How to handle sickness at work (needing time off), etc...

[fhsucade07]

I'm not really here for health answers... but I am a bit perplexed by a diagnosis I received, treatment from the doctor, his new attitude, and how to inform my employer that the past three days I was off might need to be repeated (with possibly more days) later this week or sometime in the beginning of February. Long story short: I fell twice in the week before last. Once in karate and then on a Friday night when a pair of socks hit the hardwood. I have a HUGE blister on my middle finger (on the front -- right hand) and it's very painful. I had "minor" surgery on Wednesday where I was numbed and had the "knot" cut through and a piece of my finger nail that had broken off was removed. I figured the incision was so fluid would come out of the wound (which it did) but by the next morning, it was swollen again. So, on Friday, we took an X-RAY (follow-up appointment) and figured that my bone in that finger must have split somewhat during the second fall... Also, he took blood from me because he felt that the wound resembled "staph infection". Without any urgency whatsoever, he informed me to call him on Tuesday to find out if it's staph and informed me that I would likely need to go to another doctor for a "major hand surgery". I'm headed back to work tomorrow morning (with a huge bandage on my right middle finger) and have always had an understanding employer... I'm getting along fine (extremely worried that it could be staph) and am so used to the injury that now I can type at regular speed by holding my finger off the keyboard and when it's time for it's stoke - coming up with my right hand and just using one of my fingers to click the key (crazy, I know...).

Anyways, how do you walk into an employer (I do have a written excuse for the past three days) with an injury that now looks worse than it did the last time they saw me on Tuesday and explain that you may have staph and may need to be out soon for several days AGAIN? I'm not so worried about time as I have a TON of sick time... It's just that I feel as though the past three days were wasted (as was the first surgery) and I'm not sure how to ask for so much more time when I've just had a good deal of time off. According to the doctor, there is nearly a 100% chance of going back in for surgery...

 

[charper1]

Put on a latex glove (if your doctor says that is OK) for your employer's and coworker's protection and do exactly what you stated above; just bring documentation and roll out the situation.

 

[BengalsFan24]

Right! You need to worry more about yourself than asking for the time off. And not to make you feel nasty (as all of this certainly isn't your fault), but I'm with him -- you'll want to wear a glove to keep everybody else protected and you might even want to start washing your towels (etc) after one use until you confirm whether you have staph or not. My wife had a similar situation come up and they woudlnt' touch her until she had her antibiotics finished and the infection was gone. The knot (or growth or whatever) never would leave and they had to take it off. Where are you hurting in the sides, top, tip, or bottom of that finger.

 

[fhsucade07]

I'm swollen on the left hand side of the finger and the swelling (and bluish - reddish color) is about halfway between my nail and my knuckle. The swelling wraps around the finger (almost completely) and, ironically, there is no swelling or pain of any kind of the right side of the finger or near the back right side. The pain seems to be the top of the nail and the very center of my finger on the back side almost perfectly behind the nail. The swelling is REAL PUFFY just underneath the finger nail up until the place where it ends. Toward the top of the swelling (just underneath the finger nail), the skin is starting to turn sort of a yellowish-brown. The skin is almost like leather in these areas.

The most bizarre point of all is that when you compare it to other fingers, it's as if it just drops off completely on the left tip of my finger where all of the others are perfectly rounded. (Not sure if this is where it was supposed to have split, etc).

I just feel stupid being off for three days and now I'm about to return with a worse looking injury than what I left with informing them of a major surgery....

 

[fhsucade07]

Oh, and the place where he performed the minor surgery has sealed but the skin has started to dry and underneath you can see a very red area of swelling or skin.

 

[BengalsFan24]

Oh, and the place where he performed the minor surgery has sealed but the skin has started to dry and underneath you can see a very red area of swelling or skin.

