This is a good example. Your personal guess on the company’s location of the line for sick call abuse is 3 (or 4?) per year. More times than that (5 or more?) and you become an employee on the bad list.

Do credit hours have anything to do with it? What if you don’t exceed your contractual allotment each year, can you still be abusing sick time? How is abuse possible if you underburn? Why would you need a note if you are staying within your annual bank and don’t feel well enough to fly? Do the number of days or actual pairings matter more for your penalty points? What’s the point of those yearly hours which are a contractual benefit if you can be penalized while using them?

Are you comfortable not knowing where the company’s line is when it is a tool that can be used against you? Many are not.

It is rumored to be a rolling 12 month calendar for points accumulation, so make sure the 4th (or is it 5th?) time you call in sick, even for a day, is not in that window dating back to last year.

I’ve heard a guy on the jumpseat state he hadn’t called sick in 20 years and got a request for a dr’s note on his first call. Some newer employees don’t want to deal with secret points or lists when you can possibly be terminated and have trouble finding a similar quality Of life elsewhere.

I’m sure the resident management pilot in training will chime in here about calling in sick when you’re sick with much bravado, but I will ask...why do you get secret points against you for doing the right thing? Something is not right with that, so pilots end up flying when on the fence and their fellow pilots and families get sick. The company pays big bucks to another company to police this situation and there are many pilots (like my future management buddy typing in his mom’s basement right now) who think think that’s a great thing - it will not change so get comfortable and take your vitamins. DR K