Originally Posted by
RockyMtMadDog
Hank
Based on the road show info, the voluntary verification bit them, because in their view, pilots were keeping a "bank" of up to 100 hours of unverified SL, and as the end of the sick leave year approached, they were seeing HUGE spikes that could not be explained by anything other than abuse (management's view).
Isn't it in the spring that most guys were calling in sick? Like March through May time frame?
Is that abnormal compared to other pilot groups or employees or the general population? Isn't that when most people tend to get sick?
Rhinoviruses and cornoavirsues — the two agents that typically cause the common cold — replicate more easily in cool, but not too cold, spring weather, Kittu Jindal Garg, M.D., an internal medicine specialist with the Cleveland Clinic, told weather.com.
"A lot of the viruses that cause the common cold are shown to cause outbreaks more frequently in the early to late spring and early to late fall," she said.
...
In the spring, seasonal sniffing can also come from another culprit: allergies.
"I see a lot of patients who come in and tell me that they've had cold all spring; they've been sick for three months," Dr. Garg said. "Really they don't have a cold at all, but more so their allergies are flaring up."
Those who know they have allergies need to take particular care in the spring. Not only can pollen spark miserable seasonal symptoms, but also allergies leave individuals more likely to catch a cold virus because their immune system is already under attack.
We are pilots, we can't fly with even the smallest of head cold and allergies can be just as bad. I lost hearing for two weeks one time flying the 88 into PIT. It was Spring time and I had no idea that I had any sinuses issues or a cold, it was out of the blue and it required going to an urgent care facility. Hurt like hell and I wasn't even sniffling. We cannot take the risks an office worker or FPL person can take.
So do we have data from other airline pilot groups, other employee groups and the general population too? Are we that far out of line? Do we even have our own data? Are DAL/DALPA drawing the wrong conclusions from coincidences of normal human behavior and when our sick time restarts?
We need data. Do we have any we can look at before we are asked to swallow this sick abuse pill again?