Paid sick leave in USA

600


This pretty well illustrates how union membership has declined in the US mostly because of the efforts of Corporatist Republicans starting with Ronald Reagan.. who actually began the war on unions. Is it surprising to note that wages have stagnated for the average American while corporate profits are at record highs?? Can we put two and two together here folks? Yet people keep buy the BS that someone is getting something for nothing... an that just ain't right!!! Rather than fight for EVERYONE to have better wages and benefits... let's knock America down to the lowest common denominator... and no one gets ahead.. Great plan... and ya know what? Sadly... it's working.
 

Unions have always allowed workers to get what they deserve, corporations want to dole out the crumbs...so therefore unions are being eliminated by the minions of the corporations..... Republicans.
 
I was offered a darn good salaried job once, but turned it down due to no benefits, including medical.

The manufacturing companies that I worked for, I had paid vacation, paid sick leave and holiday pay. I remember one such company that I was getting ready to quit (2-week notice) and my Manager told me "you still have a sick day left on the books that you won't get when you leave." So, I called in sick two days later from a payphone next to Denny's where I was going to have breakfast. My Manager knew what I was doing and said "hope you feel better, see you tomorrow".

Now, my wife did work for a Temp Agency, in 2009/2010 where she didn't get any benefits including no health insurance, no sick pay or holiday pay, but she did get a descent salary. She didn't like the "no benefits" thing, but she wanted a job. At the time, I was having an extremely hard time finding one. Anyway, we didn't like it, but she had to go to work with a bad cold b/c she had no health insurance or sick pay. After working for the Temp Agency for a year, on one job, she did ask for, and received, 3 days off paid vacation. That was nice.

At my wife's job now, working in the banking/mortgage industry, she gets 4 weeks off per year, 5 days Sick Pay, full medical/dental/vision and company discounts. She's been at her job for 4 years and hopes to stay til she is 70 and THAT'S IT......she retires and we move. Like me, she will be on SS, but it will be Late Retirement and $7k more per year.
 

All these graphs confuse me. When I was working, sick leave depended on your employer and your terms&conditions.
People can take up to 7 days off without a doctor's certificate. For my employer, full pay , less Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) after the first week, was paid for up to 3 months. Some people who were hourly paid didn't have so much luck. For them it was no work, no pay until after the first week when they got SSP. Many used to talk about "not being able to afford to be ill".

Of course, in the UK we have the National Health Service, so all medical treatment is free at point of delivery. Many firms also offered private medical care which gave the convenience of having treatment when it suited rather than having to wait months and months.
 
I have worked both union and non union jobs while in the working age groups. I was in construction, labor. In factories, labor. I also worked in non union companies, technical jobs in mechanical design. I have been full time and part time, contract, worker. I had no problems in either style of job. My longest career was with a non union job where advancement was open and not related to any union, or non union, rules. My life time longest job was to a non union corporation that has been able to flex and change almost instantly to meet newest demands from the markets. Plants would open as needs demanded. Plants would also close if they became a problem to the business. I liked the non union system of this company as my wages depended on the jobs I would take or wished to stay with. I watched as some became leaders and entered into management style jobs. Something I just could not do myself successfully. I was more into doing things than telling others how to do.

For this job that turned into my career, vacation was earned based on years of service. First year based on date of hire and maybe none or up to three and on first full year 5 vacation. Second to 10 years earned 2 weeks. I think then it was 11 through 15 got 3 weeks vacation. Two weeks earned were expected to be used each year and the remainder could be banked for future usage. I used a lot on short one or two days off work to satisfy my kids needs and would at times take a long family trip for the kids education idea. In the end I had lots of vacation banked and like others the company ordered us to a lower level of banked vacation days. So we had to do that for sure or got a cash buy out as I remember.

Medical was not on a given schedule or limitation. Medical was as needed. Hospital was of course monitored and supported as needed. Unions did want to get accepted but lost on all their campaigns. The company is still union free today, and hopefully will stay that ways too. For me, that experience was much better than living in the many stages of union employment of my earlier jobs. Items that I considered to restricting by the job rules. My experiences for sure. I have worked for union and non union back and forth as needs an jobs were available. What I just spoke of was my near 30 years in a non union experience that I really liked for its personal wages setups, benefits for days off or sick situations, pretty liberal as I saw them. Sickness was not a specific number of days off and it was all tied into medical needs and doctors requests for me or my family.

I think in the market place there might be needs for both, but neither should get mandatory control over the working folks of the US.
 
Some companies here in the "good old US of A" will make a person get a notice from their doctor if they take a sick day off. Apparently these companies feel that any sickness requires the employee to see a doctor. That's a bunch of bull!
 
ClassicRockr said:
Some companies here in the "good old US of A" will make a person get a notice from their doctor if they take a sick day off. Apparently these companies feel that any sickness requires the employee to see a doctor. That's a bunch of bull!
Click to expand...

I agree.... although at my company, they only require a doctor's note if you will be off more than 3 days. Sometimes a bad cold will require more than 3 days off.. but no need to see a doc... He can't do anything for a cold anyway.
 
