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Some employees who are ill or injured are provided "sick time" by their employers, to give them time away from work to recover. Employers often 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 sick time or unpaid sick time?

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

Proof of illness

As long as you have sick time available to you, your employer generally shouldn't stop you from using a sick day if you are sick. However, your employer can request that you bring a doctor's note to prove that you were actually sick.

"Use it or lose it"

Generally, your employer is allowed to take away sick days if you don't use them within a certain amount of time.

Your employer might also be allowed to tell you how many sick days you 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 you if your illness is due to a disability, or if you took Family and Medical Leave, or if it was due to an illness covered by worker's compensation.

Leaving work because of a relative's illness

If you are covered by the Family and Medical Leave Act, you probably have the right to leave work if your child, parent or spouse becomes seriously ill. Make sure you tell your employer as soon as possible why you need to leave work.

If you are not covered by the Family and Medical Leave Act, your employer is not required to grant you time off to leave work if your child, parent or spouse becomes ill. However, even if you aren't covered by the Family and Medical Leave Act, you should still ask your employer for time off to care for your child or close relative.