You dont want medical advice but it sounds like staph. Whats crazy is a doctor that will tell you you may have it but yet you have to call him to find out and tell him how you think you are doing? I'd call him and let him know it wasnt doing any better and would probably demand an appontment for a follow-up then. That kind of swelling and the possibility of staph even if it's something you haven't gotten yet is nothing to play around with. Dont feel stupid about asking for time off. This is a very good reason. Hell, most of the people I work with will sneeze and be out two days. We've had one girl for four months and she hasn't made it through a whole week yet. I'd go in first thing and lay it on the line. They might not really want you there until you know for sure about your diagnosis because most places can be held liable if you further injure yourself at work and they know htat.

 

[primestar31]

If you live in the US, the Feds passed a law some years ago called the "Family Leave Act". U.S. Department of Labor: Compliance Assistance: Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)

Your employer is required to give you a certain amount of job protected time off (if needed) to take care of family issues regarding yourself, or your family. That includes medical issues. They don't have to pay you, but they do have to allow the time off, or face fines from the feds.

Also, I've had multiple staph skin infections years ago due to a supressed immune system. As long as the doctor takes care of it properly, it's nothing to be majorly upset about. Concerned, yes, but they have lots of wonderful antibiotics nowadays. However, infections such as that are nothing to screw around with, and you might want to consider getting a second opinion right away!

 

[BengalsFan24]

See. Don't feel stupid for askng for more time just lay it on the line and I would do it tomorow morning where they'd know. Not to upset you any farther and it sounds like you already know but with that knd of swelling and stuff you'll definatly go through another surgery. He might be right about one thing: You may have split hte bone when you fell. Too bad he didnt realze that or anything else at the first appointment.

 

[fhsucade07]

Thanks for all of the input. I'll just approach them first thing in the morning with the news. Several said stuff about another surgery and I'm really sort of expecting that based off of what I was first told and off of the fact that the antibiotics haven't reduced the swelling any since Wednesday. I'm naturally sort of spooked by the redness and discoloration (and the skin that has turned yellowish-brown in the swelling). I'm not supposed to call him until Tuesday for the results -- at that time, I will probably ask for another appointment. That or ask that I go ahead and be referred to the surgeon to speed up the process.

Thanks again...

Cade

 

[charper1]

...and if it is staph; they likely prefer you take time away.

Not to sound rude; just reality.

 

[Claude Greiner]

As an employer myself, if you never request time off and your truely sick and need some extended time off I doubt they will really care!

What pisses me off the most is that I got 2 employees in my office who constantly come up with excuse after excuse as to why they can't be in the office and work.

I got one girl for example who is always taking time off to go to the doctor. She purposely makes her appointments for like 2pm in the afternoon so she can leave early around 1pm. If thats not bad enough, then she calls me at like 5pm and asks me if I still want her to come back in when we close at 6pm.

Not for anything, I told her it would be better to make the appointment for 8AM sharp, and then come in around 10 or 11AM but then I had to hear some bull sh*t excuse that she has to take the kids to school.

As long as your not always coming up with excuses, you will not have a problem with your employer, but if your name keeps on comming up it can be an issue.

 

[Paul Wozniak]

Oddly enough, a staph infection in my sinuses may have saved my life. Doctors tried 3 different courses of antibiotics, all of which didn't work. So surgery was the final choice. During the surgery they discovered I had throat cancer, and 3 weeks later I was in for more surgery. Cancer free for 8 years now.

 

[fhsucade07]

As an employer myself, if you never request time off and your truely sick and need some extended time off I doubt they will really care!

What pisses me off the most is that I got 2 employees in my office who constantly come up with excuse after excuse as to why they can't be in the office and work.

I got one girl for example who is always taking time off to go to the doctor. She purposely makes her appointments for like 2pm in the afternoon so she can leave early around 1pm. If thats not bad enough, then she calls me at like 5pm and asks me if I still want her to come back in when we close at 6pm.

Not for anything, I told her it would be better to make the appointment for 8AM sharp, and then come in around 10 or 11AM but then I had to hear some bull sh*t excuse that she has to take the kids to school.

