Where do people stand on unused paid sick days? Should it be use them or lose them? Pay them all out? Or somewhere in between like capping them? Currently NJ has it capped at 15k. But a lot of entities are bypassing that rule.
zantax
2
It should be a matter of negotiation between the employer and the employee, none of the states beeswax. Unless it’s state employees.
My employer does not give separate sick days its all rolled into PTO. I earn just slightly under 8 hours every two weeks. Plus 10 paid holidays.
More employers are understanding that A good work life balance results in higher productivity and less unscheduled call outs.
2 Likes
I’m pretty sure they are talking about state workers in some capacity. The cap is at 15K, and that’s not for the private sector.
Guvnah
5
I’m with @zantax on this. There shouldn’t be state law – even for state workers.
And just my personal opinion, but sick days are just that: continued pay for times when the worker is sick. (I would even let it be used for doctor appointments, if I were an employer.)
In my opinion, a good sick-day structure gives a worker enough days to cover his salary until short-term disability kicks in if there is some extended issue. Maybe (MAYBE) carry some portion of unused sick days from one year to the next. But there shouldn’t be an expectation of cashing out unused sick days. At all.
Vacation days, on the other hand, are a financial benefit that should be cashed out upon termination or retirement if unused.
I’m not understanding this Republican lawmaker, Ms. Munoz’s, outrage.
State workers are still human beings and employees, no?
They’re issued x number of sick days, and don’t use them. Some employers offer their workers the opportunity to donate sick leave to other workers who are facing illness or injuries and may not have much paid time in the bank.
If some workers want to use their unused time to donate to another, why not? Why not, as previously mentioned, roll it all into paid time off for use at the employee’s discretion?
IIRC where I work offers a percentage of rollover and a percentage of pay out. Why not something like that?
I’m just not seeing where the “abuse” is in employees not using sick time and it getting paid out to them.
The outrage is due to cashing out unused sick days. Some people save all of their sick days and get like 80,000 in one lump sum when they retire. Some places allow you to cash out unused sick time every year.
My job allows you to donate sick time, vacation time, or any time you have. I think their major problem was when people used to cash in on unused time.
Guvnah
9
In my opinion, it’s the employer’s call.
If I were an employer, I wouldn’t allow sick-pay cash-out. (Definitely yes, I would for vacation.)
The state (any state) shouldn’t be legislating that. No legislative on limits. No legislative requirements to do so. It’s the employer’s prerogative (or should be) for how to handle it.
1 Like
We can donate PTO as well.
I see no reason why people should cash in unused sick time. Maybe allow then to roll over a limited number of hours and a cap on sick hours.
When I first moved to the US I was shocked to find that there were some employers who did not offer paid time off. I had a few family members on positions like thar but over they years all their employers have shifted to at least a small amount of paid vacation time.
For some reason I find this entire subject fascinating. LOL yeah not sure what it says about me.
Here’s the thing. If I call out sick I am replaced at time and a half. No way around that. So if I save all of my sick days adding up to 50,000, they’d pay out 50,000. If instead I used them all, they’d pay out 75,000 in my absence. But I guess not all jobs are replacing the sick at time and a half.
Another thing to note. These people that saved up all of their sick time didn’t do it because they’re great employees. They did it for the cash payout. Now that they capped it for us at 15k, people are saving sick time to 15k, then using the rest.
This doesn’t affect me since I always use all of my vacation time and almost all of my sick time every year. I get 15 sick days a year. Every year I start with roughly 20. If they went to a use it or lose it policy, I’d start every year at 15. Easily 99% of the workforce would use them.
1 Like
Then they’d most likely use them. In many jobs their replacement is paid time and a half. They let us roll over an unlimited amount of sick time. But people no longer roll over more than the max payout anymore.
Guvnah
13
That’s fine.
It should be left up to the employer.
If your employer allowed cash-out, then more power to those who were healthy enough to bank them. (On the flip side, this game encourages people to come into work, even if they are sick.)
The state shouldn’t have gotten involved.
1 Like
Guvnah
14
Don’t forget… We’re talking about NJ here…
1 Like
“The state shouldn’t have gotten involved.”
Agreed 100%.
To answer the O P query on where I stand on unused sick time, it should be totally up to the employer, public sector agency or private employer.
If they are OK with paying out unused sick time, rolling it over to next year or allowing employees to donate it to another employee facing a hardship, I’m not losing any sleep over what should be their decision.
I would really be surprised if there are any corporations in the USA that don’t have a strict policy regarding vacation time. The corporation that I worked for put forth their policy in 1986. It was that depending on your seniority you could amass two or three weeks a year, up to two years. Then you had to use the time or lose it. And at that time they paid off anyone who had more then three weeks on the books. I remember handing a $10K check to one of our field service guys and telling him he was buying drinks after work. States should only regulate state employees and not make laws that affect companies.
1 Like
Vacation time is one thing, sick time is separate. We get 4 weeks vacation after 10 years, 1 day every year after that. I’ve been there 25 years so you do the math. I get 3 weeks sick days every year on top of that. Plus personal days.
I never cash out vacation time. Ever. I take it every year. We can carry over vacation time for 1 year, that’s it. Use it or lose it after that.
Our sick time can be carried over indefinitely. I can amass any amount of sick time I want. They don’t like the fact someone can work 30 years using almost no sick days, then cashing out on those sick days when they retire. Think about it, 3 weeks times 30 years is around 100k.
zantax
18
Well, my wife can take off any time for any reason, no set number of vacation or sick days. All of management is set up that way. By the time you get to that level nobody is worried you will be shirking your duties.
Guvnah
19
They may as well call it vacation time.
My sister in law is an RN. Now she’s on the training team and was talking about just that. The one’s at the top have no set vacation time. Take as much as you want as long as you’re doing your job. That would make me feel uncomfortable.
Then you have places like Amazon. The guy at the top of an Amazon warehouse. They make around 130k and up. He gets 1 week vacation.
