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Sick time

Some employees who are ill or injured are provided "sick time" by their employers, to give them time away from work to recover. Employers generally may put restrictions on the use of that sick time, such as limiting the total amount of time the employee may take off or requiring that the employee bring a doctor's note to prove that the employee was sick.

• Paid or unpaid sick time?
• Proof of illness
• "Use it or lose it"
• Taking a sick day in violation of company policy
• Leaving work because of a relative's illness
• Breaks
• Vacation
  

Paid or unpaid sick time?

There is no federal law requiring you to give your employees paid sick leave time. Nor do you have to give unpaid sick leave to your employees unless they are: 1) covered by the Family and Medical Leave Act (which can give them up to 12 weeks unpaid time off for serious medical conditions), or 2) they have a "covered disability" (which might require you to accommodate the disability by giving some time off).

Proof of illness

As long as your employee has sick time available, you generally shouldn't stop the employee from using a sick day if he or she is sick. However, you can request that the employee bring a doctor's note to prove that the sickness was real.

"Use it or lose it"

Generally, you are allowed to take away sick days if your employees don't use them within a certain amount of time. You, should, however, tell your employees in advance how many sick days they can save up before losing them.

Taking a sick day in violation of company policy

Because most employees can be fired "at-will", they can probably be fired for taking a sick day if the employer does not have a sick day policy.

But it might not be legal to fire an employee if the employee's illness is due to a disability, or if he or she took Family and Medical Leave, or if it was due to an illness covered by workers' compensation.

Leaving work because of a relative's illness

An employee who is covered by the Family and Medical Leave Act, probably has the right to leave work if his or her child, parent, or spouse becomes seriously ill. Your employees should tell you as soon as possible why they need to leave work.

If the employee is not covered by the Family and Medical Leave Act, you are not required to grant time off to leave work if the employee's child, parent or spouse becomes ill.