My congressman wants the waitress that serves me my food, to do it when she is sick as a dog, so I have to go to work sick next week and infect a hundred customers. None of us can afford to go to a doctor, but our taxes pay for lifetime medical for the bastards that denied medical and sick days to us. I would never advocate for violence, but would not argue against.
I know... I can never understand why these mass shooters don't go after the elites (political and economic) who are the real culprits of their misery. Instead they attack average people. It would just be nice if, when they finally break, they retaliate against the source of the problem.
Can we also add that this trend to combine sick leave and vacation leave into "PTO" is a terrible idea? It incentivizes employees to avoid using their sick days if they want to take vacations. Both are important for good physical and mental health and forcing people to choose will almost certainly result in not using sick days when they should.
I prefer the system where you don't have allotted vacation time, but can take time off when your obligations to the company are met. Of course, the obligations are never met and they do not have to cash you out.
And let's not forget this "unlimited PTO" scam - all this means is that you still only get to take as much time as your boss allows, but when you depart the job you cannot have any time accumulated for them to pay you on.
You appear to believe employers care about our physical and mental health or about the quality of goods and services they provide. They do not. All they care about is this quarter's profits. They would kill us all and sell literal dog poop if it increased their profits by 1 cent.
When I was younger, I worked in kitchens. Every place would make us sign a policy telling us we couldn't work when we were sick. Then, when we got sick and tried to call out for unpaid leave like the policy said, they would threaten to fire us. If you ever get sick after eating at a restaurant, thank management for violating their own policies and making people work when they're contagious.
I work retail. I have to accrue sick leave, but the amount accrued per hour worked is pitiful. And they guilt you or retaliate when you do take time off because you're sick. We work ourselves to death in America for little to nothing. We're expendable to them despite the pandemic claiming we're 'essential'. Imagine a world without wage slavery... Wouldn't that be nice.
I feel it, too. I always get the "we missed you last week." Or the "sorry, this opportunity is for people who haven't taken their sick or vacation days in the first three months of the year." Like, I can't control when I'm sick, let alone if my son ever gets sick.
I get 10 sick days per year and the flexibility to work from home whenever I choose. I can't imagine how difficult it must be for those rail workers that went on strike recently, who had zero sick days.
Many businesses in the world have unlimited sick leave. But it is to way trust situation. I worked for a place for 30 years. We got 9 sick days a year and could accumulate up to 70 days. During those 30 years, I took most days off to look after my child when I got flu or similar bugs. I am healthy. By the end of 30 years, I had an unused balance of 20 days, I think. Others had greater needs than me. But if you average it out, it is about the same as the individual entitlement.
I have heard in the next contract with the rail worker is they will earn 62 days That is more than the Federal Government workers We only receive 12 days a year You can burn that off being infected with anything. Plus I work in a hospital It is totally unfair. While worked for the County Government in a Nursing care facility. I received 2 1/2 days per month.
@@2cartalkers yeah, I get about six weeks paid vacation, unlimited sick days, naturally, and get 8% extra holiday pay on my salary, apart from the extra 8% end of year bonus. And I really have quite a mediocre job.
@@yourdaddy-mq4km So many other countries do it, and the people are happier, retention is better, and the businesses are doing just fine. And personally, surely you would like a vacation once in a while, without having to think about loss of pay.
Had to go to ER for pulmonary embolism, the hospital I went to was full, so they sent me to a different one via ambulance. I had an EMT that was obviously sick with the sniffles. I asked if he was sick, and he said, "no." Few days later, after I was discharged from hospital, I was sick as a dog. For ten days. With medically suppressed immunity. I almost flunked my accounting class I was taking at the time. Thanks, Derrick, for being so honest with me 😡
No joke. Once when I was a CVS pharmacy tech, I had a sick coworker who looked like she was about to keel over (I'm sure there were other times coworkers were sick, but they were never as bad off as this time). She begged the pharmacy manager to let her go home sick, and the manager refused unless she found a replacement. So the coworker stayed there, and handled drugs and cashed out customers. Want a side of virus with your prescription?
My bestie just had his boss fly in from out of state to holler at him about getting numbers up. Best friend comes down sick Saturday, takes test, pops hot for COVID. Only person he was around was said Boss. Calls Boss, tells boss he needs to get tested, boss says he just had a cold. Also tells friend to come in to work. Today. He's still sick with COVID right now, Boss demands him at the office. WTF.
But the problem is that they CANNOT AFFORD to take time off, so they show up at work sick. And where is this VERY common? The restaurant business. The VERY people you do not want working sick are the ones financially forced to do it. So everyone else gets sick and the problem explodes exponentially. Ironic it happens in a country least equipped to deal with it - the USA with its for profiteering health care system.
@@yourdaddy-mq4km ever tried to feed and house your family on those programs? Sister had a stroke, couldn't work, lives a thousand miles from any family, gets $23/month for food. 3 foodbanks in county, got moldy bread and expired rotten food....
Heck, just getting a day to be sick even unpaid was nearly impossible in healthcare, if got sick on a weekend you had to "make it up" by working the next weekend, if your child got sick or got a snake bite were labelled "weak sister" Had prep day for colonoscopy threatened to be taken back. Was told should only be off 3 days for gallbladder surgery. Have had to work with appendicitis, miscarrying and having an allergic reaction covered in hives with swollen tongue. This is health care in US
This is literally insane like they definitely should have let you rest much longer than 3 days wtf. Yea I'm currently sick now and not looking forward to making up the time I missed tbh.
Full-time workers in Australia have 10 paid sick leave days a year. They also have a higher minimum wage, 20 days' paid holiday (vacation) leave, and paid parental leave - not to mention universal health care. It's crazy that a wealthy country like the US can't do likewise.
I am an educator. I 'Earn' sick days by coming in to work regularly, and I 'use' them by...being sick. There is a maximum amount of sick time I can build up, once I am there, I cannot exceed it, even if I go years without taking leave. Last year, I had COVID for two weeks, could barely get out of bed and was unable to even think about working. My district no-longer had a COVID policy, so when I received my paycheck, it was $0, despite the fact that I was actively doing the right thing. First off, the fact that I am not technically salaried as a full-time teacher is just absurd, and second, the fact that there was no system to pay people with COVID is frankly criminal.
It doesn't make sense to me that on some jobs, employees are not allowed to call in sick and are forced to take unpaid leave. I can understand having to have a doctor's note. But people do get sick enough to not be able to come into work. They should be home. The cycle of sickness just keeps going when employees come to work sick. Especially with the types of flu that are going around now.
Well, it's OK to require a note IF your employees actually have the ability to obtain and pay for medical care. If they're making barely subsistence wages and don't have medical insurance or sick days, then how are they supposed to get a doctor's note?
If the employer wants to pay for a house visit doctor, MAYBE. There is an underlaying trust issue that the boss has vs the employee if the employee cannot self diagnose "I feel like shit". Besides who can get a short notice doctor's visit without going to the ER? Already facing losing hours I am supposed to go spend 250 to have a doctor go "Wow, you look like shit." as if it was any news to me.
@Adalore and any other civilized country you'd get that for free or nearly free for like $10. AND you'd get treated for the problem as well. If you walk into the emergency room they have to see you regardless if you pay them or not. So many people go into the emergency room for something not too serious because unfortunately they don't have any other choice. And of course NOT pay for it. As it's laughable they even send a bill. If we had a health system many people would just go to a doctors office because they would be able too. And if you can't afford that of course you can't afford the emergency room either however they can't refuse you at the emergency room. OR SOMETHING that's just as bad if not worse people go to to the emergency room because it's a true emergency HOWEVER if they had been able to go to a doctors office a week or so previously in many cases the problem could of been taken care of when it was just a not so serious problem and it wouldn't of turned into an emergency. So it's sad we don't have a system except walk into the emergency room because you haven't an option
J sand 5 minutes ago It's an interesting conundrum, on the one hand corporations do not want pay high taxes yet... on the other hand corporations expect the government to take care of not only health care but pensions and other things.
I think it depends on the board of a corporation. I have a hard time believing those of Amazon, Norfolk Southern and Tesla have any expectations from the government other than lining their pockets. But there are many other (usually the smaller) corporations whose owners have more expectations from government and are willing to pay (and do pay) more taxes as their multinational counterparts.
It all comes down to the idea that the sole purpose of a business is to make as much profit as possible, consequences be damned. If they can offload costs to someone else (often the employee), then it is essentially free as far as they're concerned. Part of why the Free Market won't solve all problems, and needs a strong referee (government) to make & enforce rules to level the playing field.
