Workers Punished for Calling in Sick
Employees across various roles are experiencing significant stress and negative consequences related to illness and taking time off. Many feel pressured to work while sick, face penalties for absences, and encounter a lack of understanding or support from employers. This creates a cycle of burnout and fear of repercussions for prioritizing health.
SOURCES (60)
“Hi all. I’m currently working in a corporate job that’s absolutely killing me. My blood pressure has skyrocketed, I lose sleep over thinking about work, and I work extensive hours outside of normal business hours on a daily and weekend basis (supposed to be 9-5).…”
“Quit at 5p. Go workout. Enjoy life. You are already considering quitting. If they fire you for holding a hardline for clocking out then so be it. Collect your check and search for other jobs in the meantime. If they give you crap for work output going down, say you need another employee hired to help. Win win.”
“i’ve been sick my whole life. my entire time in high school was spent in and out of the hospital. evidently sick isn’t a reason, but “busy” is “you were so sick you couldn’t type into gemini to find out how much your student loans would be?” i mean…yes? that isnt the “gotcha” you think it is lol submitted by /u/Weak_Plant_3431 [link] [comments]”
“Long story short fired over attendance caused by chronic migraines. Worked 16 years to get fired before I can get my FMLA paperwork going. I have an associates in applied sciences and a couple of certs in cybersecurity and cloud computing. Do I have a chance in that field or am I in trouble? Pointing me in the direction of some other laces hiring IT people would be nice too. submitted by /u/JohnnyCakes1990 [link] [comments]”
“Ohhhh that's nice! Hospital? What I found is that a lot of hospitals seem to make rules for how many shifts you can do in a row, but places like LTCs/SNFs have zero rules in place for either shifts worked or staffing ratios. Which is insane to me, though hospital shifts are typically more acute, LTCs have sooo many treatments and meds to pass. There are pros and cons to each, for sure. Both need safe patient ratios and labor rules.”
“It’s possible you could fight it. If it’s worth it to you. Shift work disorder is real. I don’t know how long you’ve been working there, but could see a doctor and see about getting some FMLA paperwork filled out. Just an idea.”
“How do you guys tell your manager you are sick and need to leave? I came in this morning thinking i could tough it out and my migraine has gotten so bad so quick. I know im gonna be told that i need to stay and im going to have to argue about it. submitted by /u/Distinct-Crow4753 [link] [comments]”
“i’ve been signed off by the doctor due to work related stress for a month which ends in a week. The thing is i’m pretty set on quitting but i don’t want to be stupid and quit without having something else lined up (i have been applying like crazy but the job market is horrible). I know i’m over it and the break might help but ultimately i know i will feel the exact same at the end of this. For context i work in childcare on minimum wage🙃 The doctor said i could extend it which is probably what”
“Doctor here. It’s really only for call shifts, and even then people are only expected to sleep sparingly. I used to have shifts that led into call and would end up staying for a little over 40 consecutive hours. During that entire time, we would usually sleep for less than 2 hours. Residency used to consist of 120 hour work weeks. The hours meant we needed to sleep in the hospital to cut commute time out the picture. That said, I’ve never seen any of my colleagues nap outside of those select cir”
“Zero warning for a first time honestly seems harsh, most places at least talk to you first before jumping straight to firing tbh.”
“So I been working in the kitchen of a gas station for 3 weeks now and it’s been hell..it’s a very busy store and due to I’m guessing a pay cut…it’s only one worker per shift and you have to do everything from prepping all your food,veggies,fruits,and dairy products to go on the cold shelf,cook food to go in hotbox, and do custom grill orders as they come in but here’s the thing that gets me I’m only one person in the kitchen and I feel like I’m still in my learning phase and I keep getting confr”
“I had no idea I would get a lower than expected rating at work. It doesn't help that my manager, skip, VP all got fired around when the calibration happened. Apparently I'm not on a PIP plan. But still I feel so shocked, puzzled, and not sure what to do. I think I lost my confidence. I got a high rating last year and they even put me up for promotion. Would it be smart to start interviewing before returning to work? I worry it would be a lot of pressure to wrap up a new team, trying to r”
“i tried to condense this as much as possible. i was absolutely blindsided by my boss. he has known i have severe complicated Crohns Disease and chronic illnesses for several years. despite this, i became the highest paid employee and manager. it's an incredibly small local business. my boss was the only person above me and i had full autonomy. not too long ago, he told me that i was absolutely irreplaceable and the best employee he has ever had. he's always been nothing but supportive, k”
“A friend went on an indefinite sick leave - called hr - didn’t tell manager. Hr reached out to manager. Couldn’t fire him. His manager told him they tired but people ops said no- it’s a potential lawsuit”
“Thank you. I totally agree in hindsight. It was a choice, based on circumstances , not by my preference. But still my choice to keep grinding. I fired 2 years ago to focus on health. Again loved to work, not complaining about it, but the circumstances made it very difficult to focus on health. Visa status meant i cannot take break (company refused sabbatical leave) even after being there for years. Moved to home country where i can fire if i need to, and took a partime job after an year of break”
could there be an underlying medical thing making you tired?
