this post was submitted on 11 Jan 2024
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A Boring Dystopia
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I think the problem is that people will obviously abuse this if they were left unchecked. It's sad but the root of these restrictions aren't just companies being assholes, it is also a minority of employees being assholes. They drive companies to take these stances.
Citation needed.
It's not like you say "I feel sick for 6 months, deal with it" but you have to check with your doctor regularly. That's how it works in Germany. And at some point, you get less payment and when you are chronically ill, you will lose your job at some point. But it's not a set number of days per year
It's not a set number for the US either, we have Family Medical Leave (FMLA). When they say you have sick days it's referring to paid sick leave by your job. If you're sick you can be out for sick leave for quite a long time and the jobs can't do anything against you, they just don't have to pay you. If you're so sick that you're on FMLA for a long time you'll probably qualify for Short Term Disability which you might also supplement with Short Term disability insurance.
I'm talking by experience. I've seen people abuse the benefits that the companies give. When the companies find out, they feel betrayed and start restricting those benefits for everyone.
I'm just saying that greed isn't the only reason behind these issues. That workers also have the responsibility to be respectful towards companies, which isn't always the case.
Both sides need to be better. Companies even more than workers obviously, but workers ain't saints either.
Plus, I don't think that losing your job because you have a serious illness should be acceptable or the mechanism to ensure people aren't abusing their benefits. Getting a fake doctor's note is not that difficult.
I'm sure companies would be more open to these changes if those few cases of bad apples didn't exist. But they exist, so companies are like "ok, if treating you like shit is the only way you won't abuse the benefits, we'll go down this path then". And yeha, it's just a couple of workers who fuck it up for everyone else.
I think this way of thinking is reductive. There are always going to be people who will abuse the system. You can have all the checks you want, but it's gonna happen anyway. However, these people are a minority. Most people do want to work, and having the ability to rest and recover when they're sick no matter how frequent it may be, means they're doing and feeling much better at work. We shouldn't refuse to implement things that will benefit everyone because a few people might abuse it.
Yeha, that's sadly what happens. They punish everyone because a few abuse their trust. Obviously, there are companies out there that are just shitty, I'm just saying that workers also have the responsibility of being respectful with the few companies that are still good. Thankfully I work in a place that lets people take as many sick days as they need and nobody has abused their trust.
Well, it's not like a significant part of the world is already working with "unlimited" sick days.
It's not really unlimited, anyway. You will need doctors notices (ofter after a few days), after a while some attestation from certain state doctors, after a while the money will be paid by your health insurance, after a while you will loose your job.
Not to mention that you forfeit chances for promotions and raises.
Taking enormous amounts of sick days won't be without consequences. Especially not if unjustified.
The difference is that I don't have a sickness budget.
If I'm sick, i'm sick.
If I'm suspiciously often sick, my employer will talk to me.