Sick Days

If you plan to use the last of your 2011 sick days before the end of the year even if you're not really under the weather, you probably won't be alone. Companies that track employee time off and other worker issues say sick-day use among those who aren't sick is on the rise. From 2006 to 2010, the Workforce Institute at Kronos, a human resources policy group, found an 18% increase among workers who admitted to taking a sick day when they weren't really sick. And a 2007 survey by human resources consultant CCH found that two-thirds of U.S. employees who called in sick at the last minute actually weren't.

Top officials at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum have shown a knack for banking healthy chunks of unused sick leave on the public payroll — in one case, about 35 years' worth. Interim General Manager John Sandbrook, a retired University of California administrator, used the sick leave allotment for most of his university career to boost his annual pension by $655 a month for life, to nearly $183,000, UC figures show. The increase represents 418 days — the quota for all but two of his roughly 37 years within the system, which allows 12 sick days a year.

Dear Alana: I recently found out that the office I work in is closing and everyone who works here will be laid off as of December. I have a lot of vacation days left, but I don't want to use them because I'll get paid for them when my office closes. But there's so much depression within this office, I need a vacation. Normally I'd feel guilty about faking an illness and using my sick days for a vacation. But given the circumstances, is it allowed? Summer in Santa Monica Dear Summer: Your office is probably a dungeon of despair these days, and I can understand why you and your co-workers might be tempted to swipe pencils, printer cartridges and even the bathroom sink as a way to get back at your employer.

Here's a by-the-numbers roundup of what went down off the gridiron during Sunday's Super Bowl, from beer to Twitter to all the TV ads. 47.8 : Percentage of households that tuned in to the Super Bowl in the top 56 U.S. television markets, making it the third-most-watched big game ever, behind last year's matchup between the Green Bay Packers and the Pittsburgh Steelers and the 1987 championship between the Giants and the Denver Broncos....

As every parent knows, going back to school can be hazardous to your child's health. Along with smiling teachers, new books and shiny desktops, the classroom holds the potential for catching any number of colds, flus and intestinal upsets. Elementary school students can expect to contract about half a dozen minor illnesses between September and June. Older students going off to college for the first time also face health hazards such as weight gain and psychological stress.

A Chicago restaurant worker recalls a time he was sick but felt he had to work or else be fired: "It was an incredibly busy weekend," he said, "at one point, one of my fellow workers sat me down because I was about to faint. The smell of grease and a long shift had taken their toll. I spent the next five days vomiting, expectorating phlegm and drinking a lot of orange juice. I had to force my co-workers to cover for me and work double shifts. They didn't want to see me fired, and I didn't want to lose my job. Later that week, two of my co-workers caught my virus as well as quite a few customers.

About 1,250 union workers at the Disneyland and Disney Pacific hotels ratified a three-year contract with the Walt Disney Co. that includes increases of about 3% a year. Workers who don't receive tips will get slightly more than a 3% increase this year, which includes the addition of paid sick days, said Angela Keefe, president of Hotel Employees Restaurant Employees Local 681. They'll also receive hourly wage increases of about 3% in 1998 and 1999, Keefe said.

The next time you need a break from work, try this on for size: I have a rare case of 48-hour projectile leprosy. When it's cleared up, I'll be in. That excuse might sound outlandish, but a fake excuse is a fake excuse, and faking it appears to occur more often among better-educated, higher-paid employees than anyone else. A recent Louis Harris & Associates poll said employees in the United States take an accumulated 200 million sick days a year.

Stumped for small talk? Feel free to share these sick facts and figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics at your next dinner party: * Americans call in sick more than 2.1 million times per month. * The flu is the biggest reason for illness (averaging 76 days a year per workplace), followed by strains and sprains (30), fractures and dislocations (23) and common cold (21); "female problems" (5) account for the least-given reason for absenteeism.

Q. I plan to retire early next year, at which time I will receive about $30,000 for unused vacation and sick days. Is there any way to avoid or reduce the tax bite that will be taken out of this money? --S.O. * A. Your only recourse is to persuade your employer to pay the $30,000 to you over several years in the expectation that once you are retired, you will be in a lower tax bracket and therefore can stand to lose a smaller portion of this payout to Uncle Sam.

