Sick Leave and Disciplinary Actions

[dex]

What is the name of your state? OHIO

I know the headache of working for an at will employer. I've been dealing with health issues (heart problem) that I had to go through testing for. At this point I know I have alot of absences and some tardies. I explained to my manager that I have not been late as much as he claims and he basically called me a liar and insinuated that I lie on my time sheet. I had to miss 2 days of work (using my 2 vacation days I had left) to handle a situation where my son got lice from the neighbors. Upon return I was wrote up verbally and in this write up it said i was late EVERYDAY. I was highly upset because I wasn't. So I let it go. Then I find out that a vacation day that everyone else got for particpating in "Health month"... I wasn't going to get either because of my absences. Which would have been ok, but it was not part of the conditions for participating. I asked the boss's wife if she thought this was right and she agreed that it wasn't. Well, my son has been sick with norovirus for a week now. He was unable to keep solid food down for almost a week and was nearly hospitalized. While at work, another employee has been coming in with a temp and vomitting and this particular manager did NOT send her home, but I heard him ask her if she wanted some motrin. There are 4 other female employees that feel this particular employee is being favored. Are employers allowed to make you feel threatened if you do not come in? If other employees complain about my sick leave, can the employer discipline me on that alone if they would have not otherwise. We have NO strict sick leave policy. I honestly feel that my job is at risk. I called off this morning as I have a fever and do not feel good and I could heard my boss's voice go from calm to highly aggitated. I honestly believe that he is decsriminating against me because of my young age and automatically assumes that I am lying about everything. To top it off I work my butt off for them, I've even taken on extra tasks without more pay. Worked weekends to make up for work, and worked sick from home. I work 3 job titles and get paid probably less than another employee doing the same 1 job as me. They have treated me very different from any other employee. How is it beneficial for me to go to work when there are sick people there. Isn't this like putting a bad situation into an even worse one? If employees were required to go to work when sick, isn't this like making someone step into a situation that puts their health at risk. I am almost in tears, because I know I am going to receive some sort of retaliation for this tomorrow. I don't know what else to do. Other than my tardies just about all of my absences are medically excused, and even he said that he didn't count those like I think. Before he started being my manager I used to give my excuses to my boss's wife, only she used to say "oh I don't need those"...it makes me wonder if they are trying to use these against me and maybe I should have made her take it. I am 26 now and when I Was 14 I worked for the same company and was let go after going home ill one day. I did not have obsessive absences, but I did order pizza when i got home because I was hungry. Since I lived so close to where i worked the pizza guy tried to deliver to where I worked. It was after returing to work I was fired without any real reason but I always assumed that they thought I was faking. I am a very responsible adult but I see no point in coming into work when sick and I don't know what to do. At this point I'm probably babbling, but I am tired of getting flack because everyone else see's it as fit to come into work vomitting and with a fever making those of us that do need to stay home seem un-needed. It's like they give you sick days, but dont want you to use them. They want you to come in sick. What is the name of your state?

 

[pattytx]

Your huge block o' text was very hard to read and, to be honest, I didn't even bother getting past the first few sentences.

However, based on those, the primary question here is, is the company subject to the FMLA and, if so, do you and your/your son's medical condition qualify?

 

[dex]

I apologize I am feverish at the moment...

I do not believe they qualify because I do not think that they have more than 50 employees.

I was told my son had food poisoning in the ER, being his sole care giver, I have obviously contracted it from cleaning up after his vomit. I would think that such a condition would be better excused than a head cold. He is under his doctors care and is excused through today. I am supposed to contact her for further testing if he does not get better by Thursday. As of then he will have been sick for 2+ weeks with a fever.

 

[ecmst12]

If your company does not fall under FMLA or a state-level equivalent, then they are not obligated to hold your job when you are out taking care of a sick child.

 

[dex]

Even though not required to hold my job, are they allowed to make me feel that I have to come in against doctors orders? Are they allowed to judge me for not wanting to work with a sick fellow employee? They are disciplining me for being sick, while allowing other employees to remain at work sick. To me that is a double standard. It's as if he's trying to use every excuse he can to try to get his boss to fire me. He's complained about abscenses, tardies..The employee who is sick told him that she didn't trust me..I work IT that is part of my job. Because she wants to cruise myspace at work and doesn't want management finding out doesn't mean that it is right for her to bad mouth me. Since she has made this comment I am required to maitain upkeep of our network and server YET I am denied the password to do so. My abscenses and such were not a problem and I already received a verbal/written prior to his arrival, not even a few months prior. With NO strict sick policy defining what is considered "excessive" how can that make one feel like this? I work in a department with 4 women under the age of 23, one of them recently became a young mother so none of them understand. I feel like this just adds to the fire and my manager is trying to slowly x me out of the department. I know they can fire me for whatever reason, I know I'm not covered under FMLA, but can they make me feel threatened to come to work and hang it over my head like this? I LOVE my job, but none of this seemed to be much of a problem before he showed up. My boss's wife told me I had nothing to worry about, so why do I get grinding teeth when I call off because I am highly contagious. If I wasnt I'd be there

 

[pattytx]

Or for your own illness.

 

[moburkes]

You get grinding teeth because your boss likes to grind his teeth. Is there any other bizarre question you'd like us to answer for you? Or are you just venting?

 

[dex]

I'm sorry I guess I *thought* the posters of this forum were mature adults. NO ONE should get flack from an employer for calling off sick. I should not be singled out and picked on because I have a kid. We have another employee who everyone despises, no one wants to work with or talk to. She comes in part time, and is constantly changing her schedule not because her children are sick, but because she is too cheap to pay for a babysitter. They discipline me for taking sick days, but hand out vacation days to the employee who comes in sick because she has "good attendance" Literally 2 vacation days a month and she's only worked there since the beginning of the year.


Good Day.

 

[moburkes]

This is a legal forum. Nothing that you've described is illegal.

 

[LSchmid]

The OP is under the mistaken impression that a simple doctor's note, in absence of FMLA, should provide some type of job protection and that is simply not the case. Employees come to work ill for a number of reasons and there are numerous instances when an employee would be better off staying at home than bringing the virus to the workplace but the bottom line is that business needs to get done.

It sounds as if the OP is looking for some type or reassurance that their manager is acting illegally but that is simply not the case. There is nothing that the manager has done that is illegal.

You, as an employee, have an obligation to be at work every day. Having an ill chld is NOT an acceptable excuse to miss work (again outside of FMLA). There should be some type of contingency plan for these situations instead of automatically thinking it is okay for you to miss work. I don't want to hear about how the OP is a single parent because that is not an excuse - there are millions of single parents out there!!!

This type of situation frustrates me because I see this type of employee all the time and they have the belief that every ache, pain and runny nose should allow them to be excused from work and that is not the case. Employers these days do not have the resources to have "extra" employees around that can "pick up the slack" when an employee calls in sick.

 

[ecmst12]

Having an ill child is a PERFECTLY acceptable reason to miss work. But if it's detrimental to business, and the employee or the company are not covered by FMLA, then it's also a perfectly acceptable reason to discipline or fire that person.