I'm in the office just about all the time. I rarely take vacation days and, when I do, I let them know as far in advance as possible. I'm pretty bad to get upper respiratory infections (they'll last about two days) every few months. I'll take time off for that. I really get upset about getting behind on my job because we have several that get behind and I'll have to help with getting them caught up (when they haven't been out). I don't want it to come to that point with me because I feel as though I'm responsible enough (and valuable enough) to do my own job. For me, it's an insult for somebody to get me caught up. We have our database where it can be accessed from my home now -- which basically means I did all of my work while I was at home out. It wasn't as quick (one finger short), but at least I wasn't behind.

I just feel stupid for approaching a group of people that, for the most part, I like only for them to see an injury that is worse than the last time they saw me (on Tuesday). I'm also a little bitter at the doctor because it's went to the point that it becomes a "major hand surgery" now. Ultimately, I don't want my co-workers or supervisors beginning to feel as though I'm unreliable. They can talk about me any way they like but, for me, being called / viewed as unreliable and unable to do my job (etc) would be worse than anything.

 

[BengalsFan24]

I wish my comapny had people that cared about staying caught up as much as you seem too. We have this one girl that has been out for one reason or another and in the four months she has worked with us she hasn't made it trhough one week.


I'm not trying to scare you but you might need to look at all thats going on here. Its really not that normal to get upper respitory infections ever two or three months. Have you had a physical lately?


And dont worry about hte time. You already said you had a written excuse from the doctor. Most of my people never bring those and youre left wondering if they really were sick........

 

[Van]

Repeated respitory illness is an indicator of either a physical problem with your respitory system or your home / work place has contamination such as black mold or asbestos or sick building syndrome, or you are now or used to be a heavy smoker.

 

[dfergie]

If you live in the US, the Feds passed a law some years ago called the "Family Leave Act". U.S. Department of Labor: Compliance Assistance: Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)

Your employer is required to give you a certain amount of job protected time off (if needed) to take care of family issues regarding yourself, or your family. That includes medical issues. They don't have to pay you, but they do have to allow the time off, or face fines from the feds.

I have one that took off 2 weeks, worked one then has missed the last 2 nights on his wife... (young and has 4 kids)Good hand and I do not want to lose him...

 

[scarson79]

to me it sounds more like a simple infection and that there is probably something lodged - most likely the bone split on the side of the finger that you say hurts most. i say this because of the yellow-brownish issue. That's corruption / infection in the finger that will probably come out soon as a yellowish-clear liquid. it will probably come out with most of the skin returning to its normal color. then you'll have to have surgery and remove the excess skin as well as whatever it is on the side of your finger thats causing the pain. nope, not a doctor but my wife had an almost identical issue. (she had fell at work and hardwood from the floor had lodged into the side of her finger). more or less, i think your doctor isnt that urgent becuase he knows that it probably isnt staph. and in most cases like this they'll want the infection gone before operating again. that's why he did the minor surgery to give all of the corruption a place to come out when it's busted.

 

[fhsucade07]

It's been doing that occasionally and after it does, the skin does seem to get more normal in color in different places. It's still really dark on the top of the finger and then over on the left side (where it really hurts). Also, it's swollen but it's not a "puffy" swollen like the bottom of the finger nail.

 

[Bogy]

It's a little scary, but virtually every one of my church members who has had surgery in the past year has had to have some kind of follow up procedure/surgery because of infection. And before someone jumps in with what would seem to be the obvious assumption, these cases are not all from the same doctor or hospital, and include three of the finest facilities in the nation, probably the world, St. Mary's and Methodist Hospitals, in Rochester, MN, in the Mayo system, and University Hospital in Iowa City, along with four or five other hospitals in the area. I have never experienced such a rate of people needing to return to deal with infections in over 25 years as a pastor. It happened occasionally, but this is getting to be a given. Dealing with infections is becoming a huge problem in health care.

