Fear of work piling up forces employees to work when sick.
Two recent surveys have revealed that American employees have a wide-ranging interpretation of when to take time off work due to illness reports the San Francisco Chronicle. In a study by NSF International, a global health and safety organisation, more than half of American workers reported they had gone to work while sick.
A fear of work piling up, and looming deadlines, were the most popularly cited reasons. Though people also said they couldn’t afford to miss a day, and their boss expected them to be there, as why they went to work when sick. Men were twice as likely as women to report going into work when sick.
Most people said they thought workers who went in sick were hardworking, rather than selfish for exposing colleagues to their germs. However, many took precautions such as hand-sanitizer and avoiding ill coworkers.
In another survey from job website Career Builders, a third of people admitted to calling in sick when they weren’t ill. The study, from last year, found many employers do take steps to check whether an employee is really sick. Of those who did verify an employee was really ill 64% required a doctors note, 48% called the employee, 19% checked their social media posts, and 15% even drove by their house.
Some employers may be a little flexible with how a worker uses sick days, but 16% say they’ve fired someone for calling in with a fake excuse. Apart from actual illness, the most common reason people gave for calling in sick was they didn’t feel like going to work (33%), or because they needed to relax (28%).
Sick leave allowance
Currently, the United States doesn’t have a law which allocates paid leave to employees for short-term illness. However, unpaid leave is guaranteed for serious illness through the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). The FMLA covers business with 50 workers or more, and any employee taking the leave must have worked for a minimum of 12 months prior to taking sick leave.
Some jurisdictions within the US have introduced paid sick leave, including San Francisco, Connecticut, and Washington D.C.