You take sick leave when you are sick.
That's it.

It should be that simple.

In the last 5 years working, I have taken off 2 days total.

In the United States the rules we have are that if you aren't well then you can stay at home but you are expected to be available and work from there.

The rule I worked to in Australia was that if members of my team were out for a 2nd day then we needed a doctors note.
The key though is to recruit right.

If someone in their past had a sick leave history or gap periods I never hired them.

Public service 'pawns in Coalition industrial relations game'

    STEFANIE BALOGH
    The Australian
    December 31, 2013


Acting opposition employment and workplace relations spokesman Doug Cameron said sick leave was a workplace entitlement.

LABOR has accused the Coalition of treating public servants as pawns in a "wider industrial relations game" after the government warned federal public service chiefs to crack down on sick leave.      

Eric Abetz, the Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Public Service, has told the heads of agencies and departments to take "steps to reduce sick rates".

Acting opposition employment and workplace relations spokesman Doug Cameron yesterday said sick leave was a workplace entitlement and Senator Abetz's comments showed that he remained an "unreconstructed WorkChoices warrior".

"When the government is in trouble, as they are so early in their term of government, the first thing they are doing is attacking workers," he said.       

The latest State of Service report revealed the rate of unscheduled time off in the Australian public service, which includes sick, carer's and compensation leave, grew half a day last financial year compared with the previous 12 months.

The increase brought the average rate of unscheduled leave to 11.6 days per employee across the 167,000 workforce. Sick leave rates also increased, from 8.5 days to 8.6 days.

"I have found the public servants I deal with hard working, committed people," Senator Cameron said.

"There is huge pressure on the public service and to simply treat them as some pawn in a wider industrial relations game is unacceptable and just demonstrates WorkChoices is lingering under the radar at the moment with the government."            

The Abbott government went to the election with a policy to reduce the public service headcount by 12,000 over two years through natural attrition. The highest average number of sick days last financial year were at ComSuper, with 13 days; Human Services (11.8); and the Australian Research Council (11.6).

"There is huge pressure on the public service and to simply treat them as some pawn in a wider industrial relations game is unacceptable and just demonstrates WorkChoices is lingering under the radar at the moment with the government."   We have been down that road before, not again please.              

Acting opposition employment and workplace relations spokesman Doug Cameron said sick leave was a workplace entitlement.      

Dnarever wrote on Dec 30^th, 2013 at 9:26pm:



ouch... shoulders HURT like nothing else.  I had two frozen shoulders years ago and it was not fun and yours would have been worse.  feeling better now?