There are many people where if they are off work sick, they do not get paid by their employer.  It must very much annoy these people to hear about the those workers who are still paid when they are ill, abusing the system.

A friend recently told me about a lady he works with. At times she will come to work with a really bad cold or cough, when really she should be at home in bed. By going to work she could be infecting other people with her germs of course. She would be asked why she had come to work when she obviously should be in bed. Her response would be that she did not want to waste her sick days when she was ill. She might as well come to work and be ill there, it would be no fun at home, she would continue.

This woman treated her sick entitlement as extra holiday days. Management who were unaware of her attitude presumed that when she did actually phone in sick, that she must be extremely ill, when in fact she would be perfectly fit and healthy.

Another example involves a company that  had around fifteen percent of its full time staff in one of its buildings, on long term sick leave. The company then announced the closure of that particular building which would include all of the staff being made redundant. The office though would remain open for the next six months, however the only people who worked ninety percent of that six month period would be able to have full redundancy payouts. The amount of people who suddenly stopped having depression and bad backs was astonishing, they called it a miracle.

While the majority of employees are honest in their need for time off when ill, employers need to remain aware of individuals that will abuse sick benefits where a loophole exists.  Monitoring of time and attendance will clearly shown those with “Monday / Friday Blues” or similar red flags that need immediate attention.