@@Charon85Onozuka I think of extreme for profit healthcare, the very nature of it implies that those who least afford it may get left behind. Of course, some profit must be made, but it gets out of hand when the investor's profit takes priority over a patient's wellbeing.
A friend of mine here in Canada is having issues with their digestive system that the doctors haven’t been able to diagnose or resolve. They work in a resort town, and lives in company housing which isn’t easy to get - but when they’ve been sick they aren’t allowed to stay in company housing as the company fears other workers getting sick. Fortunately they have a friend in the town they have been staying with. But it makes me wonder what other staff from overseas who know nobody end up doing. What was done during Covid? Also the company did have provisions that helped workers especially when sick, that made things more flexible and easier for workers, especially sick ones, that were put in place because of Covid that they are now starting to roll back. The roll back will make it very difficult to keep the housing and my friend may end up having to give up that job completely. Ultimately the bottom line is don’t get sick.
People should be shaming their employers if they get fired over saying home sick. "Don't eat at this restaurant. They asked me to serve you food while I was sick."
When covid happened, my mom had paid sick leave when her feet would get swollen and it's a good thing to let her relax because if she works, she would probably end up falling to the floor and rush to the hospital. We also take pictures of the incident then her boss accepts that she can't work. I think it should be a mandatory working condition companies should have so we don't have to worry about making more money for our bills and getting tons of rest in the process of getting sick
America needs a good, single-payer system like the rest of the civilized world. At least part of it can be provided by passing a wealth and income tax on the top wealthy people.
If employers pay people to be sick then everyone is suddenly going to be sick all the time. Incentivizing laziness is the cancer that is killing of economy right now. I mean do you think that's going help businesses keep the price of their products low?
Thankfully I work at a very reputable University where they provide all workers with both paid vacation and paid sick time separately and you can carry your hours over to another year! I have been fortunate enough to have saved almost 400 hours of paid sick time. However, it's still extremely sad that not many people in this country have been as fortunate as I have!
I am so thankful that where I work lets me take off if I'm sick, in fact if I'm sicker than I realize they're like "Victoria, take the day off, you need to get better", I appreciate the kindness from them. I also live in a small town in northern New Hampshire where lots of people know each other so that kind of helps, we're all friends and neighbors.
At this point it has to be a control issue. They'll demand doctor's notes, you won't be able to get one. So that leaves one course of action, show up and make sure you cough on your immediate boss. If you're so healthy it won't be a problem...right? I figure they are terrified of a healthy and functional labor base because they might unionize or look for work else where, it's better in their perspective for workers to be exhausted because then they'll do the shitty job for them instead of someone else. It's much harder to unionize or improve your situation when you are being ran into the ground.
At my workplace, if someone were to come in sick, it could literally kill someone given the nature of our business. And yet we do not have paid sick leave for part time. Part-timers that the business relies on to function.
There are literally laws preventing sick people from working around food, but that doesn't stop restaurants from being impossible to call in to when sick.
In my work place in Australia, if someone comes to work sick, they will first of all be subtlety vibed out by colleagues for potentially spreading germs (tongue in cheek), then sent home or to the doctor. NO ONE wants to catch their germs and it’s socially unacceptable to go around spreading your disease. We have paid sick days which cover people for such instances. If you have run out of paid sick days, you can take leave without pay, or paid holiday pay if necessary ie: for longer term conditions. It’s not a perfect system, but for the most part, people are not penalised for the totally normal human condition of illness. The USA is so far behind the rest of the first world when it comes to employment conditions. No wonder there are so many millionaires and billionaires there, they get rich by ripping off and exploiting their employees! Heads up, they can still be mega rich and pay employees a living wage with benefits. The two are not mutually exclusive.
If you are one of the 99.99 % of the planet who isn’t wealthy, it isn’t “derp a derp”. It’s meaningful basic human healthcare. If you are part of the 99.99% and you’re still saying “derp a derp”, then my friend you’ve been successfully brainwashed into thinking trickle down economics works and that your life is better when you are stripped of a living wage and basic healthcare benefits (that every other first world country takes for granted), and that the money not spent on you, is better off in the pockets of a billionaire who has so much money they can’t actually spend it all. My unsolicited advice to you is to get out of your indoctrination bubble and look at economic systems that are better than that in the USA. Or you can stay in your poverty ridden ignorant bubble and keep telling yourself how good you have it, while you and your family struggle on with life, hoping no one gets sick and bankrupts you. Meanwhile the rest of us living good lives in better democracies than the USA feel sorry for you over your self inflicted ignorance which causes your “derp a derp” delusion.
@@davidh4129 Typical pro corporate anti worker verbal diarrhea expected from another corporate bootlicking troll. Now go home and get your shine box, Bozo.
And the intellectual mastermind digs his head even deeper in the sand. Good luck to you, you’re going to need it at some point, because even God can’t help a person who doesn’t help himself.
@@yourdaddy-mq4km Is this Zachoff the irrelevant using a new name? New account started on March 7th 2023. You're not too clever are you Zach. ? hahahaha
@@eatmorenachos what are talking about? the pandemic was one giant example of how this crap doesn't work. People got paid to stay at home and millions of people took advantage of it creating supply chain shortages. Now companies can't find workers, its turned the economy into a dumpster fire. Reich couldn't be more wrong.
In Australia, I get 12 paid sick days per year. I generally only use 2 or 3 per year. That cannot be accrued. I get 5 weeks annual vacation time and that can be accrued. If I only take 3 weeks' vacation time once year, I have 8 weeks the following year and so on. And after the first 10 years of working for the same company, I got 3 months long service leave on top of my 5 weeks' vacation and then 3 months every 7 years after that. After 12 years I was able to have 6 months' vacation leave and do serious travelling as I didn't use all of my 5 weeks' vacation time every year. Then when I was in an accident and needed 5 months off, I had vacation leave up my sleeve and was able to recuperate without stress. I work in a large company. But in a small company in Australia, people still get a minimum of 10 days sick leave and 4 weeks annual leave as well as long service leave every ten years of service. People are more productive, and the company makes more money. If South American, Canada, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, The UK, Russia, Baltic States, Nordic States, and so on can offer this, why can't America do it. Supposed to be the richest country in the World yet has the poorest workers. Americans need to have and support Unions if they want better pay and conditions.
The right thing to do? Come on, Bob, you know our corporate overlords only want us to work work work! They know their workers can be replaced at will. Until the corporate overlords start seeing employees as something important to the success of their business they will not treat employees any better.
I agree with everything said. It ain't never gonna happen in the current corporatocracy we live in today. We're very close to being trapped in this system. Even the ballot box we be irrelevant. We're almost there.
I will agree that staying home while sick is a moral obligation to those you could infect, and can protect the rest of the staff from lost productivity.
Where I work, a couple years ago they rolled the sicks days into the PTO. It get a sick day you had to bring in a doctor's note for each day you missed. I am not making this up. I get insurance through work. our deductiables went up $100 this year. I just got the bill for my physical (after insurance) and I owe $115. I just got my EOB on some blood work down(6 tests) and it came to $491 forone vial of blood. And my NP wants me to have blood work done every month. No way in hell I can afford that.
We have signs up in our break room saying “if you feel sick, please stay home to protect yourself and your co-workers”. Only the few people who have full-time positions actually get paid sick leave, and in a way, that’s a trap, because you can lose your job if you take time off that’s not PTO. At least the part-timers can take multiple days if needed. I get one day every 2 months. And every time someone calls out sick, the managers are required to be nice about it on the phone, but afterwards, they speculate aloud about whether the person was really sick or not, and even if it’s clear the person really IS sick, they imply the person is coddling themself unnecessarily, and they’re annoyed because the company doesn’t allow enough payroll to fully cover what needs to be done each shift in the first place. Management is always coming to work sick, and they expect everyone else to do the same. Sick leave is a Catch22 joke.
I once worked for a company that introduced unlimited sick leave. They already had 10 days sick leave/year. They found that with unlimited sick leave people only called in sick when they were really sick, whereas when they had 10 days a year they regarded them as an entitlement and used them all whether or not they were really ill.
I just got over being sick with COVID, but because I didn't get paid sick leave, for an entire month, I went without a paycheck and even after getting my paycheck for the first time in a month it was $20 less than the paycheck I got before sick leave! Every two weeks I get roughly 350, but after missing 4 days of work and missing an entire paycheck for a whole month, I got paid only 330! Ridiculous, I know but that is what happens when you do have paid sick leave
Congress needs to pass laws to address this by banning illness and vacations. No need for sick leave if illness does not exist and you cannot get sick if you never leave work. And, ban health insurance...there will be less wastage in the healthcare system if it's cash-only. Rick Scott, where are you?
