Using Sick Leave before company is sold?

   / Using Sick Leave before company is sold? #41  
I think rtimgray made a good point... when you have a good relationship history with your supervisor/boss they know and appreciate your contributions to the business... having the same one for 23 years that also happened to be one of the founders would seem to be unusual in today's business world.

It's been almost 2 years without an on site CEO or Administrator... leaving just two of us taking care of business and for the most part doing a darn fine job.

Certainly has changed my job... if there is broken glass in the parking lot I get the call to sweep it up... if we need a $70,000 piece of equipment or contract negotiation... it is my signature on the purchase order... I just won a successful half million dollar over 10 years property tax appeal six months in the making...

In one way it is very much an opportunity to step up and shine... just not sure if it will be valued/recognized when all is said and done.

Also... the question of all the other department/managers leaving without so much as a word is noticed by those still here.

One observation to add... it has taken as many as 3 people to do the job after a key worker leaves... at least in the beginning... last year one manager left and we now have two full time people doing that job... each paid about 60% of what the manager was getting... so while the job is getting done... the cost to the company is at least 30% higher when it is all said and done.

I hope all the best for you and your coworker. It has not been my experience with buyouts to have a good ending.
I used to work for the now defunct Kerr McGee Co. Uncovered a fraud that had gone undetected by the previous internal auditors and the CPA firm. The company had been loosing >$1.5 million per year to a maintenance/project contractor at one of the plants. The new owners said thank you very much. Three months later they said they were moving the headquarters to Houston and the office was full.
 
   / Using Sick Leave before company is sold? #42  
Company said you earn it..take it or loose it.. good chance new company will say sorry,can you get some insight from the top brass.
 
   / Using Sick Leave before company is sold?
  • Thread Starter
#43  
The only people that know for sure are not talking...

We are losing about 1 employee a week since Christmas.

Chinese proverb says May you live in interesting times...
 
   / Using Sick Leave before company is sold? #44  
I worked at a place that forced the old timers to retire, so they could be replaced with younger cheaper labor. Some knowledge can't be captured well on paper. New ones look more than twice as long to get things done, they had to learn everything.
 
   / Using Sick Leave before company is sold? #45  
I worked at a place that forced the old timers to retire, so they could be replaced with younger cheaper labor. Some knowledge can't be captured well on paper. New ones look more than twice as long to get things done, they had to learn everything.

I assisted an attorney in a similar case against a large cell phone provider. The company wanted to cut cost by getting rid of the "old folks" who had high salaries. At the end of the game the cell provider had to write a check for $54 million.
Make note to self. Don't plan an illegal act using emails to communicate.
 
   / Using Sick Leave before company is sold? #46  
I had to spend a few days in Calif last week training some folks new to the company. They are new college hires, since they recently graduated from college. The average age in the room (excluding myself and a couple of managers) was 25. They expect smartphone apps and system tools to do everything for them. The problem many companies have is that they have a large percentage of their workforce over 50 yrs old. They have to bring in younger workers or risk not being able to survive if a large group decides to retire..

I am at the point where I still need to work and would not mind finding a local job that pays benefits (need health insurance for wife and I still), along with some interesting work. Wife and I are looking forward to having more time to spend with grand kids and do some more camping (with travel trailer)..
 
   / Using Sick Leave before company is sold? #47  
The company for which I work has been bought and sold a few times, and each time, the policies change somewhat. Early on, there was no sick leave. Then there was sick leave, but only for when the employee was sick. Then the sick leave became viable for things such as sick dependents, then it morphed into PTO, then back to sick leave, etc.

Over the course of the years, there has always been a cap on how much sick leave/PTO/Vacation/etc. time could be accumulated. For the most part, sick leave was not allowed to be carried over. I have worked with a great number of great people, and many of them are much like the OP - worked for 20 plus years and never used sick leave. Early in my career, I used sick leave if I was sick, then if the kids were sick, etc. When we started using PTO, it didn't matter what you were doing - sick or well - you just didn't have to come to work. Currently, we are back to having separate "Occassional Leave Days" and vacation time, with limited carryover of each.

I use all of my time every year.

Why? I became jaded to the corporate mandates very, very early. At my location, at least, we have yet to give out the very first award for "Working While Sick". Personally, I rarely get sick. It doesn't bother me if someone else comes to work sick, but I'm not admiring their dedication either.

"Back in the Day" of family-owned businesses, personal sacrifice probably was noticed and potentially rewarded. In the business world today, with interchangeable management components, there's a good chance that my boss today won't be there in a couple of years and he wouldn't remember how many days I missed and how many I didn't.

I'm already of the assumption that I'm probably going to have to be gainfully employed in some capacity until I'm at least 70 - at least that's what I tell myself. We already own our property and home free and clear (except for taxes, of course), are generally healthy and live well but not lavishly. However, I tend to be a bit of a negaholic about things, and beyond my wife, I don't trust anyone about anything (especially coworkers!). I have also witnessed many people work tirelessly year in/year out, chained to their jobs (which is what I feel I am interpreting from the OP), planning to enjoy their retirement, only to have the rug pulled out from under them due to changes in their employer or their health.

I try to live every day as a good day, and not put off rewarding myself until retirement. If I can sneak out 15 minutes early (I'm salaried, so I'm not on the clock anyway), then I do. I'm an early riser, and generally spend 9-10 hours per day at work. Due to the nature of my job, sometimes I work weekends and holidays to complete projects while the manufacturing plant is down. However, if I do that, I take off some "comp time" - informally - to make up for it.

