To ask if anyone deliberately plans/uses their sick leave as part of their entitlement?

[OneOpenRedShaker]

I know some people who treat sick leave as an entitlement and plan/schedule when to use it, even when they’re not seriously ill. I’m curious to know if anyone else does this, or if most people reserve it for when they’re genuinely sick. Do you view sick leave as a right to use as needed, or is it something that should be used sparingly?

There is no sick leave entitlement. It's a sick pay entitlement.

If you're sick, and can't work, you need to be off sick. If you're lucky, you might get full pay for a period of it.

I get 4m full, 4m half. In four + years I've taken one day for a burst ear drum, and I only took that because it was our team away day and I couldn't go on the train, plus had only three hours sleep when it burst, and no-one else was working so I thought I might as well rest and recover. My boss didn't even mark it as a sick day, so technically I've had none.

But I do know how things can change. In 2020 I got gall bladder disease and was very ill, I didn't take time off with that but had two weeks off for the OP, and in 2009 I broke my ankle, I actually took very little time off but it was good to know the sick pay was there if I needed it. Not used up because I had felt like an extra holiday earlier in the year!

No. I use it when it is needed, and even then I feel awful phoning in sick. I actually get nervous when calling in sick, and that has nothing to do with our HR department - they have been nothing but compassionate when I've been sick. I don't know why I get nervous?

Don't these people have absence policies in place that result in hitting trigger points?

This is me too. No one knows what is around the corner for us. We may genuinely need that sick leave. Also it just doesn’t feel right morally just to take time off unless you really are unwell and not up to working

I’ve done it once in an awful job with a horrible boss because I was done by that point and planning to leave. Never done it since or before (in jobs that have been ok/where I’ve had a boss I respect).

I don’t plan like this and rarely take sick leave, have only had 1 day off in the last 2 years but I get 3 months full sick pay every 12 months. I have thought about taking a day off when I’m worn out but not unwell as most years I don’t have any time off, have occasionally needed the odd day or two, but I always think what if the year I decide to take a week off is the year I get genuinely seriously ill and need every day of my allowed sickness leave. Sick leave is on a rolling 12 month basis so if I used it all I would have to wait a year to get it back and I just wouldn’t risk it.

To be fair most people aren’t able to take a nap during the day if they are working

I think people who take the piss know the rules so will have one long period of absence then back for a year then another long absence. Multiple absences trigger disciplinary action. A single absence even a long one doesn’t seem to?

No, I've only ever used it when I've been genuinely sick, but I have et people who talk about 'pulling a sickie" when they've got something coming up. I think it's morally reprehensible!

I suppose I did when I knew I was going to leave. I’d been suffering with awful anxiety and depression due to my job so I took my six months full pay and six months half pay before I handed my notice in.

I don't..... because I work in HR and know it would get flagged on our absence reports (!) but people definitely do. There are plenty of people that are only ever ill on a Friday, or are always sick the week after a holiday, or always ill on the first Monday of a month, or signed off sick but actually living it up on holiday etc.

However, after almost burning out before by working from home and battling on if I felt ill I do now take a sick day if I genuinely feel unwell and would feel too ill to go to the office. I don't see the point in martyring myself. But I would never be able to take a day of sick and go out for the day or act as if I was on annual leave. I'd be terrified someone from work would spot me for one thing!

I’m assuming those people saying they are using their “entitlement” are referring to how many days they are allowed off sick with no reduction in pay. Taking time off and certifying yourself as sick when you aren’t is fraud!!
We have so many people taking advantage of the sick pay that we now use Bradford factor and HR monitor patterns, school holiday/inset day “sicknesses” etc. They know who abuse the system and are now issuing warnings as a prelude to misconduct. However, a colleague has needed various spells off work due to cancer treatment. Similar to an earlier poster, because this employee was known to not abuse the sick pay system, the company made discretionary payments so she received full pay throughout. Those posters fiddling their employers and committing fraud may want to consider that if their salary is key to cover household finances. One day you might be in the same position and you’ll probably start a thread about how mean employers are at paying long term sick pay!

Did you go to another job? Did it affect your references?

I gave up working for an employer after that job and I went self employed.

It's not teachers in any school I've worked in. You have to be on your death bed to stay at home, it's too much hassle to set work and pressure on colleagues.

I have no idea what my companies allowance is, I think it’s quite generous but like PPs I work in a job where the work won’t be picked up by someone else so throwing a sickie would just result in needing to make up the time elsewhere so I only ever call in sick if I’m genuinely too ill to work. We did have a colleague who absolutely took the piss, sick days constantly and usually after a day he’d been pulled up for a mistake or poor performance, HR did pick up on his frequency of sick days but just gave him a warning.

My mother used to complain that a fellow nurse was off sick for 6 months in every 12

I used to get loads (still get a good amount) but I've never used it wrongly.

I hate colleagues who do this. It puts so much pressure on the rest of us. I'm working with one of those people now. She's currently off sick and I've had to cover her work and sort all the shit out she didn't do before she went off. She always seems to go off sick when I have annual leave as well so she doesn't have to do any of our shared workload whilst I'm off and I come back to an absolute shit storm 🙄. I'm currently looking for another job because of it. Management aren't dealing with it.

We have one at work that is always off "sick" when their kids are on half term! Instead of using their annual leave. Takes the piss!

I have a toddler and for some reason I average a sick bug every 6-8 weeks roughly so I don't have to plan to take my entitlement, it just happens unfortunately 🤮 I'm sure work think I'm taking the piss but it is what it is!

Same here with the civil service. I worked with 2 ‘disability employment advisors’ who would go sick for the same 2 weeks (together) every year and go on holiday. As it was under the 12 days flag (that was in action at the time), they were never questioned about it. It was an absolute piss take to be honest.

I have only ever known people to do this in the public sector places I have worked - civil service and council, very, very rarely in the private sector (you’d be invited in for a chat very quickly if you were found to be taking the proverbial). My sister, who works for the ambulance service is constantly pulling sickies, as the public sector just lets people get away with it.

No I don't plan it and only use when needed and I'm glad I don't as I ended up in hospital last year and was off week and then a couple weeks later my mum was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer and told she had three months at most to live.

My supervisors encouraged me to take sick leave and be there to care for her and I took three months and cared for her the whole time and went back after the funeral. If I'd used it without needing it I'd not have been able to be off that time on full pay.

When I went back my supervisor put in a request for it to be considered as an exceptional circumstance. So it was discounted and they only considered me as having one period of sick leave when I was in hospital. If you are off more than three times within a year you're put on a tracker, so that releived a bit of stress and I don't think her request would of been accepted had I been prone to being off sick

I know of someone who
works in retail where is really busy over Christmas and they’re always off sick then. Don’t understand how they’re still employed or how they can do this to their colleagues. Pure selfish.

My last job had bizarre rules that if we had three days off a year we needed a doctor's note, even if the three days were all in different months. I couldn't get a doctor's note so used to work from home when I was ill. By the time I left that job I was was chronically run down that I never really recovered. It was a rubbish arrangement. I wish I'd just taken sick leave and recovered properly.

I have kids so nasty viruses and vomitting bugs are sufficiently plentiful in my house so no I don’t ever plan sick days or take them as holiday. I take sick days when I can’t work due to illness which is more often than I’d like!