clock in more than 5 times in a year, it is considered an absence. If we are stuck in traffic, or if it snows and we are more than 2 hours late, it is considered an absence. If we go over the 6 days allotted, we get a verbal warning, then escalates to written, and then a final written warning. 9 call outs or more and we are out the door. The only way to get around it is FMLA, and we have lots of employees who use this. Our management does not care what your circumstance is, and I have seen some members of management go over the sick days allowed. We have a lot of pick and choose policy at our hospital...sad to say.

gentlegiver, ASN, LPN, RN · Aug 10, 2010

I have found that most places give you 5 sick days, however, if you use 3 of them you stand the chance of getting written up. The good thing is that if you call out, and end up out for more then the first day, that entire sick time period conts as one sick day. Example; I was out for 3 weeks for my gall baldder, I was only charged with 1 sick day for that whole time.

jjensen · Aug 10, 2010

I always get a Dr note so if there is ever an issue, I have proof that I was really sick. It is sad that we are the ones to take care of sick people and sometimes, I am more sick than the patients that I take care of. I have had many instances where the patients say to me that I am too sick to be at work; but feel guilty for taking time off... Is that just part of being a RN?

netglow, ASN, RN · Aug 10, 2010

I've never been comfortable taking time off for illness.

Taking time off in the US is definitely frowned upon. I go into work sick. I won't even take an employer's "you should go home". I don't trust that they won't later forget they were the ones that told me to go, and hold it against me. You will find that although they might ask so to appear concerned, they will not insist...

The one and only scenario: if I feel that I cannot make it to the bathroom in time... as happened when I was on Augmentin once (before I left for work :)) I will call off!!! I think, my co-workers would've paid me to not come in that day!!!

Sure it's not what should be, a sick caregiver should not be around patients, but as management sees it, you have PPE.

madwife2002, BSN, RN · Aug 10, 2010

When I lived and worked in the UK I did not appreciate how generous time off was there! I just took it for granted to be truthful.

Now I live and work in the US and I dont take anything for granted.

I have noticed however that there is no difference in sick call offs between the two countries and that the majority of people just take off the time it takes to get better. However the worry levels are higher in the US because of job security.

foreverLaur · Aug 10, 2010

We get 10 days vacation, 2 sick days, 2 personal days, 5 paid holidays, and 4 floating holidays. We don't have a set policy for call offs, but they do reward employees who call off 1 or less times per quarter.

pedicurn, LPN, RN · Aug 11, 2010

That sounds a lot more stringent than here.

However I think our lack of single rooms may explain our largish staff flu rates.

Here in Australia, we only have a couple of single rooms ..the rest in our dept are mostly 6 bedded.

We frequently run out of single rooms for our flu p'ts (admitted with underlying conditions) and they go into the shared rooms (not cohort for some reason)

And so...one is exposed to the virus when caring for the other p'ts in the room.

PPE seems redundant in a 6 bedded room with a curtain and 3 foot in between beds.

Not an ideal situation for staff and other p'ts

canesdukegirl, BSN, RN · Aug 11, 2010

Oh, I forgot to add something...one snowy morning (I live in NC, so snow is pretty rare) we had a lot of people call in and say that they couldn't make it out of their driveway, much less make it to work in one piece. We had a few staff members at the time who had to drive from Virginia to work at my hospital. I was in charge that day, and had to staff rooms with a very short availability. We had to cancel some cases. One of the nurses that drove from Virginia got to work at 0930-she knew that we were in dire straights, and braved the elements to come to work. I was told by management that I had to count her as "absent" since she arrived to work more than 2 hours late. I was dumbfounded. I was not about to penalize this poor nurse for this ridiculous policy, and since there were obviously extenuating circumstances, I refused to count her as absent. The supervisor went behind me and did it anyway. Hmmm....wonder why morale is so low in my hospital?!? :uhoh3:

pedicurn, LPN, RN · Aug 11, 2010

Oh, I forgot to add something...one snowy morning (I live in NC, so snow is pretty rare) we had a lot of people call in and say that they couldn't make it out of their driveway, much less make it to work in one piece. We had a few staff members at the time who had to drive from Virginia to work at my hospital. I was in charge that day, and had to staff rooms with a very short availability. We had to cancel some cases. One of the nurses that drove from Virginia got to work at 0930-she knew that we were in dire straights, and braved the elements to come to work. I was told by management that I had to count her as "absent" since she arrived to work more than 2 hours late. I was dumbfounded. I was not about to penalize this poor nurse for this ridiculous policy, and since there were obviously extenuating circumstances, I refused to count her as absent. The supervisor went behind me and did it anyway. Hmmm....wonder why morale is so low in my hospital?!?

That supervisor was so mean .... why did she do this?

Why are nurses treated so poorly? :devil:

Snow, being so rare in NC, surely means people couldn't be expected to plan ahead.

Wondering if this is the sort of hospital that will have an exodus when the recession is over

SandraCVRN · Aug 11, 2010

I guess I'm pretty lucky. Our sick days are rolled into our PTO and I don't think we get any warning unless we miss more than 6 occurances in less than 6 months. Most of us will call in if we are sick or course there are always a few martyrs that come in and make the rest of us sick.

My biggest pet peeve is some people always tend to call in when on call (I work in the OR)

canesdukegirl, BSN, RN · Aug 12, 2010

That supervisor was so mean .... why did she do this?
Why are nurses treated so poorly?
Snow, being so rare in NC, surely means people couldn't be expected to plan ahead.
Wondering if this is the sort of hospital that will have an exodus when the recession is over

I think you are right on target-there will likely be a mass exodus when the recession is over. It is already starting. A couple of months ago, we had a bomb scare on one of the bridges on the interstate. Traffic was backed up for about 10 miles, re-routed and basically at a standstill for about 3 hours. The nurses who were late to work were written up for being tardy! Hard to believe...