I accrue PDO (includes sick,holidays,vacation) at a specific rate. The longer I am here, the higher the rate... I now get 11% of my salary put into my PDO account. It's paid in $$ rather than in hours. Long term disability is provided for free by the company, but you must be off 90 days for that to kick in and it's only 60% of your salary. You have the option of purchasing short term disability that will kick in right away... AFTER you have used all your PDO.... and that also is only 60% of your pay. AND it's pretty expensive.
 
For an employer that is paying you wages for your sick days it is important that they do have a right to know if you are sick of just playing the game for you checks. I had been on jobs where my absence meant missed schedules so the company had justification for knowing my status. Not all jobs are repetitive look alike jobs that nearly any one can fill. For better future benefits and care the business side needs to have open and honest relations with all employees.
 
ClassicRockr said:
Some companies here in the "good old US of A" will make a person get a notice from their doctor if they take a sick day off. Apparently these companies feel that any sickness requires the employee to see a doctor. That's a bunch of bull!
Click to expand...

The counter to this is to come to work with your migraine and lie down at work.
Ditto if you are coughing and sneezing. Infect the rest of the office.
Make them send you home and they soon discover the practicality of single days off without a certificate.

The reality is that doctors don't make home visits and sometimes you just feel too sick to visit the doctor's office.
After 24 hours in bed you may feel well enough to return to work without the aid of a doctor.
 
Dame Warrigal said:
The counter to this is to come to work with your migraine and lie down at work.
Ditto if you are coughing and sneezing. Infect the rest of the office.
Make them send you home and they soon discover the practicality of single days off without a certificate.

The reality is that doctors don't make home visits and sometimes you just feel too sick to visit the doctor's office.
After 24 hours in bed you may feel well enough to return to work without the aid of a doctor.
Click to expand...

The reality where I worked was that if you came to work and lay down, you'd probably be fired; AND, the boss didn't give a flip if the rest of the workforce was infected, too.
 
Butterfly said:
The reality where I worked was that if you came to work and lay down, you'd probably be fired; AND, the boss didn't give a flip if the rest of the workforce was infected, too.
Click to expand...

Yeah... they pay lip service to not wanting everyone to get sick.. but woe betide the worker who calls in sick.. It's always held against you.
 
The company I worked for was quite good about sick days and vacations, etc. We all worked in "teams", and if someone called in sick, the rest of us had to pick up the slack. That pretty much fostered an attitude of Not abusing the privilege. If someone did get sick, we could pretty well assume they really were. We didn't have any specific limits on the number of sick days. One time, I blew a disc in my back, and spent a couple of days in the hospital, then a couple of weeks of home rest, followed by a couple of months of therapy, and light duty at work. All I heard from the company was..."follow the doctors orders, and get well".

The vacation accrual started with 2 weeks off beginning the first full year of employment, then 3 weeks after 10 years, and 4 weeks after 25 years. We could take it all, or save half of it every year. When I retired, I got a nice extra check for over 70 days of vacations I hadn't taken. Needless to say, the employee morale was usually pretty good, and everyone tried to do their best every day. It was a Win/Win for everyone. When a company makes an effort to treat its employees with respect, the company usually prospers.
 
Corporations wouldn't like it!
Are these very corporations regularly checked and inspected for income tax purposes, accounting practices, fair treatment of workers?
Does a worker have the right to sue for unfair treatment, or must he sign a contract, promising never to sue under any circumstances?
 
Susie said:
Corporations wouldn't like it!
Are these very corporations regularly checked and inspected for income tax purposes, accounting practices, fair treatment of workers?
Does a worker have the right to sue for unfair treatment, or must he sign a contract, promising never to sue under any circumstances?
Click to expand...

I've never seen any checking for "fair" employment practices other than wage & hour stuff, OSHA stuff, etc. Just general lousy treatment of employees goes on all the time, mostly quite invisible to an outsider -- stuff like making it difficult to take time off, trying to usurp your lunch hour for staff meetings, etc. A business can meet all the government standards (mostly geared to safety, and still treat their employees like crap. Complain about it and you're out of a job.
 
We'll keep the red flag flying high ...

... and we'll keep our 4 weeks annual leave, sick leave, penalty rates for overtime and unsociable hours and most of all we'll keep our long service leave.

Solidarity rools. :hatlaugh:
 
Butterfly said:
I've never seen any checking for "fair" employment practices other than wage & hour stuff, OSHA stuff, etc. Just general lousy treatment of employees goes on all the time, mostly quite invisible to an outsider -- stuff like making it difficult to take time off, trying to usurp your lunch hour for staff meetings, etc. A business can meet all the government standards (mostly geared to safety, and still treat their employees like crap. Complain about it and you're out of a job.
Click to expand...


Yeah that goes on all the time with the lunch hour... Ha..more like 30 minutes) They call a meeting and tell you to bring your lunch.. oh sure... I'll be there! Ha... That's BS... We don't get paid for that lunch break... yet they want us to sit an listen to their crap...
 
I've been feeling liberated of late... I'm working because I like to.. and because my position is hard to fill and they asked me to consider staying.. A fact I remind them of when they pull their silly crap... Just last Tuesday in a meeting I told them if I no longer enjoyed coming there.. I would stop. They understand.. BUT... I've taken 40 years of eating you know what... to get to this point.
 
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