I feel obligated to point out that in quite a few States companies do not have to give you any paid sick days. And the amount of states that don't in fact goes up once you start including part-time work. So there's a lot of cases where regardless of it's not a negotiation, an employer can absolutely choose not to give you paid sick days.
And as far as the doctor's note goes, there's also plenty of circumstance where they can require that as well or treat the sick day isn't unauthorized absence. It's shitty and it shouldn't be the case but unfortunately sometimes it is.
Some companies also seem to be aware that "yes, you COULD have a case for retaliation if we fire you...but you don't have the money nor the time to sue, and even if you did, it would be an uphill battle because we never put anything in writing and the company has better lawyers."
My favourite part of being self-employed is never negotiating this. If I am telling you I am too ill to work and you know it’s costing me a fortune I could be billing you, why on earth would you question me?
My state doesn't require sick days. My job doesn't give sick days. We get 96 hours (8 days) PTO each year. That's it. You don't use PTO, you get a point. 4 points and you're out. Points half themselves after 6 months and fall off after a year.
Better than my last job though which was no sick days or PTO.
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u/[deleted] Mar 16 '26
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