I have long covid with chronic pain and fatigue. I do my best to make it to work, but my attendance isn't great. Couple months ago some genius in HR decided that calling in sick is no longer an excusable absence. Excuse me?!? Fortunately my state has an equivalent FMLA program, so now I'm covered to take up to 50% of my days off per week with pay. My absentee days have quadrupled! It's probably not what my employer had in mind when they tightened the screws. It serves them right.
I was lucky enough that when I worked in a corporate environment for sixteen years I had the benefit of five weeks vacation plus 10 sick days, and paid sick leave for longer periods of sick time.
I’ve been told to work with pinkeye by a personal care home, a day care, AND a special needs student transportation company. Also had that day care tell me to come in with diarrhea and having had a fever of 103 the day before (I came in the first time; not the second). Had the school van company calling me in the ER asking if I would be able to work that afternoon while I said “not if I’m in surgery!” (turned out I didn’t need it). The one that really took the cake was when I took a non-verbal autistic blind epileptic kid to school but felt like crap the whole time, so came home, took a test, and discovered I was COVID positive. Called my employer and was told they had no one else to retrieve the kid (from his special school a solid 90 minute drive away), so I double-masked myself and retrieved him, but then went to the office and informed my employer I wouldn’t be working the next day (a Friday, and an early dismissal for the kid), and THAT was still objected to, as “the kid won’t go to school, then”! 🤯 “Well, then, he won’t go to school!” I shot back, still double-masked because I’m not enough of a jerk to be infecting the boss I honestly liked as a person who was big, fat, in his 60’s, and probably not properly vaccinated, “I am not working tomorrow! I am going to the DOCTOR and getting MEDICINE because I feel like I’ve been hit by a TRUCK!!!”. I think Boss realized I’d hit my limit and he backed off. “You’ll be back Monday, though?” 🤦♀️ “Yes, I’ll try to be back Monday. Hopefully I’ll be feeling better by then.” “Okay, then”. I did come in Monday, but spent the whole next week double-masked, too. An epileptic, blind, autistic kid seems a poor candidate for COVID, I have to say… 😬 He had crazy anti-vax parents who were convinced his condition had been caused by vaccines he had at 3 even though he’d been diagnosed with some genetic condition at 6 months, too… 😑
7555, You pose yourself as a "victim of authority" without explaining how or what responsible authoritative leadership should be doing, alternatively, & how you intend to help, and therby stop or overcome the adversity you allegedly face. Complaining from perpetual false victimhood isnt "petitioning " ones government or Credibly arguing for better humane standards. Please advocate the standard you want all to live by > instead of spam "victimhood" from a soapbox of convenience. Discourse, and voting, are about advocating to community (& majority) a credible responsible action. Not dramatic influence.
...I worked for such a company that pretty much had no sick leave policy. Oh there was one but it was so convoluted it was worthless. At the time several there didn't have health coverage as wages were low and the plan the company sponsored (150$ a month) was "bare bones" with high deductibles, out of pocket costs, and many restrictions. In order to qualify for the company's paid leave, you had to go to a doctor to get a note and then had to bring that note in (for those without coverage cost of he office visit alone was usually more than a days pay) and, if leave was granted, you weren't compensated for the first day and a half. During the company's annual inventory audit (which occurred during the early part of the flu season) you almost had to be laid up in the hospital to be excused, consequently people you were working with (including tempd brought in) would often be sick. There was one time I was suffering from severe bronchitis, yet had to go in as my co manager was on vacation and there was no one else who could run the department. I felt like the walking dead by the end of that week and the bronchitis nearly developed into Pneumonia (I was in my 50s then). Even though management saw the condition I was in, their leave policy was more trouble than it was worth so I ended up burning a week of vacation time to recover.
You must have worked for 3M Corp. They were sued several times for their "Attendance Control Policy". They'd give you 40 hrs, but if you used it all, you'd be on a final warning for a rolling 12 month period. Also, no raise, bonus or ability to bid for other jobs or promotions until that was done. One of the WORST companies I have ever worked for.
@@patiencecole9786 .. when I had yet another department management responsibility dumped on me (I was already responsible for two plus the company's #1 client's account) I asked fir there would be extra compensation the owner responded "if you don't like it there's the door we can get someone else to do the job". This was after being ther 18 years, during which I streamlined the client billing process, as well as improving the inventory tracking process, order filling process, and shipping station configuration to make it more efficient. When I was let go two years later due to a buyout and restructuring, he didn't even come out to shake my hand and they tried to escort me out the door like a criminal (the latter happened to other they let go as well). I politely demanded to say goodbye to the people I worked with for the last two decades, and they begrudgingly granted it. Indeed a clear example of workers bing expendable. I saw it happen numerous times. while I was there. Coincides with the change from "Personnel Office" to "Human Resources" as the latter removes the idea of the worker being a person while lowering them to something to be exploited and "used up"
my current company is the first company I've ever worked for in 30 years that has paid sick days. the problem is, they also force you to go to a doctor and get a note when you return. I never use to have to deal with that at any previous company except my last one (and they didn't even have paid sick days.) this completely defeats the purpose - you have to spend your sick pay on a hospital visit and have to leave your house and go out when you should be at home resting. I'd prefer my employer not be involved in ANY of my health care decisions.
I worked for the a County Government in New Jersey in 1980's and 1990's I received 2 1/2 days of sick leave per month. While now I am working for Federal Government I only receive eight hours per month. Why when we are in Pandemic Department of Labor is a joke They expect you to file claim while being the first day of being ill. This includes with COVID -19 .
This makes so much sense for LARGE businesses! I owned a small cafe w/5 employees. W/your recommendation I would not have lasted 1 year! Talk about inequalities!
Are you saying that you are part of the problem? Cafes in EU have sick leave. If not they are closed down. It's not a viable business if you survive on the hardship of your workers.
I understand you analysis of the need of a padi sick leave, but in many countries it's the government that does it. For example in Spain you can not be fired for being sick, NEVER. Also if you end up sick, if it's not a work ilness or accident, the firsts three days yuo get 0 BUT from that dau onward you get 60%, no needfor the company to do anything just to have your job back when you go back to work. Also sick days are unlimited, for everyone. It's a compromise but for many people that does a lot knowing that even in the bottom income you still have a safety net. I know you want to make people have better conditions, but you still tie it to having the employers be nice, and in Europe we all know that won't happen until a stong society in the form of a nation does it. It's not having to use the sick days, it's having a right to have a sick leave with unlimited days if needed (next time we'll talk about how the doctor here is free)
Organizations frequently complain about people abusing sick leave, and I get why they might feel that way. After all, even if you require a doctor's note, it still largely works on the honour system, as it simply means a doctor has to take your word for it rather than just your employer. I've had a hard time mailing down statistics, but the place where I work has an estimated abuse rate of about 1%. Honestly, there are probably more than 1% of people stealing the stationery! Most workers are honest. Unfortunately that 1% who abuse the system leave employers feeling like they need to subject us to intense scrutiny, which means that there are people who will report to work sick and spread their illness to an average of 2-3 other people rather than have to spend the time and money on a doctor's note and/or risk their manager decide (often with no basis) that the person is faking their illness. If sick leave is going up, it's far more likely to be an infection control issue or a public health issue than it is because of abuse. If it is abuse, the only time that generally rises above the 1% mark is when employees feel exploited or undervalued. I couldn't find hard stats on this, but I'd love to see an organization that maps estimated sick leave abuse to employee satisfaction surveys from the same time period.
My wife's company has no paid time off at all. No paid vacation, no paid sick leave, no medical benefits. Nice! The only reason she keeps it because she works from home, as an interpreter, and she doesn't like to drive. But now she needs a hip replacement and it will not only cost us over $8,000, but she will be off for 6 weeks. My income is SS and savings and I can't find a job until she's back to work. It's criminal that this company can get away with this crap. She didn't get a raise for many years even though she's one of the top interpreters in the company. Politicians sold us out to the big corporations like cattle.
