If you ask your employer they'll tell you that you DO have paid sick leave as it is all included in the PTO benefit. They'll also tell you that they have a "no-fault" occurrence policy which means that as long as you don't miss more than 5 days in a rolling 12-month window you have nothing to worry about. If the absence is the result of a contagious illness (requires Dr. note) you do not get an occurrence point at all for any amount of days missed that are covered by the note. If the issue is medical but not a contagious illness (Dr, note required) that you will receive a single occurrence point for each series of consecutive absences covered by the note. They also changed the policy to not automatically charge PTO days for unscheduled absences and give you the option to use PTO or not.BTW, Holy crap they got wage increase of 24%!!! in this deal!
I got 2.5% increase in my last union contract. Oh and as I said, I have no paid sick days.
I hope you've heard this story before, but either way it's pretty hilarious. A former line operator who is now a production supervisor (manager?) who's a big Jazz fan and his name is also a city in Texas had a great experience playing the system while he was still an hourly employee.
So this guy got tickets to a Jazz playoff game several years ago. It was a last minute thing so he was going to need to miss work in order to go. He was near the limit on occurrences so he did the natural thing. He went to urgent care, told them that he had the poopies and got a note for a contagious illness, which it is technically, as if you spread the poop around it could get other people sick.
Well, he goes to the game. On his way into the building he passes a camera that is showing fans excited for the game. He full on turns around, looks straight at the camera, raises his hands in the air and gives an enthusiastic "WHOOOOO!! Let's Go Jazz!!!" Another employee saw the clip and managed to capture it. Being a super awesome co-worker they then turned the footage over to HR. Our hero gets called into the HR office and is confronted with the footage. He doesn't deny that it's him. The HR person, thinking they've got him says "You missed work with a sick note from your doctor..." With zero shame he responded, "Yeah, the note said I couldn't work. It didn't say I couldn't go to a Jazz game." Dropped the mike in the face of the gape-mouthed HR person and walked out. No punishment was issued, no occurrence points assessed.