I have one guy who a year and a half ago began his process. He thinks it started with a piece of metal getting jammed into his thumb. He has undergone a number of procedures in Rochester, and still has no feeling in that thumb. They tell him it should come back eventually, but he has seen little change.

Just do whatever the doctors tell you to do, and take care of it. You are not the only one who has ever had things look worse before they got better.

 

[TheForce]

Claude & OP-

The first big mistake employees make with sick time off for real health issues is they do it, not keeping their employer ( supervisor) in the loop. Bosses need to plan their work too and unless you work in government where often there are 5-6 people doing one person's job, especially small business owners depend on the productivity of each person to meet commitments they have made about schedules and budgets. So, always, keep your supervisor in the loop.
Second- Good employers will often help you through a serious problem requiring time off if the health issue require it, but it is based on a track record. You indicate having accumulated the time so that indicates you have that track record. Work with your boss so he can plan around the time you need and he needs to meet the work load. I base this on the assumption that you work for a fair boss. I understand there are many a**holes out there. I was never called one as plant manager (that I know of) but was often called an sonofabitch for never bending the rules or making special cases out of pitty stories. I would give good employees opportunity and bad ones the pink slip! That made me a sonofabitch in some's eyes and a hero in others. All one had to do to be a good employee for me is do the job they agreed to do, work the hours they agreed to work, never lie, and never steal. Professionals in my charge, Chemists, Electricians, and Plumbers were also required to maintain a competency level of their craft.

Claude's situation is not unusual but becomes a real problem if the business owner allows the practice to continue without consequence. It is called malingering. One thing emphasized in management school is you never tolerate malingerers. Give them a firm warning and if they continue you get rid of them. As is said, a new broome always sweeps clean and no clerk or assistant is that critical to your business that a good employer ( boss) needs to tolerate people who take advantage.
I spent 25 years in plant management and attented several management schools and the game is always the same- The longer you keep a person who has problems, the harder it is to get rid of them. Last year my wife had a similar situation with her group of support staff. I guess being a woman made her more compassionate than I was as a plant manager, but she'd come to me with these stories of this one who scheduled time as you described, Claude. Finally I gave her a little lesson in Maslo's employee pyramid theory of fives. Not sure that is the official name anymore, but it works like this-
You have 5 employees. You rank them in performance. The top two are achievers with the one at the top always in fear of losing his top rank, he works hard and the #2 works even harder to beat him off the top. You reward both well with the one at the top a bonus. The guy in the middle is in the middle because he is comfortable. He won't improve as long as he is in the middle. He feels safe and money won't motivate him either. The #4 position is also safe but he keeps looking over his shoulder, worried if any change happens he may be the next one out the door. He does just enough to keep from being last. The #5 guy is the one who is taking the time off and the one your other employees despise as they have to work harder to make up for #5's bad habits. PLUS, all your employees think less of you for keeping this #5 dead wood around. You decide one day you need more performance. Fire the bottom two and see what happens. All of the sudden that guy in the middle who thought he was safe, is now at the bottom and next to go. He pickes up his performance level and you now get more work out of your team but you don't have enough so you hire two more and the chances that you may get another number 1 or #2 type performer are greater than had you continued to hope the original #3,4&5 would become #1 and #2 performers. My wife went to the member of her team who was always making excuses to leave early and come in late and told her that the job she has can't be done with the hours she needs to have in her week for work time. She should look to finding other employment in a part time capacity; but the job here is full time whicvh she can't manage in her life. She suggested several companies where they operate with that in mind. My wife said it was amazing that after she got rid of that one the other 4 in her team worked harder. Then she hired a replacement who became a #2 performer in the team. Now the older #4 was at the bottom and also worked much harder fearing they would be the first to go in any downsizing order by the company.

In the end I discovered I could get the plant output to greater levels with a reduction from 75 to 40 people. Plus, those 40 people remaining had a renewed spirit of teamwork I did not see in my plant when I had more employees on record.