Conventional wisdom regarding sick bank usage has always been: it's not how many days you call in sick for, it's the number of instances. So if you're sick, call in sick and stay out as long as you need to - no problem, BUT... if you have 4 or 5 instances of calling in sick (within a calender year), even for one day on each instance, you'll probably be standing tall at the end of the long table, explaining yourself.

As well, don't blame the guys who are over 60 for milking their DSA accounts. If the company didn't want them to do that, they would have agreed to pay them for the hours in that bank, when they retired. Certainly you can understand (I know you don't approve of the practice) why a guy who was hopeful that the Age 60 thing would have been already approved, prior to his turning 60, wants to hang around, use up his DSA bank, all the while hoping for a passage of the new age limit. I'm sure the company as well, understands what's going on, and I can't see why they would lump younger guys in with older guys, by questioning sick bank usage. I myself am scamming the system, by having my heart bypass surgery. So now I sit and wait the 6 months that the FAA requires of me, while awaiting a chance to return to the left seat.