“We all get fired usually It suck’s but you land a job quickly in this profession Nursing job security isn’t that you stay at your job but that there’s another job down the road”
“I've had two meetings with HR and my manager already. I never signed any document, but it was a PIP in every way. I genuinely tried since the first meeting to improve myself, but they never gave me any concrete goals to hit, just said "serious improvement is required". They gave some examples of mistakes, they were mistakes where I failed to understand the definition of a concept which I immediately studied up after, nothing serious or damaging. When they did not give concrete goal”
“I am about a week in to a new job. They are trying to pressure me to do unethical things like cosign pta notes from days I didn’t work (not allowed in my state to my understanding), not read notes before cosigning, among other things. I already want to quit. Since I’ve only been there a couple days I’m still in the 90 day probationary period am I still obligated to give a 2 week notice? I want to get out asap to protect my license and avoid being pressured to do things that aren’t right. Has any”
“I work a corporate job with pretty strict/time-sensitive hours because our business is open from 8–5, so I understand why leaving early is normally a problem. My boss has specifically told everyone before that we're not supposed to leave even 5 minutes early. The thing is, today the weather got absolutely insane. This type of weather is NOT normal where I live. It was pouring rain, there was literally golf-ball-sized hail, and I kept getting those extremely loud emergency alerts on my phone”
“I have a chronic illness essentially caused by my trauma and have been sick all year after a nice major triggering event last December. I have been sick since December. I took medical leave on and off from work all year, I got broken up with twice by different people this year, I lost two major friends, I moved across town, I had to set firm family boundaries, I’m trying to work, I had to go to an intensive therapy program to manage my trauma so it stops making me so sick I’m ready to give up. L”
“Hi everyone! This is my first post on here so I’m gonna try to do the best I can in writing this lol. I will really appreciate any feedback and advice anyone can give me! So I 18f in New England USA, recently applied and got accepted to this job at this grocery store ( will call Green store for privacy reasons ) as a morning baker. So basically I come in super early in the morning, bake everything for the day such as muffins, breads, cookies, and pastries. Basically any food you could think of f”
“I(F34) feel really guilty this morning when I decided to call our nursing call out line. I felt like a ton of bricks and coffee wasn't waking me up, didn't want to push it a second cup. I for the past week, I've been in orientation for ambulatory care as the clinic I'm working at will be merging behavioral (I'm a bh nurse) and ambulatory care this November. I'm in the middle of the last week of orientation, things have been going good while I'm in front of patients, b”
“So i’ve been signed off by the doctor due to work related stress for a month which ends in less than 2 weeks. The thing is i’m pretty set on quitting but i don’t want to be stupid and quit without having something else lined up (i have been applying like crazy but the job market is horrible). I know i’m over it and the break might help but ultimately i know i will feel the exact same at the end of this. The doctor said i could extend it which is probably what i will do but i just don’t know what”
“I've had a migraine since Sunday and so far the only thing that's working is a medication I'm technically allergic to (can't metabolize it properly), and while I'm struggling to function, my boss texts me a screenshot of my sick leave balance like that's supposed to be helpful. I get that I don't accrue much because I'm part time, but this isn't a headache I don't feel like working through. I couldn't hold down water. WATER. I explained that my doctor”
“it’s my 3/3 shift tonight and my patients are okay but most of them are discharging and i honestly don’t know if i wanna come back tonight because there’s a possibility of me flexing to 5 patients too… i honestly just feel lazy and want to rest but idk if i should just suck it up or just call out :’) submitted by /u/euptiria [link] [comments]”
“Stupid question alert! I’m a labourer, just spent my entire shift yesterday hand digging a bigass hole by myself. Today my hand is so stiff I can’t close it and I have pain in my elbow when I try to grip anything, even light shit. I’m also an artist so I kind of need my hands lol and worried about it becoming a chronic issue. Is it insane to consider asking for them to call someone else in the dig holes today? I’m the main employee but I think they have others to call but I seem to be the regula”
“I have been worried that my coworkers would look at my medical records or hear about it and I think they have. I am back from my med leave and staff avoids me, bullies me and calls me names behind my back. I feel like I should move. submitted by /u/Otherwise-Desk-7253 [link] [comments]”
“I leave when I am supposed to. That’s why I stood out in -60 weather striking with my co workers for 6 days.”