I work for an un-named employer packaging zip ties. We are forced to do 12 days on two days off and it never ends. They enforce this with a strict point system. We can’t even get unpaid time off for illness even if we provide a doctors note and ask management nicely. The only way to get a sick day is by burning through our very limited vacation days before June even comes around and we need to wait till January to get them back. Basically, we’re forced to come into work sick because they make it extremely inconvenient. Our sick days off via vacation days also can get denied too. We work sick at the factory. Everyone is at risk for catching it but they blame us for not wearing a mask. Even with a mask we shouldn’t be at work. If we leave work early due to illness they’ll give us a point. I remember my podiatrist was busy and I had to wait a week for the surgery but they urged me to take the whole week off since I was limping around. But no way in hell my employers would give me unpaid time off without burning my small amount of vacation days. So for many days I badly and painfully limped around the factory floor infront of the supervisors and infront of corporate and infront of the plant manager. They see how pitiful it is not to let employees take sick days but they are heartless non the less. I mean if you saw your employee limping around like that without an accommodation it’s an tragedy. They’re like we don’t believe you’re in pain and infected unless you have a doctors note. Like bitch, the time I have a doctors note my infection won’t be an issue anymore and I won’t need accommodation anymore. I hate them so much. When I healed I came into the supervisors office the following day with the note to prove to them I wasn’t lieing to make them feel more dumb for not accommodating me.
Given this situation for sick leave, parental leave, domestic leave, annual holiday leave. Should the USA adopt some of the ideas from Europe, New Zealand, and Australia .
We got paid sick leave by law in Germany. Its the bare minimum imho. People still go to work when sick, a lot, because of some false sense of duty or being afraid of loosing their jobs or some other reason. Sick leave should not just be paid, it should also be mandatory and enforced.
Like those old NBC PSAs: "The more you know..." The more you know about how bad the US actually has it compared to Europe and Canada, the more depressing it is.
And BTW, tell Elon Musk to stop siphoning income from the working people and maybe they can afford to have kids! How out of touch is he? Population crisis indeed!
You’re always right about labor laws to protect workers, but we keep voting for people who keep doing nothing to enhance labor laws. Our bad… continuously !!
The chain reaction of people working when sick cost the US 28 billion dollars a year in lost man ours alone. Allowing unlimited sick leave could say the country r 400 billion in 10 years. Every country with sick leave like this recovered faster and lost less people to COVID-19.
A while back I worked as a Sys Admin at a big name Fortune 500 company. They were fairly even handed with the professional staff, but the hourly worker bees were treated horribly. There was a demerit system for being absent, regardless the reason. You got 1 demerit for vacation or a sick day, for other than that you got 3 demerits. Your demerit threshold depended on YOS and performance. I saw people choosing between their job or an ER visit for chest pains. Others being punished for using FMLA approved leave. It was disgusting and as icing on the cake, the elderly CEO was given a lump sum retirement payout for $300 million days before the same employee retirement fund was found to be over valued. For everyone retiring after him, their retirement was devalued by 40%. The system is rigged.
I think it is challenging to provide paid sick leave to hourly workers because if you did, then most hourly workers would ask for their maximum paid sick leave even if they are not sick. Contrast that to salary workers that never use all of their paid sick leave because if they did, they would fall behind at work. This is why Universal Basic Income is the best solution, not guaranteed or mandated paid sick leave.
Whether employers give sick leave or not, their employees take time off...a person has no choice when you are sick. I saw American employers go from supporting their employees to only caring about the bottom line over my life. I'm glad I'm retired, at least now I'll die making my life better for "me" instead of an employer who doesn't give a damn if I live or die!
We get paid sick leave fortunately, but stupidly we get penalized by occurrences. If you get so many occurrances you get written up. There shouldn't be any penalties if you have the sick leave to cover it and you call in every day followed with a text.
Having extra workers come in for two to four days during busy times almost always guaranteed getting sick. They would have been out of work, and so would be at work no matter how sick they were. And they would make everyone else sick. But you couldn't blame them. They were desperate.
The argument: providing paid sick leave will generate you more profits; so, if you don't, you'll lose everything generating your profit, your workers will suffer, and others for the lack of paid sick leave Employers: "Exactly, Shirley! So I will cut paid sick leave and inflict suffering upon the people!"
What is wrong with the USA, that you actually need a video explaining why paid sick leave is good? With a doctor’s notice I get several weeks off at full pay and more at reduced pay. But I also get eight weeks of paid (mandatory) maternal leave, several months of (partly) paid parental leave and (at least) a month of fully paid vacation days plus about ten public holidays.
I don’t want to be all doom and gloom, but it feels like we can’t win. It feels like every time we improve things for workers in the USA, the more it incentivizes companies to outsource to another country. I dunno; is there a law we can draft to force companies to have a majority workforce in the country that makes their majority profits? But then that raises the specter of China. 🤦🏻♂️
HE SHOULD REALLY DO A VIDEO , THAT SHOWS EVERY TIME THE CCP IN COMMUNIST CHINA RAISES IT TAXES ON MANUFACTURERS OF GOODS EXPORTED THE USA. THE PRICE HERE GOES UP WHILE THOSE WHO PAY HIGHER TAXES IN COMMUNIST CHINA , WHINE THAT HIGHER TAXES HERE WILL CAUSE CORPORATIONS /OWNERS TO LEAVE TO MANUFACTURE SOME WHERE ELSE !!!!!
I just wish we could have a mass movement IN THE STREETS for M4A. We just simply have to do it. We need to get off our petards now and solve this so we can be like the other industrial nations. The current system is an embarrassment.
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My congressman wants the waitress that serves me my food, to do it when she is sick as a dog, so I have to go to work sick next week and infect a hundred customers. None of us can afford to go to a doctor, but our taxes pay for lifetime medical for the bastards that denied medical and sick days to us. I would never advocate for violence, but would not argue against.
I know... I can never understand why these mass shooters don't go after the elites (political and economic) who are the real culprits of their misery. Instead they attack average people. It would just be nice if, when they finally break, they retaliate against the source of the problem.
You believe in government. You argue for violence every day.
Sickening!
I'm surprised that we haven't more case of accidental posing
Instead of violence, share this excellent video.
Can we also add that this trend to combine sick leave and vacation leave into "PTO" is a terrible idea? It incentivizes employees to avoid using their sick days if they want to take vacations. Both are important for good physical and mental health and forcing people to choose will almost certainly result in not using sick days when they should.
I prefer the system where you don't have allotted vacation time, but can take time off when your obligations to the company are met. Of course, the obligations are never met and they do not have to cash you out.
100%. My work combines both and its terrible. Im still glad I get to have both but it incentives sick people to still come in, defeating the point.
And let's not forget this "unlimited PTO" scam - all this means is that you still only get to take as much time as your boss allows, but when you depart the job you cannot have any time accumulated for them to pay you on.
You appear to believe employers care about our physical and mental health or about the quality of goods and services they provide. They do not. All they care about is this quarter's profits. They would kill us all and sell literal dog poop if it increased their profits by 1 cent.
Granted that IF such things as PTO even exist to begin with.
When I was younger, I worked in kitchens. Every place would make us sign a policy telling us we couldn't work when we were sick. Then, when we got sick and tried to call out for unpaid leave like the policy said, they would threaten to fire us. If you ever get sick after eating at a restaurant, thank management for violating their own policies and making people work when they're contagious.
For real, though. And you’re not supposed to acknowledge openly the hypocrisy of it all.
I work retail. I have to accrue sick leave, but the amount accrued per hour worked is pitiful. And they guilt you or retaliate when you do take time off because you're sick. We work ourselves to death in America for little to nothing. We're expendable to them despite the pandemic claiming we're 'essential'. Imagine a world without wage slavery... Wouldn't that be nice.
You don't "work yourselves to death" in retail🤣. Lazy people are hilarious.
I feel it, too. I always get the "we missed you last week." Or the "sorry, this opportunity is for people who haven't taken their sick or vacation days in the first three months of the year." Like, I can't control when I'm sick, let alone if my son ever gets sick.
@@yourdaddy-mq4km This is Zachoff the irrelevant using a new name? New account March 7th 2023. Real tricky buddy boy.
@@yourdaddy-mq4km Freedom of Speech does not mean that your ignorance is a good as Dr. Reich's knowledge.
@@yourdaddy-mq4km you’ve clearly never worked in retail, or any job it seems. I’m willing to bet you’re a 12 year old boy who is “bored”.
I get 10 sick days per year and the flexibility to work from home whenever I choose. I can't imagine how difficult it must be for those rail workers that went on strike recently, who had zero sick days.
And still don't.
