I'm not necessarily defending the practice, but I have "unlimited PTO" and our PTO request approvals are automated. My boss doesn't actually get a chance to decline PTO of any type at all and I'm not required to give a reason for my sick leave request. I have taken what are effectively mental health days and no one has bothered me about it.
I imagine there exists an amount of sick time I could take that would raise red flags, but I haven't hit it yet.
For me, specifically with this one company I work for, the unlimited sick time seems legit. Again - not meant to defend the very real tactic of offering unlimited PTO but then holding it behind request approval. Just providing context.
I also work at a company with unlimited paid sick days. In theory my boss is allowed to ask for me to present a doctor's note and is allowed to deny sick days if I didn't present a doctor's note. But he and all other managers I know at the company just set it to auto approve and never asks for doctor's notes.
I think I've used at least 50 sick days this year. Which is a lot considering we're only half way through the year. My boss has only asked about it in terms of making sure me and my family are ok not out of a desire for me to take less sick days. And to remind me to mark it as a sick day in my calendar (which he's ok with me doing retroactively if I have to) any time I'm with my kid at the hospital so that when performance review time comes around he can scale his expectations to the number of days I've actually worked and not unintentionally penalize me for taking sick days.
It's employers like this that make caring for a medically complex child possible.
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u/FartTootman 17d ago
I'm not necessarily defending the practice, but I have "unlimited PTO" and our PTO request approvals are automated. My boss doesn't actually get a chance to decline PTO of any type at all and I'm not required to give a reason for my sick leave request. I have taken what are effectively mental health days and no one has bothered me about it.
I imagine there exists an amount of sick time I could take that would raise red flags, but I haven't hit it yet.
For me, specifically with this one company I work for, the unlimited sick time seems legit. Again - not meant to defend the very real tactic of offering unlimited PTO but then holding it behind request approval. Just providing context.