X.....your problem is not with sick leave 'abuse'. that really is inaccurate language to address what you are insinuating.

use of sick leave is never 'abuse' as it is an earned part of compensation. I don't care if your kid is sick, you are sick, or any other reason a pilot exercises their judgment they should not be at work.

calling in sick, is never 'abuse'.

Your issue is more precisely the suggested use of sick leave to intentionally manipulate a pilots schedule, presumably....and most importantly from our pov....to the detriment and potential abrogation of other pilots seniority rights in the category.

there are solutions far more effective to address this alleged practice than what was arrived at in the ta. the least of which is for management to adequately staff categories so that when a pilot utilizes their earned sick leave it does not create a cascading staffing shortage.

It is highly unlikely the pilot group would have anywhere near the heartburn with well thought out modifications to work rules that address what you are alleging than treating us all like criminals for availing ourselves of a hard earned part of our compensation.

PS...CE.....your formula applied...except for the first year. then you got $1800. period. I can tell you the fedex new hire pay rate in 1987 was what we are paying new hires now.

As long as sick leave was mentioned...

I just flew with a guy who was blowing his nose every 5 minutes and filling up each tissue with enough mucus to soak through it. He was also sucking on Halls drops the whole time and still hacking like a cat with a fur ball. Every time I touched a switch or the throttles I was sure I was picking up the plague or something.

I'm asking for a latex gloves from the flight attendants the next time that happens. My new call sign "Jacko" as in Michael Jackson, one glove on the left hand. Use your **** sick leave. If that's not abusive to your fellow pilots then I don't know what is.

I disagree strongly with what you are saying. Our sick leave balance is not--NOT--"part of our earned compensation." If that were the case we should all use--SHOULD use--our entire balance every year. But if you had a shred of integrity you would not, unless you truly had a bad year, which statistically should not happen a whole lot.

For whatever strange reason that still eludes me, DAL has always wanted this peculiar sick leave approach where you get a big balance every year, but it doesn't carry over. As I have posted before it is a lot like your car insurance. The insurance companies' models are such that the assumptions are that eventually most use some (fender benders), some use none (great, safe, or lucky drivers) and a few use it all (car is totaled). But no insurance company would last long if every driver used all their insurance up to their limits every year, year after year.

Call in sick--without hesitation--if you are sick and I will go so far as to say if your kid is sick, etc. I get it that some times you shouldn't be flying, even if your own personal health is ok.

You should not be calling in sick to turn a one week vacation into two, or you just feel like it.

I do agree that mgmt has somehow hijacked the issue to their own liking, and has us being defensive from the start. I am not sure that any of that is warranted.

You are totally correct. Guys somehow wearing a "badge of honor" about "never calling in sick" are abusers just as much as the other side.

And never forget that one of SD's very first weekly messages when he was new to the job in 07 or so was highlighting a new 777 we had just picked up. And flying it from SEA-ATL were two esteemed pilots who in more than 50 years of combined service had never once called in sick. He was as consumed with the issue then as now. Nothing new here.

You mean, we have more sick leave than anyone, but if you try to use it.......

So basically, we don't really have much sick leave. It's like getting paid in company dollars such that if you tried to buy anything you find out you really didn't have any.

so herk....sick leave is not included or detailed in our employment contract? And is not part of the calculus of pilot 'costs'?

Hmmm. ok. my mistake.

Trying to make sense of your disagreement am I to conclude because as pilots we do not annually use the full extent of medical insurance it is also not part of our earned compensation?

What's ridiculous is that FMLA can't be used against sick time. Wife have a baby and need time to be with them? That's gonna cost you (unless you have unused vacation or you're in the right state).

I experienced a significant tragedy a couple weeks ago, yet I couldn't call in sick for it (legally)... only FMLA... despite being clearly unfit to come into work.

It needs to be clear that the company in those situations behaves like a saint... absolutely incredible how they go out of their way to help. Just with the contract and the way FMLA works, sorry... you're out the money.

I'm one hundred percent with you. When my son at one year old was hospitalized with a life threatening illness, it's a personal drop which at that moment was a bunch of reserve days at the end of the month. Of course they're helpful but according to the FAA I'm not legal to work at that point anyways. So I don't know how much is benevolence vs doing what they're obligated to do. Anyways, it took me two years to pay the bank back on that one plus pay a rather large hospital bill. Thankfully we have the bank to use.

Calling in sick like other Delta pilots can do is not an option in RINO Georgia. I want this improved. I want a me too clause for the next guy.

Not to mention, if your wife gets breast cancer, maybe they ought to have a program that helps you out? I mean it's an easily verifiable thing. So maybe instead of painting things pink, we could put money in accounts to help employees deal with these family care issues without one iota of extra stress added to the mix. Wife have cancer? Child? Go home. Youre not fit to fly. Don't call in sick. No disability issue. We got you covered completely.

Or, we can just paint things pink and just tell everyone we care.

I stopped reading your post right there. If the COMPANY had a shred of integrity we'd have had restoration before 6 BILLION dollar buy backs & dividends. If the Company had a shred of integrity they wouldn't want us to take a PS cut while they change the formula to enrich themselves (yet again), if the Company had a shred of integrity they would've given the other employees pay raises 1/1/16 and the integrity list goes on and on.

I'll provide my services with the same level of integrity the company shows me, nothing more nothing less. It's a two way street.

Don't try and guilt trip someone to your point of view with integrity.


The Integrity backpack is DOA.

This is our entire society in a nutshell.