This may be coming across as though I am a slacker, but I don't feel that I am. I give my time and talents to the company in exchange for payment, and that is likely where my dedication to them, and theirs to me, ends. I don't shirk my responsibilities, but I know that giving more of myself will not result in any better rewards.

In the end, the decision rests, as others have said, with whatever you can personally deal with, morally and ethically. If you feel that taking the time off is immoral and unjustified, then ride it out to the end with that, and sleep well at night. Or, start taking time off and tell yourself that you are overdue for it.

I work in a facility that (more or less) operates 24/7/365. We have had many folks that are like the OP - integral to the operation, on call when they are not here, etc. Irreplaceable, or so they think. I've seen dozens of "irreplaceable" people come and go, sometimes of their own accord, sometimes otherwise. Does it cause a temporary hardship? Of course. But the business moves on. I feel that being so dedicated to a company, and being so important to it, can be a bit of a martyr complex, but that is up to the individual how much they will allow for a company to intrude upon their personal life.

Some of my favorite memories with my children and wife have been when I've taken the day off to use up accumulated time for the year. Those that let their time go to waste got neither compensation nor prizes.

Over the years, I've mowed a lot of cemeteries. I have yet to trim around a tombstone that reads "I Wish I Spent More Time At Work."

Sorry about the dissertation. Didn't really think that I had that much to say, but it is a current topic at my workplace, due to a recent change in ownership, so this subject is very much at hand in my personal life. In the end, make whatever decision suits you best, and I wish you well.

Good luck and take care.

Great post. We get 40 hours of "sick leave" a year, no carry over. If I'm running fever, or vomiting, I don't go to work.
I'm the last Mohican standing in our machine shop, which is an appendage of our scientific research and development business. If I don't go to work, the jobs will be waiting to be done when I get back. No one does them for me. My gripe is that my boss that quit almost 3 years ago, was making $10K more a year than me. Now the onus is on me to make EVERYTHING and have the responsibility of it. After nearly leaving last year, they finally gave me a $3K bump ( I wanted at least $5K). But it ain't happening due to the top echelon of management skimming all the cream off of the budget in the form of bonuses. The benefits are horrible. They don't pay anything towards health insurance for my family, but they "offer" it so that they can skate by the governments req's...

The moral.....Mamma, don't let your babies grow up to be in manufacturing.

I believe I left 1 hour on the docket of last year's sick leave.
 
   / Using Sick Leave before company is sold? #48  
I started out at my current company over 12 yrs ago with unlimited sick days, but they were not accrued. If you were sick, you used sick time, but you didn' t earn it or bank it. Of course some abused the system, so the company removed sick time, and gave everyone 3 more paid leave days that was to be used however you want, but you now used your paid leave when off sick. The next year or so they removed 2 days of paid leave because they did an audit and determined that people were not using enough of their paid leave each year, so they determined we had too much. This year, because of some recent law changes, they took away 5 of our accrued paid days off and it's now given up front, to be used however you want to use it, sick or whatever.

Most places with sick leave allow you to take it for yourself, or to support a family member who is sick. not everyone has the rule it's only if you are sick.

I took a "sick day" friday. Went to work, had one of those fairly rare "take this job and shove it" kind of events happen, told the boss I was going to take the rest of the day off and left. Problem was not with my boss, but he understood the situation. Got a lot of work done at home, some of which involved hitting nails with a hammer. Was a good day to swing a hammer. Unfortunately I'm not quite in the actual "take this job and shove it" state, but I have been discussing it in the retirement thread. I am eligible for early retirement.

They give you sick days for a reason, it's not always when you are throwing up. Sometimes you need one for your mental health.

edit, just saw kyles repost of rtimgray. That was very well said.
 
   / Using Sick Leave before company is sold? #49  
Is this Eden Hospital? I thought they got bought out a few years ago and was something else now. Is the new hospital being bought out or are they closing down?

When I worked for Airborne, they did everything possible to lower the value of their stock so they could be bought out by DHL. We all saw it coming for several years, and that was the catalyst for me to quit and move to Texas. The guys who stayed and where able to keep their jobs make half of what they used to before the buyout. I wanted to leave on my own terms and to be able to leave when it was best for me, not when I was forced to, or if I was to become dependent on that job. I've kept in touch with enough of those guys to see it happen to them.

Here in Tyler, we have several big hospitals, and they are all struggling. The one my wife used to work for is probably the next one to fail if nothing is done about the number of nurses that are leaving and their inability to staff the floors. Rumor has it that those in top are just buying time until they retire, and hiring consultants to play games that drive away the employees until they retire. The other big one was just bought out and they are spending like crazy, but nobody that I know in upper management feels safe, or that they have a future there.

Seems like the future of health care is going away from big hospitals and towards clinics and private practice. There isn't any money in it any more since the government made all the changes.
 
   / Using Sick Leave before company is sold? #50  
My son who teaches rarely used his sick time and had accumulated a fair amount. At the start of the school year he became too ill to return to work and has been out on sick leave. He has just had some major neck surgery at the base of his skull (decompression) and will not return until next fall. He moved back home in August and has difficulty with anything more than a 1/4 cup of coffee (paper cup). He is on the mend now. His school had a sick bank that he had participated in, in addition to his regular sick days. The result is that he has had his salary covered while he has been out. They like him and want him back. Sicktime is great and should be used wisely- not for the fun of it. He still has his life ahead of him. - Schools in our area will allow you to accumulate 120 sick days. but anything over that shows up in your paycheck.
 

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