Damn, actually having a limit to how often your allowed to be sick is draconic
Unions are awesome 🤣
Many businesses in the world have unlimited sick leave. But it is to way trust situation. I worked for a place for 30 years. We got 9 sick days a year and could accumulate up to 70 days. During those 30 years, I took most days off to look after my child when I got flu or similar bugs. I am healthy. By the end of 30 years, I had an unused balance of 20 days, I think. Others had greater needs than me. But if you average it out, it is about the same as the individual entitlement.
I have heard in the next contract with the rail worker is they will earn 62 days That is more than the Federal Government workers We only receive 12 days a year You can burn that off being infected with anything. Plus I work in a hospital It is totally unfair. While worked for the County Government in a Nursing care facility. I received 2 1/2 days per month.
Not only should you have paid sick leave, you should also have paid vacation leave too. 15 days a year at a minimum.
Wait, you don't even have that? Oh... You're American.
Many EU countries offer 5 weeks paid vacation, along with maternity and sick leave.
@@2cartalkers yeah, I get about six weeks paid vacation, unlimited sick days, naturally, and get 8% extra holiday pay on my salary, apart from the extra 8% end of year bonus. And I really have quite a mediocre job.
How about no. I'm not paying you to not contribute to my business.
@@yourdaddy-mq4km So many other countries do it, and the people are happier, retention is better, and the businesses are doing just fine. And personally, surely you would like a vacation once in a while, without having to think about loss of pay.
Had to go to ER for pulmonary embolism, the hospital I went to was full, so they sent me to a different one via ambulance. I had an EMT that was obviously sick with the sniffles. I asked if he was sick, and he said, "no."
Few days later, after I was discharged from hospital, I was sick as a dog. For ten days. With medically suppressed immunity. I almost flunked my accounting class I was taking at the time.
Thanks, Derrick, for being so honest with me 😡
Thanks for explaining why this is better for workers, customers and employers.
No joke. Once when I was a CVS pharmacy tech, I had a sick coworker who looked like she was about to keel over (I'm sure there were other times coworkers were sick, but they were never as bad off as this time). She begged the pharmacy manager to let her go home sick, and the manager refused unless she found a replacement. So the coworker stayed there, and handled drugs and cashed out customers. Want a side of virus with your prescription?
Nothing sicker than a society without universal healthcare that forces its citizens to take time off to be sick. Free market serfdom.
My bestie just had his boss fly in from out of state to holler at him about getting numbers up.
Best friend comes down sick Saturday, takes test, pops hot for COVID. Only person he was around was said Boss. Calls Boss, tells boss he needs to get tested, boss says he just had a cold. Also tells friend to come in to work. Today. He's still sick with COVID right now, Boss demands him at the office. WTF.
But the problem is that they CANNOT AFFORD to take time off, so they show up at work sick. And where is this VERY common? The restaurant business. The VERY people you do not want working sick are the ones financially forced to do it. So everyone else gets sick and the problem explodes exponentially. Ironic it happens in a country least equipped to deal with it - the USA with its for profiteering health care system.
There is government programs for people who can't work.
Healthcare is not even a free-market system either it's controlled by a few corporate monopolies at this point.
@@yourdaddy-mq4km ever tried to feed and house your family on those programs? Sister had a stroke, couldn't work, lives a thousand miles from any family, gets $23/month for food. 3 foodbanks in county, got moldy bread and expired rotten food....
Heck, just getting a day to be sick even unpaid was nearly impossible in healthcare, if got sick on a weekend you had to "make it up" by working the next weekend, if your child got sick or got a snake bite were labelled "weak sister" Had prep day for colonoscopy threatened to be taken back. Was told should only be off 3 days for gallbladder surgery. Have had to work with appendicitis, miscarrying and having an allergic reaction covered in hives with swollen tongue. This is health care in US
This is literally insane like they definitely should have let you rest much longer than 3 days wtf. Yea I'm currently sick now and not looking forward to making up the time I missed tbh.
Full-time workers in Australia have 10 paid sick leave days a year. They also have a higher minimum wage, 20 days' paid holiday (vacation) leave, and paid parental leave - not to mention universal health care. It's crazy that a wealthy country like the US can't do likewise.
I'm curious, what is the minimum wage there?
@@patiencecole9786 In American dollars it is $18.79 per hour. If you are a casual, which has no leave entitlements, then it is $26.88 American.
And those 20 days don’t include the public holidays most people get or get extra pay for working
America, land of the Golden Rule.
The people with all the gold, make the rules.
WORKERS SHOULD UNIONISE.
BRAVO! 👏😀
Thank you, Mr Reich for the breakdown!
I am an educator. I 'Earn' sick days by coming in to work regularly, and I 'use' them by...being sick. There is a maximum amount of sick time I can build up, once I am there, I cannot exceed it, even if I go years without taking leave. Last year, I had COVID for two weeks, could barely get out of bed and was unable to even think about working. My district no-longer had a COVID policy, so when I received my paycheck, it was $0, despite the fact that I was actively doing the right thing.
First off, the fact that I am not technically salaried as a full-time teacher is just absurd, and second, the fact that there was no system to pay people with COVID is frankly criminal.
Wow, never would've thought I would watch a video explaining why paid sick leave is good! What's wrong with the US?
It doesn't make sense to me that on some jobs, employees are not allowed to call in sick and are forced to take unpaid leave. I can understand having to have a doctor's note. But people do get sick enough to not be able to come into work. They should be home. The cycle of sickness just keeps going when employees come to work sick. Especially with the types of flu that are going around now.
Well, it's OK to require a note IF your employees actually have the ability to obtain and pay for medical care. If they're making barely subsistence wages and don't have medical insurance or sick days, then how are they supposed to get a doctor's note?
If the employer wants to pay for a house visit doctor, MAYBE. There is an underlaying trust issue that the boss has vs the employee if the employee cannot self diagnose "I feel like shit".
Besides who can get a short notice doctor's visit without going to the ER? Already facing losing hours I am supposed to go spend 250 to have a doctor go "Wow, you look like shit." as if it was any news to me.
@@katjaamyx2922 exactly that's another problem
@Adalore and any other civilized country you'd get that for free or nearly free for like $10. AND you'd get treated for the problem as well. If you walk into the emergency room they have to see you regardless if you pay them or not. So many people go into the emergency room for something not too serious because unfortunately they don't have any other choice. And of course NOT pay for it. As it's laughable they even send a bill. If we had a health system many people would just go to a doctors office because they would be able too. And if you can't afford that of course you can't afford the emergency room either however they can't refuse you at the emergency room. OR SOMETHING that's just as bad if not worse people go to to the emergency room because it's a true emergency HOWEVER if they had been able to go to a doctors office a week or so previously in many cases the problem could of been taken care of when it was just a not so serious problem and it wouldn't of turned into an emergency. So it's sad we don't have a system except walk into the emergency room because you haven't an option
J sand
5 minutes ago
It's an interesting conundrum, on the one hand corporations do not want pay high taxes yet... on the other hand corporations expect the government to take care of not only health care but pensions and other things.
I think it depends on the board of a corporation. I have a hard time believing those of Amazon, Norfolk Southern and Tesla have any expectations from the government other than lining their pockets. But there are many other (usually the smaller) corporations whose owners have more expectations from government and are willing to pay (and do pay) more taxes as their multinational counterparts.
Yes, it's certainly not an all in or out conclusion, there are exceptions.
It all comes down to the idea that the sole purpose of a business is to make as much profit as possible, consequences be damned. If they can offload costs to someone else (often the employee), then it is essentially free as far as they're concerned. Part of why the Free Market won't solve all problems, and needs a strong referee (government) to make & enforce rules to level the playing field.
@@Charon85Onozuka I think of extreme for profit healthcare, the very nature of it implies that those who least afford it may get left behind. Of course, some profit must be made, but it gets out of hand when the investor's profit takes priority over a patient's wellbeing.
A friend of mine here in Canada is having issues with their digestive system that the doctors haven’t been able to diagnose or resolve. They work in a resort town, and lives in company housing which isn’t easy to get - but when they’ve been sick they aren’t allowed to stay in company housing as the company fears other workers getting sick. Fortunately they have a friend in the town they have been staying with. But it makes me wonder what other staff from overseas who know nobody end up doing. What was done during Covid? Also the company did have provisions that helped workers especially when sick, that made things more flexible and easier for workers, especially sick ones, that were put in place because of Covid that they are now starting to roll back. The roll back will make it very difficult to keep the housing and my friend may end up having to give up that job completely. Ultimately the bottom line is don’t get sick.
