Jeffrey Dretler Offers Insight On Sick Day Policies

Jeffrey Dretler offered insight to Boston.com on sick day policies.

Reader’s question:

Recently I had taken a day off. I used a sick day. We have six of them to use per calendar year. I considered it a mental health day. I did some errands and then met a friend for lunch. Two tables away, my manager was eating lunch with another person from our office and saw me. The next day I was fired for "abusing the sick time policy" that is written in the company handbook. Is this legal?

"While it may be true that other employees abuse the sick time policy, and perhaps the company is willing to look the other way most of the time, your manager may have felt constrained to enforce the policy when your violation of it was flagrant and witnessed by another employee as well,” Jeff explained. 

Sick days are a benefit that some employers choose to offer their employees. Many employers often provide employees with sick days so that employees who are really sick will not come to work and possibly infect others.

“If your manager had not enforced the policy, it may have sent a message to other employees that sick days could be used as vacation days,” Jeff said.

Read the full article here.