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0 pointsorgansnyder7y ago0 comments

A local healthcare system has a similar policy: PTO (paid time off) is not differentiated between sick days vs. other days off. They don't offer any sort of maternity/paternity leave, aside from what the US Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) requires, which is six weeks unpaid time off. Even worse, they require employees to burn up all of their accrued PTO days before taking any unpaid FMLA time. So you have new parents returning to work sleep-deprived, picking up new viruses from the petri dish that is their kid's new daycare, with no time off. And most of these workers are HEALTHCARE PROVIDERS.

How stupid are we as a nation that we don't mandate more humane/non-stupid policies, even for people in environments where coming to work unhealthy can often result in death?

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7 comments · 3 top-level

leetcrew7y ago· 2 in thread

> Even worse, they require employees to burn up all of their accrued PTO days before taking any unpaid FMLA time.

everything else you mentioned seems pretty bad, but what is so terrible about this? unless you are trying to keep your PTO buffer high so you can cash out on a higher salary when you leave, it doesn't seem to make much difference if you were going to need to take the unpaid leave anyway.

dragonwriter7y ago

> everything else you mentioned seems pretty bad, but what is so terrible about this?

Because PTO (or even pure sick leave) has less restrictive usage conditions than FMLA, it means that anyone who uses needs FMLA for a longer-term issue like a new child will also exhaust all the leave they have available for short-term personal or family illness or need for stress relief and be unable to use that until they have reaccrued it.

This is a legal but extremely employee-hostile policy that contributes to bad working conditions for everyone (not just the employees that need FMLA.)

organsnyderOP7y ago

Yep. FMLA can't be used for a routine illness—only a "serious health condition"[1]. But it's better for everyone—especially vulnerable populations like hospital patients—for people with less-severe illnesses to stay home. A routine cold can be fatal for a person undergoing chemotherapy.

[1] https://www.dol.gov/whd/fmla/employeeguide.pdf

komali27y ago· 1 in thread

> How stupid are we as a nation that we don't mandate more humane/non-stupid policies, even for people in environments where coming to work unhealthy can often result in death?

This is one of the rare times I believe malice trumps stupidity. Our healthcare industry generates billions and some of that money is being spent lobbying to keep things just as they are.

b_tterc_p7y ago

I don’t think I believe that healthcare companies lobby to prevent office condition reform from happening

lotsofpulp7y ago· 1 in thread

FMLA is 12 weeks unpaid.

omegaworks7y ago

Unless your spouse works at the same company. :D

>If a father and mother have the same employer, they must share their leave, in effect halving each person's rights, if the employer so chooses.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_and_Medical_Leave_Act_o...

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