“i hope this is allowed here. situation is not really as severe as title sounds but i am livid nonetheless. I work at a fast food restaurant. within the past year we’ve gotten a new district manager and overall company that owns our store. both are going horribly. our expected labor percentage is WAY too low - we had several people who’d worked there for years quit because they’d been bumped down to one day a week. we’re having to run with like, 4 people MAX most of the time, which is barely enou”
“My coworker was on vacation and unfortunately ended up needing to go to the ER for intestinal issues on the day they were supposed to return to work. They called their job and let them know they wouldn’t be able to come in and provided a doctor’s excuse from the ER. The job basically responded with, “You were on vacation all this time, and now you get sick when it’s time to come back?” 😳 They even threatened to write my coworker up for the absence. My coworker also had a letter from their GI do”
“hello guys like the title says i caught a cold week of 8/23/26 and recently got a job at Aspen. My first day as a DA is literally tomorrow. I have a horrible cough, migraine, sneezes, and a runny nose. My symptoms slightly calmed down a bit and I messaged my manager about my cold and explained my concerns about whether or not I should be at the office while sick. She left me on read and hasn’t responded. Not sure what to do. submitted by /u/Outrageous_Pop_9909 [link] [comments]”
“Hello everyone. I need some help. I am so tempted to call off on my last day tomorrow at a horrible company I work for but at the same time, don’t want to burn bridges. Has anyone ever done this and been re hired or has trouble??? Any advice for me? This is my first job so I have no idea how big a risk it is. I know I will be floated to another floor and this is why I don’t want to come. Edit- I’m leaving HCA. submitted by /u/LegEqual1143 [link] [comments]”
“Yeah but there's plenty of corporate hall monitors that will side eye you for being offline for large chunks of time, let's be honest”
“Called out sick today due to my own body issues. We do a lot of manual therapy (I know, I know.) so I just didn’t feel like being in pain while treating today. I get asked if I can come in for one patient who would be pro-bono. They were a previous patient but came for a separate body part a long time ago. I’m also a PTA, so I don’t feel comfortable seeing patients for their first appt. Idk it just rubbed me the wrong way. The patient can wait like the rest for a proper evaluation. I’m taking a”
“We were down 3 staff members yesterday, so I was doing my best to juggle 2 peoples work all day, but was mostly stuck at reception because of yhe endless stream of people coming in. We had people leaving without paying cos they were waiting so long for me to get to them because I was juggling so much, I had to deal with animals that needed iv placements, cremation sorted out, xrays uploaded and sent elsewhere, dogs with diarrhea and vomiting, people coming in to visit dead animals, people who co”
“i have three classes today that im going to miss because i woke up feeling like crap and with a sore throat, hard to swallow. i know it’s okay to miss one day if you are sick but i just need an actual human to tell me it wont make my professors hate me and kill me academically, my anxiety is just through the roof. especially because this is only the start of the second week of the semester, and the timing couldnt be more inconvenient. submitted by /u/Aggravating-Can-9557 [link]”
“I’m dealing with a situation at work and I can’t tell whether I’m genuinely picking up on something or just overthinking it. I was away from work for a significant period, and during that time some of my responsibilities were temporarily distributed among other people. I’ve now been back for a little while and have been gradually taking my responsibilities back. Since returning, I’ve noticed a few things that feel different. First, I recently took my first day off due to being unwell. My manager”
“Not sure where it came from but I strained my hamstring pretty good and went to see the doctor yesterday where they issued me a doctor's note for the next three days (really I know I need more than that. I called in saying I'm not coming in and that I have a doctors note and I was told that they wouldn't need it and that they would see if I had sick hours. Is it really that easy to just get fired? I need this injury to heal because I've continued to work for two weeks and its onl”
“Months ago before my work rota came out, I booked a week off for my annual leave (Monday to Friday equating to 37.5 hours of annual leave) to travel back home (abroad) visit my family, see my unwell grandma, and pick up my son. The week before my trip I did a colleague a favour and swapped my weekday shift for her Saturday. I didn’t think it would affect my leave, but somehow management must have added Sunday shift onto my rota for the following week that I had no idea was there. This morning I’”
“I have had major anxiety over going to work today, my clinic has been short staffing my clinic to 3 support staff to one provider all last week. It isn't sustainable and very hard on us. Last week it happened each day I was there. I wanted to walk out so badly. Today the schedule shows 4 staff but I can't be sure until we show up to the clinic and now my anxiety is through the roof until then. I rather not experience that again. It was so busy, my coworker didn't take a lunch till 7,”
“I can’t speak for them but I see it in my district all the time. My district only pays if you retire at 65 or older, otherwise you get nothing for all your sick days banked. At 65 you get paid 1 for every 3 and get capped at 15k payout. Every district is different but a lot have similar rules.”
“The Saturday problem usually isn't the work itself, it's that half of what fills the day only needs you because nobody ever wrote it down. Which client gets a discount, how a quote gets put together, what you say when someone wants to move a job up next week. All of that lives in your head, so every question ends up routed back to you, even on your day off. A few crews I've worked with fixed this the same way. Write the actual answer to the ten questions that come up every week, word”
“I’m dealing with the same situation myself, but I have ADHD so I slapped the ADA protection down on the table of talks for enough time to find a new job. If I lose mine I’ll be homeless too. I tell myself there will be a company out there who will appreciate my hard work over playing favorites one day. Praying for you friend, I’m so sorry you’re dealing with this. 💔🙏🏼”
“Okay, I went through a period where my mental health wasn’t good and I got behind on my bills. Do I want to work this much? No. Do I practically have to? Yes. For those of you who work this much regularly or every so often. Give me your tips. I gotta still get groceries, cook, clean the house, manage time with family, and sleep. How do you stay sane and what are some tips? submitted by /u/bubblegoblin1 [link] [comments]”
“Primary care doc, just out of residency, and apparently I have no idea how to be a patient. I currently have pneumonia, a sinus infection and an ear infection. I know I should not be at work. My colleagues keep telling me to stay home and take care of myself, but I feel incredibly guilty about canceling a clinic day. And honestly the rescheduling makes it worse. Everyone I cancel has to go somewhere, and I immediately start thinking about where I can squeeze them in. Then I end up coming back fr”
“Recently i I did this twice in two weeks. I’ve only ever done this once before in over 3 decades of working. Woken by the incharge who was more worried I was okay rather than why I wasn’t there. First time I accidentally set my alarm for 5:30pm rather than 5:30am. Would’ve been in my phone to do with a night shift and i I was tired and missed it. Second time the alarm just didn’t go off. I now set multiple alarms on the phone and went and bought an alarm clock that’s next to the bed and I make s”
“I had to leave my job recently due to my disability. I was so sick after work that I couldn’t walk; my partner even had to pick me up from work on occasion because I was too sick to drive home, and there was a huge possibility I’d pass out at the wheel. So I’ve been looking for new work recently that would allow me to sit for at least a portion of my shift. Lots of receptionist roles, office jobs, but even some host positions at restaurants (my rationale is that those jobs are easier to get, and”
“oh yeah I mean this is obviously something you have to factor in. I've had crappy managers that were like dictators and would have made a big deal about 2 min. Luckily my current manager is really cool and a realistic kinda gal.”
I'm sorry to hear that. I hope you're coping with it as well as you can
“Hello Will it affect my future career as I got terminated for inconsistent attendance due to sickness??? I had communicated that I was sick, submitted medical certificates and even accepted salary deduction for the number of days I was absent but still got terminated immediately without notice after an initial warning. submitted by /u/Significant_Can1482 [link] [comments]”
“I actually woke up to my alarms on time but i accidentally unknowingly went back to sleep after my alarms rang and dreamt that I was at work… I woke up to the nursing supervisor calling me and asking me if I was still coming at 730a, which is when I woke up again. The problem is I AM THE FLOAT NURSE they sent the unit bc they were short…i feel both bad and embarrassed that this happened…Anybody else had this happen to them? did you get reprimanded? submitted by /u/anunpaintedcanvas [”
Sorry to hear you've been taken advantage of, it must be hard.