The Conservative Cave
Current Events => The DUmpster => Topic started by: franksolich on November 03, 2009, 11:59:18 AM
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http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=222x75090
Oh my.
groovedaddy (1000+ posts) Tue Nov-03-09 12:09 PM
Original message
Lack of Paid Sick Days May Worsen Flu Pandemic
Public health experts worried about the spread of the H1N1 flu are raising concerns that workers who deal with the public, like waiters and child care employees, are jeopardizing others by reporting to work sick because they do not get paid for days they miss for illness.
Tens of millions of people, or about 40 percent of all private-sector workers, do not receive paid sick days, and as a result many of them cannot afford to stay home when they are ill. Even some companies that provide paid sick days have policies that make it difficult to call in sick, like giving demerits each time someone misses a day.
Public health experts say policies like these encourage many people with H1N1, commonly called swine flu, to report to work despite official warnings from the government and most companies that they should stay home.
“For people who are really caught on a weekly income, if they can’t make a go of it, they might say, ‘I’m desperate. I’m going to do what I have to do, and I’m going into work even though I’m sick,’†said Robert Blendon, a professor of health policy at Harvard.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/03/business/03sick.html?...
Captain Hilts (1000+ posts) Tue Nov-03-09 12:09 PM
Response to Original message
1. Yes!
Of course.
Primitives think they should get 365 days of paid sick leave a year.....excepting the poor drones churning out their welfare checks.
The primitive from southeastern Nebraska, a transplant from Pennsylvania:
TwilightGardener (1000+ posts) Tue Nov-03-09 12:11 PM
Response to Original message
2. Yep--can't afford to be sick. I've been there.
hatrack (1000+ posts) Tue Nov-03-09 12:17 PM
Response to Original message
3. Let's put this in the "NO SHIT?!??!?!!" file, shall we?
Another American Market Miracle!
liberal N proud (1000+ posts) Tue Nov-03-09 12:17 PM
Response to Original message
4. Our company no longer offers any sick days
If you get sick you take vacation days. If your illness takes more than 5 days you might be able to recover some of those days with a clearance from your doctor that you are healthy enough to return to work.
There are people here sick, because they have other plans for those vacation days.
Well, sometimes real life interferes with one's plans.
Ever think of that?
izquierdista (1000+ posts) Tue Nov-03-09 12:17 PM
Response to Original message
5. This is why we need tax cuts
See if people had more of their own money to spend, they wouldn't be forced to go out and deal with the public when they are sick.
Raster (1000+ posts) Tue Nov-03-09 12:21 PM
Response to Original message
6. My company, which does offer sick days, is NOT paying H1N1 absences.
You may take up to seven continuous days off if you contract H1N1, but they are unpaid.
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Raster (1000+ posts) Tue Nov-03-09 12:21 PM
Response to Original message
6. My company, which does offer sick days, is NOT paying H1N1 absences.
You may take up to seven continuous days off if you contract H1N1, but they are unpaid.
WTF? Has to be a lie.
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WTF? Has to be a lie.
Agreed. It wouldn't make any sense for a company to institute a rule like that. My company is telling us to take as many days as necessary to recover from H1N1 if it is contracted.
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I know that my employees would be pretty pissed off if I chose to call in sick day on payday. But of course this is a completely different matter than showing up to make machines to get the money to make payday.
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I know that my employees would be pretty pissed off if I chose to call in sick day on payday. But of course this is a completely different matter than showing up to make machines to get the money to make payday.
I was in great pain in ICU (heart attack) but the checks had to be signed and go out anyway.
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I was in great pain in ICU (heart attack) but the checks had to be signed and go out anyway.
My problem isn't the sick days being available. I can always take vacation or banked holiday pay too. If need be there's personal time off and extended medical leave. Even with all that the big problem is my employer wanting my ass there working and making them money. Calling in sick is an ordeal listening to them whine about it. That's pretty much been my work experience all my life no matter who I work for.
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JohnnyReb and Jukin, you guys need to get trusted secondary signers for your business checks. Like a wife, maybe?
My practice with sick days is to generally not take them. Calling in makes me feel like a whimp and a whiner and maybe too "female." The one time I did I had food poisoning and was unfit for any society, polite or otherwise.
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liberal N proud (1000+ posts) Tue Nov-03-09 12:17 PM
Response to Original message
4. Our company no longer offers any sick days
If you get sick you take vacation days. If your illness takes more than 5 days you might be able to recover some of those days with a clearance from your doctor that you are healthy enough to return to work.
There are people here sick, because they have other plans for those vacation days.
Me and my office manager (secretary ... whatever you want to call her) just had this arguement. She didn't like that we don't have 'sick' days. She has 3 weeks paid vacation but doesn't think she should have to use 'vacation' days for 'sick' days.
I solved that problem. We no longer have vacation days OR sick days. We now have PTO (Paid Time Off). I don't care what it is used for. She has 3 weeks of PTO to use for whatever she wants to. She's good with that.
KC
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It's amazing, though, how some companies will micro-manage your time. Considering my current employer, it's a damned good thing I wasn't working for them 8-9 years ago when I was in the hospital for two weeks after being run through the medical wringer for two months of tests prior to that.
Here, they do a running total of sick hours, and if you've got any more than 40 in a running 12-month period, to the supervisor you go. That may sound like a lot, but get a cold or a flu twice in a year, there you are.
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Its possible that there will not be a health reform vote until after next November.
I want to see those DU threads.
That will be a lot of :banghead: and even more :bawl: and even more :thatsright: :loser: and the always funny :mental: :censored: :bird: and of course we'll be :popcorn: :evillaugh: :tongue: :rotf:
It shall be glorious.
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They only want paid for nothing every day, whats so wrong with that? :mental: