Problems with calling in sick.

[lr1937]

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Dman
This was Danny's statement as to asking why.

In our center all you do is call and tell them that "I am not going to be there." Not sick, not dieing, just I will not be there. They do not have the right to question you as to why.

This is what Danny said. His statement says all you have to say is I am not going to be there and no one has the right to ask why. Until you show me the law I think I have every right to ask you why you are not coming to work. He used sick or dieing as an example. In addition the company has to know and you are obligated to report any condition that would comprimise your saftety or the safety of others.
I think your not offering information would require a doctors written explanation as to your meeting medical requirements for the job. You can turn a simple thing into a pissing contest. Is it against the law to require a doctors excuse if you are not willing to answer some questions regarding your absence? I don't think it is against the law to ask why you are going to be out of work and some information about the medical problem if you are sick. If you want to bring a doctors written release every time your out sick have it your way.

 

[brown_bones]

Well Well Well.....In our center which I have been there for almost 20 years, our boss knows darn well when you call in if you are really sick or not. There are 3 or 4 driver's that call in just about every week or so. All the rest of us may call in 1 or 2 times in a year. He know's when we call that we are really sick and not just wanting to go to the golf course or fishing or hunting. I found out a long time ago that if you let them know that you may need off for some reason he will do his best if he is able. These folks that call in on Firday's and Monday's every week or so are not really sick but just too darn lazy to work a full week are the one's that make it so hard on everyone else trying to get a day off. Just this week a driver here was called into the office for calling in on Mon. and Tues. this week. A warning letter was issued to them. Mostly because they were out 34 times last year. If you don't want to work, go get a part-time job where you can work the hour's you want. Glad to see that they got the letter anyway because they just happened to be a SCAB anyhow. Good enough for who it was for. Another driver also called in this week but nothing was said to them because
they had only called in a few times in all of last




year. The bottom line is if you are sick call in and tell them you will not be there. And if your not sick.....Well that's up to you!

 

[dannyboy]

Gents, call your human resouces manager. Its a federal law. As was stated by another poster, IF there is an attendence problem, then you can take action. But if the employee is stating that he/she will not be there, and nothing else, YOU DO NOT have the right to ask why.

d

 

[dannyboy]

Now BB, is that fair? I thought being in the union meant that we all get treated the same! Or do others get DISCRIMINATED against? Im sure that is not what you meant!

All centers have those that make it a habit of calling in on mondays, fridays, we have one that calls in sick almost every wednesday to go to the ball game. Calling in sick 34 times in a year is a problem, and needs to be addressed, and properly dealt with.

Not belonging to the Union is another issue and is totally separate from the other.

Funny, If you were the one that got the warning letter, would you be screaming unfair labor practices, because of your involvememt in the union?

d

 

[deliver_man]

Here's a funny song about scabs
https://web.archive.org/web/20050110204010/http://unionsong.com/muse/unionsong/u044.html
From Australia, but what the heck

 

[lr1937]

Gents, call your human resouces manager.



You are making the claim about a federal law. Tell us what the law is. How many managers does anyone know that went to trial or is in jail because they asked an employee why they were not coming to work.
If someone calls in sick and there is a pattern, they are uncooperative, or fail to provide any reason for their absence then it is time for disciplinary action. Anyone calling in sick 34 times and not substantiating a serious problem should have been disciplined long before 34 times. More like 5.
I would like to know if you have employees working for you if you would ask them what their problem was if the called in sick. I don't think you would call an HR person to see if it was against the law.
These are the kinds of situations that bring about hard fast rules that employees get angry over. If I am running a business I have an obligation to find out what your absentees are all about. There is drug and alchohol abuse, there is serious illnesses that can affect everyone in the workplace and the general public, there are people who abuse the system, there are good employees(about 90 percent of them) who never call in sick or rarely, there are DOT physical regulations that must be adhered to, without knowing what the problems are how do you deal with them. Should everyone be allowed off like you say with no reason. You have sick days and personal holidays to take care of things that come up and plenty of vacation time. It is difficult enough to take care of lateness and absentee problems knowing the reasons but controlling absetee and lateness without reasons makes it impossible.
I am done with this conversation. Even if there is a law and I doubt it, It is open to interpretation. I am going to shut up on this subject believing there is no law. Put up or shut up.

 

[dannyboy]

With all due respect, its that attitude that has gotten us in trouble with OSHA, DOT, DOL, etc.

Your personal interpretation is of no use. ITs called the privacy laws. And no, you do not "go to jail", they just fine UPS and go on.

Just like years ago, if you got a trailer load in that had a package with acid eating away the back end, you would just send in the unloaders to unload. "Just take a big breath, unload all you can, and come back out for air". Do that now and see what hits the fan, but it was common practice not all that long ago.

I will post as you suggest, but I can see you are set in your ways and thoughts, and do not want to know, nor care to change your stand on this issue. Like I said, call your HR guys/gals. They can give you the information.

d

 

[tieguy]

Your example here is another example of why you have problems on this board. The previous posters are specifically addressing the call in issue. Federal law or not I as the employer have the right to ask you why your not coming in and you have the right to not tell me. Nowhere in any previous post is there any reason to believe that the previous poster would tell someone to unload a trailer with a hazardous material leak in it. You sir by supplying such assumed activity have completely and maliciously again attacked someones reputation with absolutely no reason to do so except that you are a bonafide . Cheryl I'm sorry but this guy has earned the title and you should change his brown cafe id to reflect it.

 

[dannyboy]

Tie, "You" was used as a generic, not specific. And as to the making employees getting into the trailer, that incident acctually happened, twice.

But as usual YOU have decided to take it personal, which is OK by me!

d

 

[tieguy]

I'm sorry I didn't realize your reading comprehension suffered so bad. Regardless of whether or not the stories were true in your little holler it was totally out of context with the thread. If your going to fly out to left field why not tell us about some stupid safety related thing some driver did. Better yet how about a little humor to lighten things up. Tell us that one of you being a model driver with that attitude you have. Thats hilarious.

 

[dannyboy]

Ohhhh Tie......

That, sir, is why most drivers understand the reason to be for a union at UPS. "Federal law or not I have the right". See in your very words you are saying what I have been saying. There are managers at UPS that are running rouge opperations. They do what they want, when they want, and to heck with any one or any law that just happens to get in the way. Unfortunatly those managers give the rest a black eye.

d

 

[tieguy]

I'm sorry I've overestimated your ability to understand simple concepts. My apologies.


d

 

[upslocal480]

Sheesh....The Tieguy infection has once again spread to another thread! Cheryl...IGNORE BUTTONS PLEASE! Every thread he touches becomes infected with his hostility. It's easy to ignore it when it's taking place on a couple threads but sometimes he ruins more than a couple and that's why I think we need ignore features on this board. It really is a shame and quite pathetic. Just when a thread starts to get interesting he steps in and picks a fight and angers someone and ruins it....that is IF he hasn't ruined it in the begining first. If it isn't obvious by now to people on this board then it will never be. PLEASE ad ignore buttons! If not...then can EVERYONE please not respond to his badgering? I mean you already know not to throw lighter fluid on a house fire so try and work that concept in this situaion and just ignore the guy either by not responding to his garbage or by just skippin any post with his name on it. If no one responds to it then he would only have himself to argue with and call names on a daily basis and I don't think he'd enjoy it as much as harrassing everyone else so why not try it? Ignore Buttons would make that process go by so much easier.

 

[cheryl]

I'll contact the programmer and suggest ignore buttons again. Last time I was told that it was not possible because the messages are stored in static html pages and not generated for each user individually, so it would be impossible to incorporate into the current program. It can't hurt to ask him again though.

 

[trouble1903]

I can see both sides of the problem. But I have a problem when you advise your center manager why you will be out (with a doctors note) and upon
return are told you are put on notice of discharge because he does not believe you.

Need less to say this was the exception to the norm and the ink on the discharge papers never had a chance to dry. But some give and take is needed on both sides to ensure the work gets done.

 

[proups]

dannyboy: you referred to privacy laws and I found that interesting. I did some research, and can't find anything that even vaguely refers to an employee calling in sick and the employer not being able to ask why.

Can you refer us all to what you are talking about. I don't like Tieguy's interruption of threads either, but you said his was an attitude that gets us in trouble with OSHA, DOT, etc....

Concerning the DOT, I would think that the company would have to ask a driver why they are calling in sick, since some medical conditions might require a visit to a company doctor for a return to work "check-up" to make sure that the driver meets DOT regulations.

As a long time UPSer, I know about the "third degree" that you get when calling in, but nobody can put out a blanket statement that it is none of the company's business about what ails you!

 

[my2cents]

I couldn't find any such law either after checking through my copy of "Your Rights in the Workplace," published by Nolo.com. There is a whole chapter in the book devoted to the subject of "privacy" and there is no mention of the alleged "calling in sick law." I rarely call in sick, but if I have to, I always tell them why. Simple common courtesy. Its people who abuse the policy who screw it up for everyone else and from my own expeirience, its always the same group of people who call in sick.

 

[steward377]

Don't call in sick call in for personal reasons supervision can not ask you anything about it
you must call back on the following day or it would be considered a no call no show

 

[deliver_man]

I'll contact the programmer and suggest ignore buttons again.

I would honestly prefer not to have ignore buttons. We have an active moderator, and that is better than an ignore button any day of the week. With ignore buttons, people end up squelching anyone they don't like/agree with, and the end result is a message board that is full of stuff you like/agree with. That is awful nice and.....boring. If I want to talk to a bunch of other drivers who have the same perspective that I do, I can do that every day at work. You may not like Tieguy, but the fact is that IS a longtime manager at UPS, and while he may have a (very) different outlook on the job than you, he also knows a lot of things that you don't. Bottom line, it takes 2 to argue.

The Tieguy infection has once again spread to another thread!...... It really is a shame and quite pathetic.........just ignore the guy either by not responding to his garbage or by just skippin any post with his

Are you going to try and tell me these statements of yours are not attacking/inflammatory? If you really wanted to complain to Cheryl about something that Tie posted, you could have simply e-mailed her. Instead you chose to attack Tie yet again under the guise of "trying to make the board a nicer place". You are guilty of the same things you accuse him of. Noone said you are required to respond to posts that you find inflammatory. You are a big boy, you can make your own decisions. As long as Cheryl enforces the rules of the debate and whacks anyone who steps out of line then it's all good. Do yourself a (dubious) favor and go check out teamster.net. Now THAT'S a screwed up message board, and the reason is lack of active moderation and allowing folks to post anonymously. It makes this board look the tranquil like paradise that it is.

 

[upslocal480]

I know I WAS guilty of arguing with him until late and I open up a thread that was a good one and there he is specifically to pick a fight with..Dannyboy I believe it was..and realized that even ignoring him is going to be difficult because the arguing tends to take most of the people involved off the subject or it just gets so argumentive and personal that it's not worth reading anymore. I already had come up with the suggestion of ignoring and not responding to him but I think ignore buttons, which would be for each individual user, would help. Whether he is a long time manager or a janitor at UPS it still doesn't erase the fact that he is in a argument with someone 90% of the time. I already know how boring it would be if everyone agreed and thought alike...in fact..I've pointed that out many times when a couple of people have made personal attacks simply for that fact. Suggesting ignore features and stating why doesn't make me a bad guy here so it's all good. No regrets here. I know one thing though...you won't be seeing me argue with him EVER again. My last post was simply to suggest ignore features and explaining why. Yes I did kind of explain it in a blunt way but pointing out his actions, which are factual, doesn't exactly qualify as being quilty of the same thing he does. I only want to be able to read a good thread and not have to stop reading it because he comes in and starts his little war with someone. It would be nice to be able to block his posts from my computer like you can do on AOL. The problem with that though would be that I'd see other people arguing with him but at least I wouldn't see his posts. But then the thread usually becomes a continuing argument and gets off the subject. Thats why I wish no one would respond to his rants and then we wouldnt need a ignore button. See what I'm TRYING to say here? Oh you are definately right about the Teamsters.net sight. I signed up for that a long time ago and started reading posts and just tried to forget I ever knew it existed....LOL