Its probably the canola oil in the food they feed the staff. Or as they called it when I worked in Denali Park, Alaska at a resort "zoo ass".
People should be shaming their employers if they get fired over saying home sick.
"Don't eat at this restaurant. They asked me to serve you food while I was sick."
No one ever filed medical bankruptcy in the UK.
Here in the USA not so much.
How's that capitalism working for you?
When covid happened, my mom had paid sick leave when her feet would get swollen and it's a good thing to let her relax because if she works, she would probably end up falling to the floor and rush to the hospital. We also take pictures of the incident then her boss accepts that she can't work. I think it should be a mandatory working condition companies should have so we don't have to worry about making more money for our bills and getting tons of rest in the process of getting sick
America needs a good, single-payer system like the rest of the civilized world. At least part of it can be provided by passing a wealth and income tax on the top wealthy people.
To quote the title of Prof Richard Wolff’s book,
“THE SICKNESS IS THE SYSTEM”
The real sickness is Richard Wolff's cancer economics that is killing the economy.
Employers are Petty and shortsighted.
USA WORKERS SHOULD UNIONISE!!
If employers pay people to be sick then everyone is suddenly going to be sick all the time. Incentivizing laziness is the cancer that is killing of economy right now. I mean do you think that's going help businesses keep the price of their products low?
@@yourdaddy-mq4km This is Zachoff the irrelevant using a new name? New account March 7th 2023. Real tricky buddy boy.
@@brucebasile5083 whoever he is he is projecting.
A very right-wing thing to do.
@@1Kent Oh it's him. He's the corporate bootlicking troll who used to post as Zach. He is this channels irrelevant troll we all laugh at. hahaha
I work part-time and get one hour of sick leave per month. With a union. Every year they try to fight for us and owners push back and take away more.
Thankfully I work at a very reputable University where they provide all workers with both paid vacation and paid sick time separately and you can carry your hours over to another year! I have been fortunate enough to have saved almost 400 hours of paid sick time. However, it's still extremely sad that not many people in this country have been as fortunate as I have!
As always you are 100 % correct. This will no doubt trigger the corporate bootlickers.
@@davidh4129 Brilliant !
@@davidh4129 YAWN....ZZZZzzzz....
It's always more cost effective to be a good person.
I am so thankful that where I work lets me take off if I'm sick, in fact if I'm sicker than I realize they're like "Victoria, take the day off, you need to get better", I appreciate the kindness from them. I also live in a small town in northern New Hampshire where lots of people know each other so that kind of helps, we're all friends and neighbors.
At this point it has to be a control issue. They'll demand doctor's notes, you won't be able to get one. So that leaves one course of action, show up and make sure you cough on your immediate boss. If you're so healthy it won't be a problem...right?
I figure they are terrified of a healthy and functional labor base because they might unionize or look for work else where, it's better in their perspective for workers to be exhausted because then they'll do the shitty job for them instead of someone else. It's much harder to unionize or improve your situation when you are being ran into the ground.
Keeping workers exhausted: What a cost effective idea!
At my workplace, if someone were to come in sick, it could literally kill someone given the nature of our business. And yet we do not have paid sick leave for part time. Part-timers that the business relies on to function.
There are literally laws preventing sick people from working around food, but that doesn't stop restaurants from being impossible to call in to when sick.
In my work place in Australia, if someone comes to work sick, they will first of all be subtlety vibed out by colleagues for potentially spreading germs (tongue in cheek), then sent home or to the doctor. NO ONE wants to catch their germs and it’s socially unacceptable to go around spreading your disease. We have paid sick days which cover people for such instances. If you have run out of paid sick days, you can take leave without pay, or paid holiday pay if necessary ie: for longer term conditions. It’s not a perfect system, but for the most part, people are not penalised for the totally normal human condition of illness. The USA is so far behind the rest of the first world when it comes to employment conditions. No wonder there are so many millionaires and billionaires there, they get rich by ripping off and exploiting their employees! Heads up, they can still be mega rich and pay employees a living wage with benefits. The two are not mutually exclusive.
If you are one of the 99.99 % of the planet who isn’t wealthy, it isn’t “derp a derp”. It’s meaningful basic human healthcare.
If you are part of the 99.99% and you’re still saying “derp a derp”, then my friend you’ve been successfully brainwashed into thinking trickle down economics works and that your life is better when you are stripped of a living wage and basic healthcare benefits (that every other first world country takes for granted), and that the money not spent on you, is better off in the pockets of a billionaire who has so much money they can’t actually spend it all. My unsolicited advice to you is to get out of your indoctrination bubble and look at economic systems that are better than that in the USA.
Or you can stay in your poverty ridden ignorant bubble and keep telling yourself how good you have it, while you and your family struggle on with life, hoping no one gets sick and bankrupts you. Meanwhile the rest of us living good lives in better democracies than the USA feel sorry for you over your self inflicted ignorance which causes your “derp a derp” delusion.
@@davidh4129 Brilliant. Now go home and get your shine box, Jethro.
@@davidh4129 Typical pro corporate anti worker verbal diarrhea expected from another corporate bootlicking troll.
Now go home and get your shine box, Bozo.
And the intellectual mastermind digs his head even deeper in the sand. Good luck to you, you’re going to need it at some point, because even God can’t help a person who doesn’t help himself.
LC pay no attention. Americans think paid sick leave is socialism. They want the freedom to die in the office. Let them have it.
Great arguments
The professor always tells it like it is.
He tells it like the fake economist who has no clue how business works.
@@yourdaddy-mq4km Is this Zachoff the irrelevant using a new name? New account started on March 7th 2023. You're not too clever are you Zach. ? hahahaha
@@yourdaddy-mq4km Prove him wrong. I bet you can't do it.
@@eatmorenachos He can't.. He couldn't as Zach and still can't with his new name Your daddy. More like your mama. hahaha
@@eatmorenachos what are talking about? the pandemic was one giant example of how this crap doesn't work. People got paid to stay at home and millions of people took advantage of it creating supply chain shortages. Now companies can't find workers, its turned the economy into a dumpster fire. Reich couldn't be more wrong.
This is a great video.
In Australia, I get 12 paid sick days per year. I generally only use 2 or 3 per year. That cannot be accrued. I get 5 weeks annual vacation time and that can be accrued. If I only take 3 weeks' vacation time once year, I have 8 weeks the following year and so on. And after the first 10 years of working for the same company, I got 3 months long service leave on top of my 5 weeks' vacation and then 3 months every 7 years after that.
After 12 years I was able to have 6 months' vacation leave and do serious travelling as I didn't use all of my 5 weeks' vacation time every year. Then when I was in an accident and needed 5 months off, I had vacation leave up my sleeve and was able to recuperate without stress. I work in a large company. But in a small company in Australia, people still get a minimum of 10 days sick leave and 4 weeks annual leave as well as long service leave every ten years of service. People are more productive, and the company makes more money.
If South American, Canada, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, The UK, Russia, Baltic States, Nordic States, and so on can offer this, why can't America do it. Supposed to be the richest country in the World yet has the poorest workers. Americans need to have and support Unions if they want better pay and conditions.
You guys are so awesome but some how 🇺🇸 has to protect you cowards? Why is that? 🤔
The right thing to do? Come on, Bob, you know our corporate overlords only want us to work work work! They know their workers can be replaced at will. Until the corporate overlords start seeing employees as something important to the success of their business they will not treat employees any better.
I agree with everything said. It ain't never gonna happen in the current corporatocracy we live in today. We're very close to being trapped in this system. Even the ballot box we be irrelevant. We're almost there.
@Michaeltaylor... This was the intention of the Republican Party's anti-worker, pro-business policies since the time of at least Reagan.
The excuse most corporate HR and C-suite executives give are: If we give them sick time, they will use it!
I will agree that staying home while sick is a moral obligation to those you could infect, and can protect the rest of the staff from lost productivity.
Paid 🤒🤢 leave😷 for everyone👍!
Yes evidently we need a law
gasp! He's an artist too!!
Where I work, a couple years ago they rolled the sicks days into the PTO. It get a sick day you had to bring in a doctor's note for each day you missed. I am not making this up. I get insurance through work. our deductiables went up $100 this year. I just got the bill for my physical (after insurance) and I owe $115. I just got my EOB on some blood work down(6 tests) and it came to $491 forone vial of blood. And my NP wants me to have blood work done every month. No way in hell I can afford that.
