Do you think it is ok to "fake" a sickie (day off work due to sickness) if you don't have a physical sickness but are under pressure/stress and need a "mental health day"?

http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-bu ... 1jnqr.html

Done it plenty of times and mostly because the managment of the firm suggested that it would be a good thing for people to take a 'sickie' or two.
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and I voted but it doesn't seem to work.

Pressure or stress can turn into a serious illness, both physical and mental. Sometimes it is better for the co-workers if that person is missing for a day or two

If one is entitled to so many sick days per year then they are entitled to use them.

Some people turn up to work exuding germs and ruining other people's lives then cash in their sick days as holidays. If contagious stay home.

One could even ask if it is ethical to go to work when one is sick either physically or mentally as both can endanger other people, or themselves.

No. Sick days are to take off when you're sick. We had 90 days a year available for sick leave but thanks to nitwits who abused the system we lost that and went to 7 days a year. I had comp time available if I felt I couldn't handle the stress of my job but I normally just took comp time when I felt like enjoying a day off.

In my opinion, taking sick days when you're not sick is unethical.

I wonder too if it is more acceptable to have time off if you have a physical illness ie a cold or broken leg, than if you suffer from a mental illness like depression. I suspect that employees are less likely to disclose these types of ailments due to stigma in the workplace (?)
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Sorry about the poll...tried to fix it but new to the forum. SJEC can you help?

I had a friend getting disability for a permanent emotional disability. When I asked what that was he laughed and said< "I really don't like to work."

I had women working in my division who wanted 3-5 days off every month for PMS. And people who were too sick to work but could spent the day at the mall shopping. Another seasonal favorite was too sick to work but not too sick to go skiing. I had people with back problems who could sit in a boat and fish all day but couldn't possibly sit at a desk.

Some people will work, some won't.

Taking time off sick when you are not sick is, in my opinion, unethical.

The practice that I alluded to above, of the managment suggesting that one take a 'sickie', came about because of the system of moveable Public Holidays.
Good Friday is always held on a Friday, for example, but ANZAC Day is moveable because the date is celebrated not the day corresponding to the landing at Gallipolli.

These moveable holidays mean that a place, such as the dockyard
where I worked, may find it more economical for the workers to take a 'sickie' if the holiday falls on a Tuesday or a Thursday and shut the place down for a 'long weekend'.
Consequently a form would come around asking everyone to nominate what they wanted to do:
a) Take a day from annual holiday leave (never popular).
b) Take a day without pay (even less popular).
c) Take a day's sick leave (the most popular option).
e) Insist on working. (the most unpopular option).

Working was unpopular as the managment could allocate the dirtiest jobs even to tradesmen and technical officers because their regular type of employment would not be available, often due to lack of staff and resultant safety issues. If they didn't like to do the work offered then they were legally free to go home, but without pay.

So there is often more to the taking of a 'sickie' than just having a bit of extra time off.

Then there is the person who isn't really sick and can work quite well with a 'bit of a cold'.
Such a person, in the confines of a submarine (even in dry dock or on the hard), can cause havock and a lot of genuine sick days.

Samuel, I have never, ever, questioned the abaility of humans to justify anything. I spent years listening to police officers justify taking bribes or abusing people. When you first started is was your superiors telling you that taking bribes and abusing citizens was okay. Oh, sure, it's all a good thing to do, necessary, not ever wrong. And, of course, I spent thirty years listening to rapists, pedophiles, murderers, and what have you telling me why what they'd done wasn't wrong and wasn't really their fault. Not their fault. Necessary. A good thing to do. It was hard for me to smile and nod as a pedophile explained how what he'd done was benefiting the child but I did as I listened to their confession.

This forum is to discuss ethics and not to justify behavior. In my opinion, taking a day off sick when you are not sick is unethical. Scheduling minor elective surgery to get as much time off as possible is unethical. Saying, "I'm too sick to go to work but not too sick to go skiing, shopping, fishing...." or whatever is unethical. We all do things that are considered unethical by someone else so don't worry about it.

I do like the, "I might be sick and would infect others..." theory. So, I'll go stand in waist-deep freezing water and fish for little trout all by myself just to protect my co-workers. Oh, the sacrifices I make.

Patrick,
Was it just as unethical for the managment to offer the option of a sickday when they wanted to save money?
Where they not colluding in abuse of the system?
Ideally they should not have given the option, but having been given it is it unethical to take up the option?

The Government could stop uncertainty for business by legislating all public holidays either to a Monday or a Friday and this alone would cut the 'sick day' bill considerably.

The dockyard allowed sick days to acrue for three years but one could only take off the yearly allowance, in bits and pieces, the rest of what had been saved, was for hospital or recuperation from injury (always possible in a dockyard).
The managment were liberal in granting extra leave in serious cases.

Infections, such as colds and influensa, can race through a submarine particularly among those working in the 'confined spaces'.

An example of a confined space was what was called 'the duck's arse', this was at the very rear of the ship and was where the rear hydroplane shaft went through. The entry hole was so small that a brawny painter and docker would grasp me around the thighs and I, hands above my head, would be inserted into the space. I could then support myself on my hands,lay on my back and he'd push my feet up.
Once comfortably inside (!) I'd take the necessary measurements and when finished the docker and I would reverse the procedure.

There were confined spaces inside the sub that were almost as bad.

Samuel, I am not responsible for anyone's ethics except my own. I worked for a police chief who wanted to be able to "fix" tickets for his friends. I couldn't stop him but he could not "fix" any of my tickets. I wouldn't do it for him. He was responsible for his ethics and I was responsible for mine. For me, taking a sick day off when I was not sick would be unethical. Just for me. Some guys put in for overtime they didn't work. They could do a wonderful job justifying it. I wouldn't do that either. I didn't take free meals in restraurants and I would have dinner with cops who did take free meals. Everyone knew I wouldn't do that so some cops didn't every go to dinner break with me. That was fine.

My standard was simple. Would it be something I would be ashamed to tell my children I had done. If your children asked you, Samuel, if you take sick days off when you aren't sick, would you proudly say, "Yes, I do"? If you son or daughter then said, "You know, Dad, I feel like I might be having another cold coming on so I'm staying home from school for a few days to protect the other students," would you say, "I'm proud of you son."

If your son's teacher wanted him to cheat on an important standardized test, would you encourage your son to cheat because the teacher wanted him to?

Do what you want, Samuel, but don't tell me that taking days off work sick when you are not sick is ethical behavior. I don't believe it is. Actually, there an old, rather long thread, about sickies from about four years ago. That poster wanted new excuses.

Patrick,

Kids in school don't work in confined spaces.
If kids in school infect the kid next to them then the breadwinner for that family isn't going to be off work.

I think that if one has an infectious infection then it is ethical to take a sick day so as not to infect others, the dockyard managment made it quite clear that they expected people with bad colds/influenza to stay home. They employed a Doctor, a Nursing sister and two nurses to look after people at work and a foreman could send a worker to the doctor if he thought that he might infect others and the doctor could order him onto other duties or send him home on sick pay, i.e. a 'sickie'.

I think there are the odd day that you just need to take a quick break to sort your head out, but think most are just a "sickie" and they are off playing online pokies or something like it.

I am against about faking a sickie but to have a leave if you're really stressed out sounds good for me

I have read an article "How to Call in Sick when You Just Need a Day Off" with five steps I just can't stop laughing about the content.

In faking sick leave as an employer or business owner you can't take away the rights of your employee. Just make then realize how important their work reputation for their milestone. Tell them that it will really affect their evaluation. This will lessen the sick leave wither it is fake or not.