Working while sick

[Shaul]

How many of those with Covid had their vaccinations? If you are sick you should stay home.

 

[JustGeorge]

Which is wrong. Health care in the US is far behind that of other first world countries. You should not have to worry about paying a doctor for something like that.

I agree. I sometimes wonder why we're considered a developed nation...

Back then, it would have been about 80-100 bucks for the visit, which was also about how much I'd lose from staying home for the day... it was a double whammy.

 

[Subduction Zone]

I agree. I sometimes wonder why we're considered a developed nation...

Back then, it would have been about 80-100 bucks for the visit, which was also about how much I'd lose from staying home for the day... it was a double whammy.

And that is insane. Think how many people needlessly get ill because we do not have proper health care in this country. One needs to look at the big picture. Government health care saves everyone money in the long run.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

And employers should be able to invoke them too. "Sam your going home, you are too sick" the problem is that "sick days" are often seen as extra vacation days in some jobs. A job should pay medical as well so that a person can go to a doctor and get a confirmation that he or she was ill. And as I said, an employer should not be afraid to use a sick day to send someone home.

Yeah. It really does need to be viewed and approached as something where everyone is looking out for each other. It just doesn't make sense to keep doing things as we have. All it does it spread disease and make people sick.

 

[RestlessSoul]

Ditto in UK, if you are employed. But if you are self-employed you do not get paid.

Many employers in the UK offer only Statutory Sick Pay (SSP), which is a pittance, and which is not payable for the first three days of an absence.

 

[TagliatelliMonster]

In this age of COVID, the government and health departments and the such say to stay home from work if you are sick. But what if you can’t afford to call out and are sick? What do you do?

Your very question sends shivers down my spine.

The fact that you ask "what if you can't afford it?" implies you have no such thing as paid sick leave.
Horrid. Absolutely horrid.

What can I answer in that case.... you're stuck between a rock and a hard place.

I feel sorry for people who have a need to ask such questions.
I have no answer.

I guess if you can't afford it, then you can't afford it.
What else can I say.............................

Other then "nobody should have to be in such a position"

Is it wrong for someone with COVID symptoms to go into work, let’s say as a dishwasher or cook, if they need the money?

Yes. It's also wrong to not have paid sick leave.

I remember a conversation I had with a boss before COVID. He was complaining to me how people would call out sick, grumbling that he had to come into work sick all the time.

Assuming that boss was an independent (so an employer, not an employee...), like me, then it's not a case of having to, but rather wanting to.

And that is his decision.

I know people will say that the government should step in or the business should provide for their sick employees, but this simply isn’t the case or possible in all situations.

It is very possible in all situations. But it requires a system of universal health care, like we have in most European nations.

And corporate America is allergic to it, thinking it is some kind of communist plot or something.
Meanwhile, the US government spends MORE per capita on sick people then any country with a universal health care program. All the while Americans pay themselves semi-bankrupt with premium fees for sub-par health insurance.

It's an insane situation.

 

[TagliatelliMonster]

Ditto in UK, if you are employed. But if you are self-employed you do not get paid.

If you are self-employed, you pay yourself.
So why wouldn't you pay yourself when sick?

At least, that's how I do it.
We have a company and the company pays us (there's 3 of us as founders, with a couple employees).
The money that company earns is from the company and it is transferred to us through wages.

We just pay the wages. Sick, on holiday, working,...doesn't matter.