We have signs up in our break room saying “if you feel sick, please stay home to protect yourself and your co-workers”. Only the few people who have full-time positions actually get paid sick leave, and in a way, that’s a trap, because you can lose your job if you take time off that’s not PTO. At least the part-timers can take multiple days if needed. I get one day every 2 months. And every time someone calls out sick, the managers are required to be nice about it on the phone, but afterwards, they speculate aloud about whether the person was really sick or not, and even if it’s clear the person really IS sick, they imply the person is coddling themself unnecessarily, and they’re annoyed because the company doesn’t allow enough payroll to fully cover what needs to be done each shift in the first place. Management is always coming to work sick, and they expect everyone else to do the same. Sick leave is a Catch22 joke.
I once worked for a company that introduced unlimited sick leave. They already had 10 days sick leave/year. They found that with unlimited sick leave people only called in sick when they were really sick, whereas when they had 10 days a year they regarded them as an entitlement and used them all whether or not they were really ill.
I just got over being sick with COVID, but because I didn't get paid sick leave, for an entire month, I went without a paycheck and even after getting my paycheck for the first time in a month it was $20 less than the paycheck I got before sick leave! Every two weeks I get roughly 350, but after missing 4 days of work and missing an entire paycheck for a whole month, I got paid only 330! Ridiculous, I know but that is what happens when you do have paid sick leave
Go get a skill.
Get off your azz.
I think you mean do not have sick leave.
Congress needs to pass laws to address this by banning illness and vacations. No need for sick leave if illness does not exist and you cannot get sick if you never leave work.
And, ban health insurance...there will be less wastage in the healthcare system if it's cash-only.
Rick Scott, where are you?
I have long covid with chronic pain and fatigue. I do my best to make it to work, but my attendance isn't great. Couple months ago some genius in HR decided that calling in sick is no longer an excusable absence. Excuse me?!? Fortunately my state has an equivalent FMLA program, so now I'm covered to take up to 50% of my days off per week with pay. My absentee days have quadrupled! It's probably not what my employer had in mind when they tightened the screws. It serves them right.
I was lucky enough that when I worked in a corporate environment for sixteen years I had the benefit of five weeks vacation plus 10 sick days, and paid sick leave for longer periods of sick time.
I’ve been told to work with pinkeye by a personal care home, a day care, AND a special needs student transportation company. Also had that day care tell me to come in with diarrhea and having had a fever of 103 the day before (I came in the first time; not the second). Had the school van company calling me in the ER asking if I would be able to work that afternoon while I said “not if I’m in surgery!” (turned out I didn’t need it). The one that really took the cake was when I took a non-verbal autistic blind epileptic kid to school but felt like crap the whole time, so came home, took a test, and discovered I was COVID positive. Called my employer and was told they had no one else to retrieve the kid (from his special school a solid 90 minute drive away), so I double-masked myself and retrieved him, but then went to the office and informed my employer I wouldn’t be working the next day (a Friday, and an early dismissal for the kid), and THAT was still objected to, as “the kid won’t go to school, then”! 🤯 “Well, then, he won’t go to school!” I shot back, still double-masked because I’m not enough of a jerk to be infecting the boss I honestly liked as a person who was big, fat, in his 60’s, and probably not properly vaccinated, “I am not working tomorrow! I am going to the DOCTOR and getting MEDICINE because I feel like I’ve been hit by a TRUCK!!!”. I think Boss realized I’d hit my limit and he backed off. “You’ll be back Monday, though?” 🤦♀️ “Yes, I’ll try to be back Monday. Hopefully I’ll be feeling better by then.” “Okay, then”. I did come in Monday, but spent the whole next week double-masked, too. An epileptic, blind, autistic kid seems a poor candidate for COVID, I have to say… 😬 He had crazy anti-vax parents who were convinced his condition had been caused by vaccines he had at 3 even though he’d been diagnosed with some genetic condition at 6 months, too… 😑
7555, You pose yourself as a "victim of authority"
without explaining how or what responsible authoritative leadership should be doing, alternatively, & how you intend to help, and therby stop or overcome the adversity you allegedly face.
Complaining from perpetual false victimhood isnt "petitioning " ones government or Credibly arguing for better humane standards.
Please advocate the standard you want all to live by > instead of spam "victimhood" from a soapbox of convenience.
Discourse, and voting, are about advocating to community (& majority) a credible responsible action. Not dramatic influence.
...I worked for such a company that pretty much had no sick leave policy. Oh there was one but it was so convoluted it was worthless. At the time several there didn't have health coverage as wages were low and the plan the company sponsored (150$ a month) was "bare bones" with high deductibles, out of pocket costs, and many restrictions.
In order to qualify for the company's paid leave, you had to go to a doctor to get a note and then had to bring that note in (for those without coverage cost of he office visit alone was usually more than a days pay) and, if leave was granted, you weren't compensated for the first day and a half. During the company's annual inventory audit (which occurred during the early part of the flu season) you almost had to be laid up in the hospital to be excused, consequently people you were working with (including tempd brought in) would often be sick.
There was one time I was suffering from severe bronchitis, yet had to go in as my co manager was on vacation and there was no one else who could run the department. I felt like the walking dead by the end of that week and the bronchitis nearly developed into Pneumonia (I was in my 50s then). Even though management saw the condition I was in, their leave policy was more trouble than it was worth so I ended up burning a week of vacation time to recover.
You must have worked for 3M Corp. They were sued several times for their "Attendance Control Policy". They'd give you 40 hrs, but if you used it all, you'd be on a final warning for a rolling 12 month period. Also, no raise, bonus or ability to bid for other jobs or promotions until that was done. One of the WORST companies I have ever worked for.
Profits over employees. Employees can be replaced & corporate entities have no shame!
@@milfordcivic6755 ...actually for a shipping and fulfillment warehouse (not Amazon either).
@@patiencecole9786 .. when I had yet another department management responsibility dumped on me (I was already responsible for two plus the company's #1 client's account) I asked fir there would be extra compensation the owner responded "if you don't like it there's the door we can get someone else to do the job". This was after being ther 18 years, during which I streamlined the client billing process, as well as improving the inventory tracking process, order filling process, and shipping station configuration to make it more efficient.
When I was let go two years later due to a buyout and restructuring, he didn't even come out to shake my hand and they tried to escort me out the door like a criminal (the latter happened to other they let go as well). I politely demanded to say goodbye to the people I worked with for the last two decades, and they begrudgingly granted it.
Indeed a clear example of workers bing expendable. I saw it happen numerous times. while I was there. Coincides with the change from "Personnel Office" to "Human Resources" as the latter removes the idea of the worker being a person while lowering them to something to be exploited and "used up"
Companies won't do paid sick leave unless forced to because they value the control more than the loyalty and money.
Truth!!!
I missed the live stream yesterday. Where can I watch it?
my current company is the first company I've ever worked for in 30 years that has paid sick days. the problem is, they also force you to go to a doctor and get a note when you return. I never use to have to deal with that at any previous company except my last one (and they didn't even have paid sick days.) this completely defeats the purpose - you have to spend your sick pay on a hospital visit and have to leave your house and go out when you should be at home resting. I'd prefer my employer not be involved in ANY of my health care decisions.
I worked for the a County Government in New Jersey in 1980's and 1990's I received 2 1/2 days of sick leave per month. While now I am working for Federal Government I only receive eight hours per month. Why when we are in Pandemic Department of Labor is a joke They expect you to file claim while being the first day of being ill. This includes with COVID -19 .
This makes so much sense for LARGE businesses! I owned a small cafe w/5 employees. W/your recommendation I would not have lasted 1 year! Talk about inequalities!
Are you saying that you are part of the problem?
Cafes in EU have sick leave. If not they are closed down.
It's not a viable business if you survive on the hardship of your workers.
I understand you analysis of the need of a padi sick leave, but in many countries it's the government that does it. For example in Spain you can not be fired for being sick, NEVER. Also if you end up sick, if it's not a work ilness or accident, the firsts three days yuo get 0 BUT from that dau onward you get 60%, no needfor the company to do anything just to have your job back when you go back to work. Also sick days are unlimited, for everyone. It's a compromise but for many people that does a lot knowing that even in the bottom income you still have a safety net.
I know you want to make people have better conditions, but you still tie it to having the employers be nice, and in Europe we all know that won't happen until a stong society in the form of a nation does it. It's not having to use the sick days, it's having a right to have a sick leave with unlimited days if needed (next time we'll talk about how the doctor here is free)
Too bad my country does not care about me.
