DR K

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

Merle Haggard

Great idea, but the company doesn't consider all sick notes as "equal". I personally know of a guy who was dragged in and had accusations leveled at him because of his doctor's notes being from pharmacies and grocery store clinics. Some bull about it indicating a "pattern" of other things going on. What the hell difference does it make who writes it when the author of the note is doing it well after the fact? That is a pure harassment move to make calling in sick a PITA.

On another note, the two worst illnesses I've had in the past few years came 100% directly from my First Officers. One of which did completely ruin a holiday and a vacation. It's pretty damned frustrating.

We have a perfect storm set up here. The specter of "discipline" hanging over one's head with bad/secret sick use policy, a .50/cents on the dollar payout for hoarding sick time, and a union that apparently thinks all of that is fine.

Merle

Noworkallplay

In a perfect world let’s say the company publishes what their points system is and how it works. How long do you think it would take for a group of our pilots to abuse it and ruin it for everybody?

MEMA300

I think there is a UAL thread about sick notes...

Shaman

Stop calling it "sick time" and call it PTO. The current policies are bad incentives especially in a pandemic world.

Going along is what we do best here and some think that buys us some kind of good will capital but like Charlie Brown and Lucy with the football you will always wind-up on your back.

StarClipper

Wow, so you’re worry about guys using the sick time they accrued? If the company can maximize the use of the contract language to their benefit why can’t we?

pinseeker

That clown said he worked for a major with unlimited sick time, all you had to do was provide a doctors note. I don't think our pilots would have a problem with that, get sick, go to the doctor and get a note, get paid and don't worry about using up all of your days. Imagine, you wouldn't need a disability bank or insurance. You have a major health issue, and you could go out on sick for years while trying to get your medical back and get 100% pay the whole time. I wonder what major that is/was?

StarClipper

That was Nowolk who mentioned that.

pinseeker

Yes, I know. I was responding to your post stating that the clown you quoted said.......

AllWrkNoClipper

I was at NoWork's carrier. You had to sign a release of all your medical records to the company "doctor". Nobody said what you needed to be to qualify as the company "doctor".