I see NO erosion of the sick leave benefit. I never verified before, voluntarily or otherwise, and have no intention of doing so now.

If I have a bad sick year and end up having to verify, I'll shake my head at the silliness of it all and waste an hour of my day.

Even if this had been our sick policy forever, not once in 20 years would I have had to verify. Undoubtedly there will be a time when I will have to, and then I'll do it,needless hassle though it might be.

What's with all the angst? I can remember as a new hire getting ZERO sick leave my first six months, calling in sick because I had a nasty case of the flu that laid me out for a week... and just losing the money! Sorry, don't want those "good ol days."