Originally Posted by
cwjflyer20
When you call in sick it gets recorded in a data base. This data base was perfected by a new hire who used to be an assistant fleet mgr.
I has certain trigger points that have been discussed before.
BUT be fully aware. If you call in sick you are being graded.
Management has a pilot report card on you with your name picture. So If you call or e-mail your fleet capt or scp. The first thing they do is pull up your report card. If it shows you have not called in sick in (15 years for example) you are a good guy. They will listen to you. If it shows you call in sick "frequently" you are graded as a non player= bad employee.
The report card also has every call to the DO you ever made in detail. If you were ever late. Deviated and made a mistake. The list goes on.
You may recall the company used to post top hotel room cancelers. The guys who saved company $ Beware. Just look out by the bus stops and all the cameras every where.
Call in sick or fatigued with great care.
I think that is a bad suggestion.
If you are truly sick, DON'T FLY! If you are fatigued (or expect to be fatigued before landing; remember GWOE, we are our worst assessor of this), DON'T FLY!
Your statement (bolded above) is called "pilot pushing" and is exactly the objective of the company's ridiculous campaign to "track" sick leave. It appears there goal has been achieved, in your case, with your bolded opinion above. I encourage you to reevaluate your opinion.
The company trains us in GWOE and how dangerous we can be if we are sick, fatigued, dehydrated, overweight, etc., but when we apply this new (to some) knowledge, they can't figure out why sick leave usage is going up. Did they really think sick usage would go down when pilots were trained on the "unknown" hazards? Is Safety really paramount?
If you are truly sick/fatigued, you have nothing to worry about (except the inconvenience of the harassment of the company). If you start getting harassed by the company, get ALPA involved, as they are tracking the harassment also.
The company is trying to fit all 4,300+ situations into a "one size fits all" solution (e.g. if a pilot calls in X number of times, he is obviously an abuser, because they think NOBODY can actually be sick that much). In reality, people get sick more often some years than others. Some get sicker as they age. Sometimes you are in the wrong place at the wrong time (car wreck, forced to go to a doctor's office with a bunch of sick people, just to get a doctor's note for a reason that doesn't require a doctors visit, sick kids/grandkids, sports injuries, etc.). What about the sodomizer and it's consequences? What about "less expensive" hotels where we can't good sleep? Age 65? Do they understand that there are many illnesses where a person might be able to do an "office job" but they are not capable of exercising the privileges of their Medical Certificate? Is any of this factored into their "
perfected formula"?
I would suggest that a pilot that calls in excessively (by their standards) is a GREAT employee, because they are "doing the right thing" and not putting the company, fellow pilots and the freight in harms way, by doing the WRONG thing (flying sick/fatigued). If you run a business, your most valuable customers are those that complain, because they care enough to let you know what your problems are, so that you can correct them. Of course, I have no delusion management would ever see it this way.
If you are one of those rare people that "never get sick" (I envy you!!) and only use sick leave as a "scheduling tool", then you might have reason to use "great care". Otherwise, do the right thing for you, your family and your fellow pilots, and don't fly sick/fatigued!!
It is a shame people have to die to teach the rest of us hard lessons, especially when we already know what we should do. Think about UPS 1354. Let's not have a similar situation at FedEx.
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