Organizations frequently complain about people abusing sick leave, and I get why they might feel that way. After all, even if you require a doctor's note, it still largely works on the honour system, as it simply means a doctor has to take your word for it rather than just your employer.
I've had a hard time mailing down statistics, but the place where I work has an estimated abuse rate of about 1%. Honestly, there are probably more than 1% of people stealing the stationery!
Most workers are honest. Unfortunately that 1% who abuse the system leave employers feeling like they need to subject us to intense scrutiny, which means that there are people who will report to work sick and spread their illness to an average of 2-3 other people rather than have to spend the time and money on a doctor's note and/or risk their manager decide (often with no basis) that the person is faking their illness.
If sick leave is going up, it's far more likely to be an infection control issue or a public health issue than it is because of abuse.
If it is abuse, the only time that generally rises above the 1% mark is when employees feel exploited or undervalued. I couldn't find hard stats on this, but I'd love to see an organization that maps estimated sick leave abuse to employee satisfaction surveys from the same time period.
Blockbusters Video had me sign a non-compete at age 17. I remember being utterly confused as to why.
My wife's company has no paid time off at all. No paid vacation, no paid sick leave, no medical benefits. Nice! The only reason she keeps it because she works from home, as an interpreter, and she doesn't like to drive. But now she needs a hip replacement and it will not only cost us over $8,000, but she will be off for 6 weeks. My income is SS and savings and I can't find a job until she's back to work. It's criminal that this company can get away with this crap. She didn't get a raise for many years even though she's one of the top interpreters in the company. Politicians sold us out to the big corporations like cattle.
I work for an un-named employer packaging zip ties. We are forced to do 12 days on two days off and it never ends. They enforce this with a strict point system. We can’t even get unpaid time off for illness even if we provide a doctors note and ask management nicely. The only way to get a sick day is by burning through our very limited vacation days before June even comes around and we need to wait till January to get them back. Basically, we’re forced to come into work sick because they make it extremely inconvenient. Our sick days off via vacation days also can get denied too. We work sick at the factory. Everyone is at risk for catching it but they blame us for not wearing a mask. Even with a mask we shouldn’t be at work. If we leave work early due to illness they’ll give us a point. I remember my podiatrist was busy and I had to wait a week for the surgery but they urged me to take the whole week off since I was limping around. But no way in hell my employers would give me unpaid time off without burning my small amount of vacation days. So for many days I badly and painfully limped around the factory floor infront of the supervisors and infront of corporate and infront of the plant manager. They see how pitiful it is not to let employees take sick days but they are heartless non the less. I mean if you saw your employee limping around like that without an accommodation it’s an tragedy. They’re like we don’t believe you’re in pain and infected unless you have a doctors note. Like bitch, the time I have a doctors note my infection won’t be an issue anymore and I won’t need accommodation anymore. I hate them so much. When I healed I came into the supervisors office the following day with the note to prove to them I wasn’t lieing to make them feel more dumb for not accommodating me.
Given this situation for sick leave, parental leave, domestic leave, annual holiday leave. Should the USA adopt some of the ideas from Europe, New Zealand, and Australia .
My favorite is they go by hours now, same amount of days but you work 12 hour shifts!
Nobody needs to be working that much I will never ever ever work that much
We got paid sick leave by law in Germany. Its the bare minimum imho.
People still go to work when sick, a lot, because of some false sense of duty or being afraid of loosing their jobs or some other reason. Sick leave should not just be paid, it should also be mandatory and enforced.
Like those old NBC PSAs: "The more you know..."
The more you know about how bad the US actually has it compared to Europe and Canada, the more depressing it is.
Solid!
Greed is part of our nature, but we aren’t beholden to it. Greed costs everyone.
And BTW, tell Elon Musk to stop siphoning income from the working people and maybe they can afford to have kids! How out of touch is he? Population crisis indeed!
Well if it's good for company's bottom line, why don't we let them decide whether they want paid sick leave or not.
That's like saying why not let a 5 year old decides whether or not to always eat candy for dinner
Robert Reich is right!
My niece, would abuse this program..
You’re always right about labor laws to protect workers, but we keep voting for people who keep doing nothing to enhance labor laws. Our bad… continuously !!
The chain reaction of people working when sick cost the US 28 billion dollars a year in lost man ours alone. Allowing unlimited sick leave could say the country r
400 billion in 10 years. Every country with sick leave like this recovered faster and lost less people to COVID-19.
A while back I worked as a Sys Admin at a big name Fortune 500 company. They were fairly even handed with the professional staff, but the hourly worker bees were treated horribly. There was a demerit system for being absent, regardless the reason. You got 1 demerit for vacation or a sick day, for other than that you got 3 demerits. Your demerit threshold depended on YOS and performance. I saw people choosing between their job or an ER visit for chest pains. Others being punished for using FMLA approved leave. It was disgusting and as icing on the cake, the elderly CEO was given a lump sum retirement payout for $300 million days before the same employee retirement fund was found to be over valued. For everyone retiring after him, their retirement was devalued by 40%. The system is rigged.
That's HORRIBLE!!! Thank you for sharing and shining a light on this behavior.
Sounds like 3M Corp
Same state as 3M, hmmmm.
I think it is challenging to provide paid sick leave to hourly workers because if you did, then most hourly workers would ask for their maximum paid sick leave even if they are not sick. Contrast that to salary workers that never use all of their paid sick leave because if they did, they would fall behind at work. This is why Universal Basic Income is the best solution, not guaranteed or mandated paid sick leave.
Years without it, I let my health and my teeth suffer.
Whether employers give sick leave or not, their employees take time off...a person has no choice when you are sick. I saw American employers go from supporting their employees to only caring about the bottom line over my life. I'm glad I'm retired, at least now I'll die making my life better for "me" instead of an employer who doesn't give a damn if I live or die!
Ah yes, you know sick people, they just sit around with thermometers in their mouth all day
We get paid sick leave fortunately, but stupidly we get penalized by occurrences. If you get so many occurrances you get written up. There shouldn't be any penalties if you have the sick leave to cover it and you call in every day followed with a text.
Having extra workers come in for two to four days during busy times almost always guaranteed getting sick. They would have been out of work, and so would be at work no matter how sick they were. And they would make everyone else sick. But you couldn't blame them. They were desperate.
🤮🤒LOOK Man.. "Do u wanna be sick & home? ...or do you wanna be sick & getting paid?"😉🇺🇲
agreed
It's not rocket science, If your work treats you well you fell you have to reply in kind.
As a retail worker in a theme park they are working us to death
The argument: providing paid sick leave will generate you more profits; so, if you don't, you'll lose everything generating your profit, your workers will suffer, and others for the lack of paid sick leave
Employers: "Exactly, Shirley! So I will cut paid sick leave and inflict suffering upon the people!"
If the company don't pay for Medicaid then this doesn't apply
What is wrong with the USA, that you actually need a video explaining why paid sick leave is good?
With a doctor’s notice I get several weeks off at full pay and more at reduced pay. But I also get eight weeks of paid (mandatory) maternal leave, several months of (partly) paid parental leave and (at least) a month of fully paid vacation days plus about ten public holidays.
I bet you take sick pay for the rest of your weak life if given the opportunity, wouldn't you?
Business thinking Long term and caring about their employees: not on this planet
I don’t want to be all doom and gloom, but it feels like we can’t win. It feels like every time we improve things for workers in the USA, the more it incentivizes companies to outsource to another country. I dunno; is there a law we can draft to force companies to have a majority workforce in the country that makes their majority profits? But then that raises the specter of China. 🤦🏻♂️
Robert Reich for President 2024!
Mr. Reich is correct, of course.
🤣
Mr Reich manages once again to uncover good in some bad
What do you think of Starbuck's Chairman's testimonial? Is it too logical and Capitalist to you?
HE SHOULD REALLY DO A VIDEO , THAT SHOWS EVERY TIME THE CCP IN COMMUNIST CHINA RAISES IT TAXES ON MANUFACTURERS OF GOODS EXPORTED THE USA. THE PRICE HERE GOES UP WHILE THOSE WHO PAY HIGHER TAXES IN COMMUNIST CHINA , WHINE THAT HIGHER TAXES HERE WILL CAUSE CORPORATIONS /OWNERS TO LEAVE TO MANUFACTURE SOME WHERE ELSE !!!!!
I just wish we could have a mass movement IN THE STREETS for M4A. We just simply have to do it. We need to get off our petards now and solve this so we can be like the other industrial nations. The current system is an embarrassment.