Is anybody really surprised that Colgan came up with this?
If you hire stand up, honest professionals then you wouldnt have this problem of people abusing the system. The few people who would abuse the system would be much more easily dealt with. Colgan couldnt attract quality applicants back in the day due to their sub-standard working conditions, pay, maintenance, or their general state of SNAFU. IF you hire substandard employees then you get substandard employee antics. I hope people do abuse the system... let Colgan cancel flights for lack of crews and wonder why people arent overjoyed to work in sub-par conditions.
At my company people do sometimes abuse the system but they are are a very small minority and are disciplined accordingly. We also get sick calls excused with a doctors note... and we are being undercut by a company like this. Sad that a company like Colgan can be referenced to and included in the same group of companies as AWAC, SKW, Comair, XJT, Eagle...