When Lt. Marie Hannah retired from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department in 2010, she left with the well-wishes of her colleagues, a six-figure pension and a one-time payment so large it surprised even her: $183,683 for unused time off. Hannah accumulated her 325 days of vacation, sick time, comp time and holiday credit over a 30-year career. Under county rules, she was paid for all of it at her final $147,600 salary. "I've always been a person who believes in saving for a rainy day," Hannah said of her decision to skip family trips, to work when she felt under the weather and to stockpile the time off. "But I didn't expect [the check]

If you plan to use the last of your 2011 sick days before the end of the year even if you're not really under the weather, you probably won't be alone. Companies that track employee time off and other worker issues say sick-day use among those who aren't sick is on the rise. From 2006 to 2010, the Workforce Institute at Kronos, a human resources policy group, found an 18% increase among workers who admitted to taking a sick day when they weren't really sick. And a 2007 survey by human resources consultant CCH found that two-thirds of U.S. employees who called in sick at the last minute actually weren't.

My motive as a negotiator was pure, and my efforts honest. But after meeting with elected officials last week, I was unable to deliver any measure of labor peace in Costa Mesa, where half the city's employees have been notified they could soon be fired and replaced by private contractors. Luckily, the court stepped in where journalism failed, and employees got a temporary reprieve Tuesday when an Orange County Superior Court judge ordered a postponement of the layoffs until a lawsuit is heard.

A Chicago restaurant worker recalls a time he was sick but felt he had to work or else be fired: "It was an incredibly busy weekend," he said, "at one point, one of my fellow workers sat me down because I was about to faint. The smell of grease and a long shift had taken their toll. I spent the next five days vomiting, expectorating phlegm and drinking a lot of orange juice. I had to force my co-workers to cover for me and work double shifts. They didn't want to see me fired, and I didn't want to lose my job. Later that week, two of my co-workers caught my virus as well as quite a few customers.

How would you feel if you had chest pains or a sinus infection that wouldn’t go away, and when you finally got in to see a doctor, she was coughing and sneezing throughout the entire examination? I, for one, would not particularly appreciate such dedication to patient care. But ironically, doctors have a tendency to show up to work when they should be taking sick days. There’s even a name for this – presenteeism . To find out how prevalent presenteeism is among doctors in residency training programs, a group of researchers sent surveys to 774 residents in internal medicine, general surgery, obstetrics/gynecology and pediatrics at 12 hospitals around the country.

Former Bell City Manager Robert Rizzo, whose $787,637 salary prompted widespread outrage, received an unusually lucrative package of benefits that increased his annual compensation to more than $1.5 million, according to city records reviewed by The Times. Rizzo's benefits package for this year, which covers time off, retirement and medical and other types of insurance, shows he was entitled to vacation and sick leave that totaled more than 28 weeks a year. Bell's interim city attorney said Saturday that Rizzo's compensation package raised serious questions and that the city planned to investigate who approved the perks and whether they are legal.

Most U.S. workers don't use up all their sick days. Merrill Lynch & Co. seems bent on making sure its workers don't. A new corporate policy has employees at the largest U.S. stock brokerage possibly facing punitive action -- including the loss of pay -- if they take more than three sick days without valid excuses. Termination could result after eight sick days.

Flu shots are not just for old folks. A new study in the New England Journal of Medicine says that the annual fall vaccinations also keep working-age people healthier and more productive, reducing wintertime sick days by one-third. The team based its study on 849 healthy adults ages 18 to 64, half of whom got the vaccine. Those who received it had 25% fewer upper respiratory illnesses and missed 36% fewer days of work.

Re "For many ill with the flu, staying home is no option," Nov. 13 Ah, the joys of the "let the marketplace take care of itself" school of government. About 22 million Americans are suffering with the H1N1 virus, and one-third of the nation's workers don't have paid sick days. In other words, the sick must come to work or lose pay and be disciplined. Thus we have a nice "How to Spread the Flu 101" program in place. Of course, we would not want any government regulation inhibiting the spread of this deadly disease.

Glynndana Shevlin awoke Oct. 30 with a runny nose and scratchy throat, worried she might have the flu. But the full-time food and beverage concierge at the Disneyland Hotel in Anaheim has no paid sick days, and if her absences stack up, she faces discipline. So like many others in the service industry, Shevlin, 49, weighed her options and reported to work sick. "I thought I could make it," said Shevlin, who has worked at the hotel for 21 years. Four hours into her shift -- and after several trips to the bathroom to retch -- Shevlin asked to leave early.