Originally Posted by
SoCalGuy
Besides picking up the phone to inform scheduling that you are 'unfit to fly', how does DAL's sick time/bank work??
There have been some rumors floating about within the new UAL that we 'may' see a sick-bank similar to that of DAL by way of our future JCBA. Speaking solely as a CAL pilot, we presently accrue sick-time to be banked on a monthly basis (5.0 hrs). There are those who never call in sick have "several 100's" banked and counting since there is no 'use it, or loose it' clause. I believe the sick bank cap for us is something crazy like 1300 hrs.
Some have said that DAL's system is a "use it, or loose it" system. If true, is that bank 'given' on an annual, or quarterly basis?? Does everyone get the same bank, or different depending on seniority?? Any other highlights, or pros/cons??
If anyone can give the 'quick and dirty' on how, and what numbers on used on the system, it would be greatly appreciated.
Our sick time works with two parallel limits. The first limit is the amount you can take in one year, it varies from 50 hours per year in Year 1 to 145 hours per year in Year 5 to 240 hours per year at Year 9 and beyond. Those numbers are use it or lose it. If you have a limit of 240 per year (like I do) and you use only 50, then the rest does not get saved in any way. The next year you get the same 240 hour limit.
The second limit is the full pay limit. That is a rolling 3 year limit where you can get full pay on sick hours in any year. The limit is 300 hours.
So for example, since I have 240 hours per year I could theoretically use 720 hours of sick leave over a three year period. I could only get full pay for 300 of those hours. The rest are paid at 75%. On average, before the bankruptcy, Delta pilots used about 75 sick hours per year. The vast majority of pilots who use sick leave just for sickness, get all of their sick time paid at full pay. There are very few hours paid in any one year that are not at full pay.
In the old NWA system, you would accumulate 5 hours per month or 60 hours per year. That was a true bank system where you kept whatever you did not lose in any one year. For instance, if you went 5 years with no sick outs, you would accumulate 300 hours in your sick bank. I know they had some limits on how many different times a year you could call in sick without talking to your chief pilot but I don't know what that was. At 60 hours per year, if you went 17 years straight without a sick call, you would have 1 year of pay saved in the bank.
Delta also has a mutual insurance program that is voluntary for pilots (Delta Pilots Mutual Aid). You pay a very small premium per month and it fills in the gap between disability (50%) and full pay when you're sick leave runs out in a year. There are a bunch of rules that I don't remember about how you use it, but basically it will mostly fill the gap for one year. This is not a company benefit, but a program run by Delta pilots for Delta pilots.