The Guide
Jay Goltz

Is Waiting for the Repair Man Considered a Sick Day?

 

Sometimes when an employee does something that we're not sure is in the spirit of the rules, I need to check our employee manual. That happens a lot with sick days. They started out as true sick days for salaried employees who are, in fact, sick, but they've slowly morphed into "emergency days" or in some cases "personal days" -- at least in some people's minds. In discussions with my key management staff, I find that we aren't all sure what is meant by sick days.

You have to drive your mother to the hospital. Is that a sick day? You have to pick your kid up from the school nurse's office. Is that a sick day? Your water heater stopped working in the morning, and you have to wait for the repair man all day. Is that a sick day? Clearly, the employee is not sick in any of these cases; you could probably categorize them all as emergency days. Your son invites you to the birth of his child. Is that an emergency at all? I'd be interested to know how your company handles it. Are these sick days? Are they emergency days? Are they personal days? Do they carry over from year to year? Do you monitor them -- or are you just kind of hoping for compliance?