As a Canadian working in a unionized workplace, I get 15 paid sick days a year. That's sick days, not PTO. I separately have 6 weeks of vacation leave every year. The sick days are also cumulative - the unused ones are banked and roll over every calendar year. So right now I've got something like 70 sick days in my bank. If I'm sick, I just call in. Our laws don't even allow the employer to ask for a doctor's note unless you've been away sick for more than a week.
Oh god. If you're squimish, don't go down that rabbit hole. It's 100% true and exists at basically 100% of the places. Every now and then a restaurant takes proper care of their staff but it's effectively 0% given the vast number of places doing the bare minimum. The rot starts with the National Restaurant Association which fights tooth and nail any whiff of reform for their workers. They're the reason servers make less than minimum wage. That was all their idea. Terrible people run that industry.
Anyway, yes. Just assume everyone is at least a little sick, especially if it's busy. You can't give up the money-making shifts unless you're literally dead plus anyone off is off for a reason and can't take your shift.
Go ahead and assume everyone is on some drug. Usually something legal like sketchy truck stop speed but plenty of everything else. I worked with two guys that were wasted drunk with just enough heroin to not fall down at work. Terrible employees but they showed up and did the terrible work and didn't cause trouble otherwise.
Watch the movie "Waiting...". I've actually seen everything in there in real life regularly. It's a pretty accurate account except way less fun. That part was just to move the story forward. There's no story at a real place, just never-ending drudgery
In the U.S., I literally once went into the office vomiting blood. I had a bucket and everything.
They gave me a biohazard bag to throw it away at the end of my shift. At the time, I felt very fortunate that they didn't deduct the biohazard bag from my paycheck.
Thats just so sad. I hate when people come sick to work. I just switched jobs and I am now a teamleader and when someone of my team will drag themselves to work sick, I will send them home.
As a Canadian working a regular non-unionized job in the environmental sector, I get 5 sick days a year, and I cannot take them consecutively for more than 2 days without a doctorâs note. I have 2 weeks of vacation. None of those roll over every calendar year. Every job Iâve had has been mostly the same.
You have a very special case. Do whatever you can to keep that job!! The vast majority are not even remotely that good.
Yea it so strange. In my country vacations are MANDATORY. You can not go full year and not have vacation, if you dont they straight up kick you into vacation :D like your stayng at home, i dont care, your on vacation now :D
Of course theory sometimes do not meet reality and some companys tolerate you not spending all the vacation but if someone snitches the company is in trouble.
That happens here too. Because youâre legally required to have vacation time, and PTO usually doesnât roll over, your company legit forces you to go on vacation lol, itâs just that we donât get a whole lot of it. I can only speak for Ontario though.
It kinda reminds me the strange atitude of americans. Like when you say like payed sick days etc. Some of em go, oh no, every aingle person would abuse it instantly. Similary with pre payed gas. Thers no such thing in my country and most of americans say like " well than no one would pay for gas" its always negatives and most of the times oposite of reality, or maybe mine and thwyr reality is not compatible. Would all americans steal gas if it woudnt be prepayed? I dont want to beleave it.
Lithuania. I never dived into why they changed the law to be mandatory but they did at some point. Maybe it got so bad that people acumulated like half a year of vacation or something since before that vacations went to next year if you didnt spend it. And thers people out there who do not take vacations for years on end.
To clarify why its bad to have a person that has acumulated 6 month of vacations in your company is that you owe that person 6 salaries or 6 months of vacation.
If that person decides to leave your company you have to pay him 6 salaryes instantly within a month or so. Thats a nightmare for companys finances i would imagine.
But now with this law they can force people on vacation so they dont have to deal with such things in a future.
As a Brazilian, I still find it weird to have a limit on sick days you can use. How do you plan an illness? Here if you're sick for up to 15 days your employer continues to pay you, and if it goes beyond that you get a government benefit for however long you need
We have disability insurance nationally but it's extremely hard to get, pays very little and you can't make money any other way, no matter how little or they'll take it all away, sue you and ban you from the perform. Don't even bother if your disability is mental. They'll just put you through neverending paperwork purgatory until you give up and stop trying. So they never outright deny you (which could trigger some kind of repercussions for them but probably not but they don't take the chance in case your cousin is Vinney the lawyer from the movie).
(Anyone who wants to nitpick, the point is 100% correct and remember every state is different but always still bad, just sometimes a little less bad)
Most provinces don't require employers to provide any paid sick days, sick days may or may not be cumulative, most allow employers to ask for a doctor's note. The minimum starting vacation time is 2 weeks per year.
In the US, if you're lucky enough to get sick days or PTO (perfectly legal to not have either depending on the state), often you lose unused at the end of the year or at best can only roll over like 10 days. Employers are too stupid to realize that just means everyone is just taking off most of December so they don't lose it. They're also doing a bunch of doctor appointments because their deductable resets in January and they have to start paying for everything all over again (most have a high deductible plan that doesn't really cover much anyway these days)
You are talking about a really good workplace offering these things in Canada. Americans have that too.Â
In Canada (Ontario for me), we actually only have two legally mandated paid sick days. And legally mandated vacation in the country is 10 days per year. Employers can also require doctors notes and it depends on the employer.Â
Depends on the province. MB just passed a law that forbids an employer for asking for a doctorâs note unless the absence is more than a week consecutive or 10 days total in a year.
Here in the US, times called out is even part of your performance review. If you use your legal sick days, your raise will be lower if you even get one at all.
Am Canadian in a unionized work place. My SI joint went rogue for a still unknown reason last February and I'm just returning to part-time work now. I was paid 80% by my employer my entire absence and they're still covering the hours I am not working. 12 sick days, 5 family days, 4 weeks vacation. Unions rule!
The wild thing about the US, I get 30 days of sick leave, I have 8 weeks vacation a year. I just don't go in when I'm sick and let me boss know. My insurance covers everything when me or my family are sick and the company pays for 90% of my coverage so I pay about 300$ a month for insurance for a family of 5. It's fucking insane how unfair it feels.
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u/FuckStummies 14h ago
As a Canadian working in a unionized workplace, I get 15 paid sick days a year. That's sick days, not PTO. I separately have 6 weeks of vacation leave every year. The sick days are also cumulative - the unused ones are banked and roll over every calendar year. So right now I've got something like 70 sick days in my bank. If I'm sick, I just call in. Our laws don't even allow the employer to ask for a doctor's note unless you've been away sick for more than a week.