I am a Paramedic, who works 24hr shifts. I became ill, and called my
Lt. at 6 in the morning advising him that I wouldn’t be able to make
it to work that day. He proceeded to ask me what was wrong. I
responded that it was personal – to which he advised me that he
needed a description of the illness to award my EARNED sick time.
I considered this a gross invasion of privacy, but complied anyway.
Upon returning to work the next shift I was told I would not be paid
my sick time since I didn’t call in a SECOND TIME to make the
officers aware that I was recovering at my residence.
Furthermore I was told there was no recourse to appeal the “no pay”
decision since it wasn’t a disciplinary action. Since when is NOT
GETTING PAID, not disciplinary?!
From one paramedic to the next, it’s actually illegal for them to ask you why you aren’t coming in. Its federal law. You should contact the D.O.L. about that and you’ll get paid for sure.
When it’s a screw up?
I’m curious to know what the calling in sick policy is. Your Lt. might have just been following policy.
It’s not necessarily unreasonable to ask about the nature of your malady – “I don’t feel good” doesn’t necessarily cut it. You do have the right to expect that the info you provide will be kept confidential though.
As for having your pay withheld – anything can be appealed, the worst that can happen is you get denied. Your Lt. must have a boss or an HR Department you could talk to.
I don’t know what state you work in, but I’m pretty sure this is illegal. Contact your state’s labor board.
That’s terrible! I hope the OP does find a way of appealing this insane decision to withhold pay.
I will comment that employers may want a “mild” indication of what’s wrong. It’s perfectly OK to say, “a cold”, “Flu” or “stomach problems”. They don’t want or need full details.
Who calls in sick anymore? If you are a paramedic and a good one your boss would trust your decisions on being sick. He thought you were faking that is why there is no pay. If you were really sick and a decent employee you show up try and when you look pale your boss sends you home. No one calls in sick anymore and if you do the boss automatically think you are faking because you are. Any good boss no a person with anytype of work ethic doesn’t call in sick.
Your boss asking about your illness seems to be unrelated to the issue of you not getting paid for the second day. If your employer has a policy of having you call in each day you are sick in order to claim sick time, then that’s what you have to do. Every employer I’ve worked for has required one of two things if you are sick for multiple days: 1) call in each day that you will miss, or 2) if you are going to be out for a set period of time (i.e. the doctor prescribed medicine and said you are not to return to work for one week), you can let them know exactly how long it will be till you’ll return.
As for asking what was wrong, I don’t think that’s out of line. As an employer, it’s not unreasonable to make sure that your employee isn’t just blowing off a shift. I guess it depends on the details of the situation, though, because you weren’t too clear on how the conversation went. If he was asking for extremely detailed information about exactly what was wrong, that’s one thing I guess. If he wanted a general answer like “My stomach is feeling terrible,” “I have a horrible cold,” etc, that is not unreasonable. That isn’t unreasonable at all; actually, I’d say it would be unreasonable to be upset about being asked for such an explanation.
You’re an idiot for taking that kind of abuse.
Well, I’m pretty sure most things can be appealed, but to me it would be common knowledge to call in again to let somebody know that I wouldn’t be in that day either… they aren’t psychic.
@Tim.
your an idiot.
I was unable to call in sick to work since I didn’t have the phone numbers of anyone on my project and my work laptop refused to connect to the net to let me access there email address, I drove in (1hr 30min drive!) to have my supervisor look at me and tell me to head straight back home and to bed – he has since given me the phone numbers for a couple of the blokes at work if I feel ill again so I can just call in. Most work places prefer if you call.
Oh and a story from back when I was in HS:
I grabbed a cup of tea at a coffee place on my way to work, the idiot who made the tea put the wrong milk in (I’m lactose intolerant), so within ~30 min of starting my shift at the local supermarket I had server stomic cramps
ok it posted my post before I’d finished -.-
to continue:
*stomach cramps. I asked the supervisor if I could leave as it would take ~2 hrs (from past experience) for this to stop, she went nuts about ‘why had I bothered coming into work if I wasn’t feeling well enough to complete the shift’. So even though I wasn’t sick prior to starting my shift It is still preferred that you call in sick before had rather then have to get sent home for being to ill to work.
@Tim: stop being stupid please
In your post you state you called and said you “weren’t going to make it in that day”. You did NOT say if you told him you were calling in sick or just needed to be home for a specific reason.
While it is in fact illegal for someone to pry into your health,it is NOT illegal for them to ask why you were staying home to see if it would go down as a sick day or personal time, etc. All you have to say, like all of us, is “I’m not going to be in, I”m sick”. That’s it.
As for not getting paid not being disciplinary, it’s not. You don’t have a black mark in your file, you weren’t suspended. They just felt you didn’t have a valid excuse and didn’t get paid for the day you took off.
Idiot is extreme. If your boss calls you and being sick there is a reason he thinks you are faking. Bosses don’t care if you are sick once every 6 months they will take your word on it no questions asked. If you are actually sick more often than that you need to A) retire B) take better care of yourself C) make your employer well aware of your stomach cramps and that you might need time off. Of course diagnosed from a doctor. As a paramedic you should have went through medical training before you are capable of driving and ambulance or working on the sick in the back. You could have mentioned your “stomach cramps” in your physical and had it taking care of.
How would you not have the phone #’s 411 the hospital or look it up in a phonebook.
I think he meant they’d berated him for not calling back a second time on the same day, not another day, as he states he went in for his next planned shift.
Tim-
You are an IDIOT. You DO NOT go into a hospital (as the OP would have to, being a paramedic) or restaurant or anywhere that involves a sanitary environment while you are a possible risk of contamination. In fact, the one time that I physically went into my place of employment (a college dining hall) a few hours before my shift to inform my employer that I wouldn’t be coming in that day (it was on the way home from the doctor’s office), I was severely reprimanded for even setting foot inside the kitchen while being sick. In case you need me to spell it out for you, sick people = contagious = making customers sick(er) = lawsuit. This is bad.
Employers pretty much always would prefer a call. You are full of unreasonable expectations, and I hope to god you never end up in a management position at an institution where sanitary conditions are necessary.
Wow – didn’t the idea of a “labor union” work out just great for you? Have you figured it out yet that unions are only there to feed their own pockets and not actually help out the employees?
RK- Think about it if you missed work everytime you had a runny nose you would never work. It is very obvious that his boss didn’t believe him and called his bullshit and 99% i would bet the boss is right. If you have ever worked in a kitchen as you claim you would know most cooks and waitresses get plastered and come in hung over all the time. yes they are sick from being hungover dipshit. A good boss won’t let you miss work just because you are hungover and sick. He will punish you by NOT PAYING you for faking sick.