Originally Posted by Andy

That's what I'm effectively doing when I'm sick. Rather than call in sick, I'll drop the trip and then pick up something else in open time.

If I had 250+ hrs SL, I would just call in sick, but having been on LTD, having 250 hrs of SL is my target. Once you need to go out on LTD, you're not going to be able to build up your sick bank and you're not going to be able to pick up open time to make up for any pay shortfalls. That's the problem - very few options to make up lost pay once you lose your medical.

When I went out on LTD, I burned all of my SL plus the flight office moved my vacation time around so that I got paid (vacation) while waiting the 90 days for LTD to kick in. Even with that, I went without a paycheck for more than a month.

I was able to live without a paycheck for more than a month, but I'd prefer to not do that again, especially when there's a medical issue in play.

I'm not a huge fan of our SL accrual but there are workarounds for those like me with low sick banks - I use one method; there are others. If another pilot wants to retire with 1000+ in his sick bank, that's just money he left on the table for the company and the rest of us. I'd like to see SL improvements, but any improvement is going to mean that the company is going to put a $ figure on it and it will come out of our wages in the long run. What's it worth in hourly pay to improve our SL benefit?