1 in 4 U.S. teachers are chronically absent

That article is from 2009, during a down economy. But there are cycles.

When the economy is poor, available teachers swell. When the job market is strong, teaching inventory suffers because teachers can find better paying or less stressful work in other sectors.

 

Not the ones who call out sick a couple of times a month. They're not getting hired anywhere else.

 

Ultimately, ripping someone for taking their allowed sick days is roughly akin to ripping someone for taking their allowed tax deductions.

 

They're not allowed a couple of sick days a week.

 

Unmentioned: kids.

 

So you're pivoting from a couple a month to a couple a week now?

 

Baron mentioned a couple of times a week, and didn't have a problem with it.

Ultimately, I don't know how you fire someone for using their allotted days, though I think you can, or should be able to, require a doctor's note for an absence of multiple days, or if patters, like taking Fridays/Mondays off, or the day before or after a long weekend.

But, a couple of times a month, even in a nine month job, is 18 sick days a year. That's above any allotment.

So, yes, someone who routinely takes a couple of sick days per month, needs to be fired.

I'm not sure how this is controversial. I wouldn't want to deal with a co-worker who called out a couple of times a month, much less an employee.

 

You have a sweet career in HR awaiting you.

 

Cute.
"You can't randomly kill neighbors' puppies, but I think it's reasonable that if you get accused of such you should get due process"
becomes
"You can't randomly kill neighbors' puppies, but I think it's reasonable that if you get accused of such you should get due process."

 

Fuck. My bad. What I wanted bolded was:

The problem isn't using their allotted days; it's exceeding their allotted days. If you want to fire or suspend or dock pay for exceeding, I'm down. We've all had people in the office who were a crap shoot on whether or not they're coming to work. Usually younger and irresponsible. Had a co-worker blow through all of her sick days by mid-May once. But if they're within the boundaries of their contract, I don't think there's much of a grievance you can air.

 

Actually, it may not be above the allotment if the contract allows for employees to accrue sick days over time.

What is controversial is wanting to fire somebody for taking the days off allowed in their contract. Also, you drew valid criticism for the article you posted, which was unclear and was rooted in a study that used flawed data.