Should Companies Pay Sick Pay?

Hi Ellie! In Australia, all workers are entitled to a certain amount of sick leave each year - and some people DO abuse it, and make sure they use their entitlement each year. In most cases, I think you can take three days without a doctor's certificate. People in government jobs (like my husband) can accumulate it over the years, and he now has many, many weeks' worth saved up if he needed it for a longer illness (heaven forbid). Unfortunately, when he retires he will lose it all, which is a bit of a shame. I wish they would turn some of it into 'holiday' pay when you retired if you haven't taken any for years and years. At one stage he actually went over 20 years without taking a sick day - and then had to use a few days last year for an eye operation and dental extraction. It would be terribly worrying financially if there wasn't enough sick leave for someone to recuperate properly - it would be very sad if they had to return to work too early because of money worries, and jeopardised their health.

Yeah I have been off long term and the company I worked for didn't pay sick pay at all. But I had a doctors note and was truly ill. I have also been employed where you get a total of 15 sick days and get paid for it. I love when a company gives perks like that it makes me feel that they value their employees more. Yes there have been times when I have worked when I was dying of illness becuase I couldn't afford to be off work.

I have been off long term sick and I got my vacation pay and whatever sick days I had. Anything past that, if I had short term disability it would have covered. Companies should not be required to pay past your vacation and sick time because while you are out long term, they have to pay someone in your place. That may be mean, but it is realistic.

Firstly,if you are really sick,it is not you that will decide anymore but your body.Secondly,many people think of the financial aspect of it,but when the body is tied,there is nothing you can do about that,you just need to rest.Pay or no pay! I don't think there is anywhere where the sick off payment is more than the normal salary except for accident while working,whereby it is the Insurance Company that pays.

If an employee works fulltime at a company, then I think they deserve to have a few days of sick pay. Most people do not abuse this priviledge. But of course, there are always those employees who figure out how to cheat the system. And faking sick to get paid for not working is one of them. I've never been off longterm from a job. I have had surgeries when I was a full time employee but usually returned after about 2 weeks off. I am currently self-employed (as a licensed mental health counselor) so I do not get paid unless I go to work. I get no holiday pay and no sick pay. But, if I am sick and I think it's contagious, I stay home which, thankfully, doesn't happen very much. I must not place people who come for counseling in a position to "catch" what I have when I'm sick. Take care.

I think companies should include sick leave. There are of course people who are going to abuse sick leave, but that is why most companies only offer so much paid sick leave per year. I think that is an awesome idea and if you are a fortunate person who doesn't get sick then you could use that time at the end for some refreashing days off. I am one who personally hates calling in sick to work because I can't afford to not have the income.

I'm very glad that my company offers sick leave. I don't think it gets abused very often by the workers there. We also get 2-3 days of "personal leave" a year, and we earn vacation days, too. The personal and vacation days are supposed to be approved ahead of time, so that someone can cover your area if needed. It's real nice if you have to go do personal errands or something. You can do so without feeling guilty. For sick leave, if you take more than 3 days at once, you are supposed to bring in a doctor's note. However, if it seems that you are abusing the system, your supervisor can request you bring in a note for less, too. I think that helpls keep abuse of the system to a minimum.

the company i worked for allowed a certain no of paid sick days however to get it one had to provide a drs note

I think they should. Sure, a few people will try to take advantage of it, but it will really help out the ones who are really sick.

Ok, I have a couple of views on this subject, one as an employee and the other in the eyes of a manager of the job. First view: I worked for several companies that did NOT have sick pay days and there were younger people that would still call in sick with or without the pay. I have heard them talk about, "Oh, it was just TOO hot to come to work yesterday." and then there are the older employees that would go the extra effort and call off if they were about to die from the flu, cold, broncitis, ect. For me I would only call off if I was really, really sick or my child was SO sick that my babysitter wouldn't take them for nothing. I one time had to call of of work like two days after I got hired, the reason was very ligit, my son had a cyst on the back of his brain and had to have brain surgery. Also, the older generation of workers would actually goto the doctor's or hospital to have a doctor excuse. Now even though I was never a manager, I have been in a place of an acting assistant manager. I worker for a very small store and we had only 6 or 7 workers to cover a 24/7 gas station. In this case if someone would call off then it would affect the whole work schedule for getting shifts covered, no one allowed overtime, or no one would want to cover the shift and the person there would get stuck doing a double shift. It didn't matter if we had paid sick days or not, they would just call off and that was that. We decided that every employee would have to have a slip from the doctor's or be suspended from work for a day and if it kept up, we would fire them and replace them. You can also tell when an employee is really sick because you can see the symptoms showing up a few days before they would call off also. So, if the boss is good at thier job, they can spot a faker. Now, I don't work because of health issues that started out as my feet hurting SO bad after standing for SO long when I got home from work my oldest son would have to help me walk into the house and then I would have to crawl to get to my room and to the restroom for the rest of the night to start it all over the next day. In a way I can see companies wanting to do this to lower the number of day an employee would miss, but in the long run for the ones that abuse it really cost the company money, that right now, NO company can afford the extra cost. Good Luck.

