Submitted by canibringmydog t3_ymtsrw in massachusetts
Good morning! I was wondering if someone could help explain sick time in Massachusetts to me. I have never had an employer use common sick days as a “point” that can be tallied up in a 12 month period and used as a reason to terminate employment.
I was under the impression a person couldn’t be fired or punished for using sick time.
Can anyone explain this further or point me in the right direction?
That sounds illegal. Massachusetts has a sick time law which allows you to accumulate up to 40 hours of sick time per year if you are full time. So if you had accumulated hours under the prerequisite conditions, then they are protected.
No one got fired yet, just took a sick day and was informed of this policy. It for sure doesn’t seem legal but I wanted to see since we’re new to the area.
That’s what I thought too. Thank you for this link! It helps a lot!
I think you will find that you get the point when you call out and do not use, or have, sick time. The point of it is to be able to weed out the losers who consistently call out, usually for reasons other than sickness. Where I worked, you got a point if you didn’t cover at least 50% of your missed time with sick pay. The point dropped off after a period of time.
I think it’s about as fair a system as you could have.
This would make SO much more sense. It’s a giant company I can’t imagine they would willfully neglect labor laws.
Now I am curious about this point system. What does it mean and who uses them.
You working for C&S? They used to hit you for 1 point for any callous, then .2 for each consecutive day you're out.
No, not there but interested in your experience with a point system. Is this regardless if you have sick time? He had never called out before so he should have had plenty of sick time. The point system is something I’ve never heard of before.
I reread what I said and also lol’d.
Time or not it didn't matter, points stacked. They ended up doing away with it eventually because it was harming workers.
You are entitled to basically a week of sick time a year in most cases under MA law. It is not negotiable. It is absolutely illegal for them to retaliate against you for using that sick time.
However, they generally may impose reasonable notice requirements on it, (For example you can't just disappear for 3 days without calling them and then say oh yeah btw I was sick unless you were legitimately incapacitated beyond doing so).
You’re an employee at will. They can fire you for no reason.
If an pattern of sick leave usage is identified, it may be used as a contributing factor when considering termination.
It is illegal to take adverse action against an individual using paid sick time under the Mass sick leave law. The point system cannot be deducting points or penalizing someone for taking earned sick time.
inoeth t1_iv5i8b2 wrote
That doesn’t sound legal to me unless you’re taking weeks off and claiming sick time. I do know that you get up to 40 hours of paid sick time legally after working some amount of time over the year and for a time (but I think no longer) COVID was a separate paid sick time thing.
If you really got fired over sick time I’d consult a an employment lawyer. Good to grounds for a lawsuit and re-instatement but I obviously don’t know all your details