A number of companies have changed the terminology to call this time "personal time" rather than "sick leave" because they know that sometime you're not sick, you just need some time for personal matters. I do think that all employers should provide paid time off in addition to vacation for such time.

what country if usa what state

Hello ellie333. I most certainly believe that a company should pay sick-pay for it's workers. A person spends most of his waking life working - in many cases working for a particularly firm. The employer does not want to have sick workers on the premises, who contaminate the other workers, so they pay so that the sick workers stay home or go into hospital and get well as soon as possible. They are also sending a message to the other workers that they care and this helps increase the productivity of the firm. Those who abuse the system are generally frowned upon. Regards. Umart

Yes, the moment you will start from your work it is automatically included from your Contract of work Sick Leave is payable for 15 days in a year that for your first sick leave for 3 days it is considered as a whole day payment each day and on the second time around it would be 75% and the rest of the least of the day would be 50% until you consumed your 15 days...... and the Human Resources could explained it more better than me, I hope the idea I knew would certainly helped you out.

At least in NY where I am, it is a law that companies have to have a sick pay policy. Another reason to pay people for sick tim, is that you don't want sick people with infectious diseases showing up to work and getting everybody else sick. Is it not a law where you are that a company have sick time?

Hi ellie, Here in the states, it depends with what company you're wokring for. When I used to work with the bank, I believe that we had 6 sick days. and depending on how many years you have been with the company, you'll also get vacations. Once I used up my sick days, I was not pay, if I was going to be out for more than 8 days I file a claim for and i would get paid for after the tenth day. I broke my leg, skiing, and I was out for almost a year. I file a claim for disability, I got pay and the bank fired me. So to answer you question yes some people will abuse the system. There is also an insurance I'm sure some of you heard of it. AFLAC, this insurance what it does, it pay you for being out sick, if your child is sick and you cant work, somehow they pay you for not being at work. So you don't lose out any money while one of the family member is sick. I've also work while I was sick and couldn't afford to stay at home.

i am thankful that i'm working for a company that offers paid sick leave. in fact, all companies in my country gives paid sick leave. it's part of employee benefits which are mandatory. it's really good as we don't have to worry about money when we are sick. this is really useful when i was down with chicken pox. i couldn't go to work for almost a month. if i don't get paid for that period, i think i'd be worried sick about paying my bills on time. however, to get paid sick leave we have to produce a doctor's certificate to show that we really are sick. that means we have to go see a doctor and get the doctor to provide a medical certificate certifying that we are not well enough to work. cheers ;p

Yes is the simple answer Ellie. You are quite right to say that someone that has been off for a long while without sick pay will worry. You know my story so I won't repeat it here. But I do think that sick pay shows a deal of commitment to the staff and enables those that are genuinely sick to recover properly. Abusers should be dealt with by effective management, but often aren't I am afraid.

MY work doesnt pay sick pay but...my hours for overtime are banked so I can use them if im sick or want extra days off. If i dont have hours banked I tend to go in even if i'm sick as I can't afford not to. Sick day pay would be nice.

There will always be people who abuse any system, so lets not worry about that. I don't think companies should pay for sick pay. My reasons: 1. As an employee of a company you should be given the option to buy sick days, that way if you need a certain amount of days you won't cost the company anything, it will be like a savings account, when you use them they are gone. 2. Long term sick care should be offered but payment at half price, this allows a company not to terminate your employment to avoid a law suit. 3. Insurance should be offered at a group rate, that way if you cannot come back to work you can still get money for bills and daily debits. Aflac offers such insurance. I have been off from work for long time sick, it was before my hip replacement, I was off for 6 weeks, I got paid half of what I normally would. Hope that helps and if it doesn't, sorry.