What is the difference between sick leave and personal leave

Some of these benefits may include personal time off or personal days. This allows you to rest and take care of important matters in your personal life. In this article, we review what personal days are, how they relate to sick days, vacation days and PTO, how to ask for a personal day, tips for making the best use of your time and additional topics about personal days.

Personal days are a form of employee benefit that employers offer in addition to sick days, PTO and vacation days. Typically, employees use personal days for doctor's visits, child illness, family emergencies or jury duty. However, they may also use their personal days if they run out of sick days or another form of time off. The difference between personal days and sick days is that sick days are for when you feel too sick to work.

You can use sick days for common illnesses like a cold or virus as well as more serious illnesses like pneumonia or heart disease that require hospitalization or surgery.

In contrast, personal days take on a more broad array of events. You may use a personal day if you or your loved one is sick, but you may also use one to get much-needed rest after a hectic workweek or to attend to other occurrences in your personal life e. The difference between personal days and vacation days is that vacation days are specifically used for vacation-related events.

Also, depending on your employer, the number of vacation days you receive may rely on the number of years you've worked at your company, or it may be on an accrual basis where your vacation time increases as you complete a certain number of workweeks. In contrast, employers typically allot a certain number of personal days for employees to use throughout the year. Depending on the employer, personal days also may or may not be paid.

The difference between personal days and PTO days is that PTO, also called paid time off, has a more broad meaning and is typically used for vacations or sick leave. In contrast, personal days imply sickness or other matters that require time off from work. Moreover, employees usually book PTO a few weeks in advance, whereas personal days may be a result of sudden illness or life event. Here are five steps to help you ask for a personal day:.

Unless it's a family emergency or another unplanned event, be sure to look over your company and department schedule for the day s you plan to be absent. Note any important deadlines or presentations that may require your coworkers to step in for you.

If you can, consider moving your personal day s beyond those important dates. Whether you plan to take a personal day or something happens that requires you to take one without prior warning, be sure to contact your coworkers to ask them for their help in performing your work duties while you're gone. You may also mention that should they need time off in the future, you can cover for them too. Knowing one or more of your coworkers is willing to step in for you can be helpful when asking your employer for those days off.

Asking for a personal day in-person is okay, but a formal email to your manager can ensure there is a document that proves your request. Make sure you review your company policies for communicating personal days as you may need to address it to HR or add it to your company calendar. Before you take your personal day s , make sure to talk with your manager in-person to confirm whether they received your email and if it is okay with them.

This is important in case they missed your email or in case they forgot about your leave. Evidence of an illness only needs to be given when the employer requests it. A medical certificate is the usual form of evidence for taking sick leave. If this wasn't possible a statutory declaration will be accepted according to The Act. If you've been asked to give evidence and you don't, then the employer can refuse to pay you for that particular leave day.

What type of personal leave am I entitled to? What is personal leave? How much personal leave do I get each year?

In the case of a bereavement you are entitled to 2 days compassionate leave on each occasion. How does personal leave accrue? Personal leave accrues every hour as you work. Can I cash out my accrued personal leave? Example Charlie has been working with the same employer for 20 years. What is sick leave? What is carer's leave? How much should I be paid during sick or carer's leave? Permanent employees will receive their base rate of pay for the day. Can I take unpaid carer's leave?

Most companies allocate only a certain number of days for sick leave and personal time. For example, in a calendar year an employee could have five sick days and three personal days. If the employee fails to use them all in the given amount of time, the company must decide whether to allow employees to roll them over that is, add or bank them to the number of sick days for the following year. The company could also reward the employee for not taking all available sick and personal days by offering cash bonuses, perks, or additional vacation days.

In an article for Business First , Dr. James D. Levy discussed employee attendance issues and described the three employee types that most businesses have to contend with.

They pride themselves on being the iron man or iron woman and prove that people can, and do fulfill their responsibilities even when they don't feel well," he explained. The third group, usually only 5 percent or so, use their sick days plus most or all of their vacation time and additional lost time because of illness. It's this group that blurs the line between actual illness and the kind of 'not feeling well' that can be an excuse for poor performance or absences.

Improvement in the attendance and performance of that small group would pay big dividends to organizations. From a business standpoint, the main problem that companies face when an employee takes time off because of an illness or personal matter is the loss of production. This in turn leads to a loss of money in most instances, an employee is paid when they take a sick or personal day.

The loss of productivity occurs simply because the work that the employee was supposed to do that particular day has to be done by one or more other employees or by a temporary employee. There is also the chance that the work could not get done at all. The existence of sick and personal days also leaves the door wide open for them to be abused by employees who are less than honest about their health or personal lives.

Most everyone has played hooky by calling in sick to work at one time or another, but those who make a habit of it are costing their employers a lot of money over the long run. In addition, the other employees who have to cover for them while they are taking time off may start to build up resentment if this situation occurs over and over again with the same individuals.

This dip in morale can also hurt the company over a long period of time. There are many ways employers can fight back and make sure that their employees are not abusing the sick and personal days that they have been allotted. The first step would be to examine the existing policy and determine if it encourages unscheduled absenteeism.

Management and supervisors can also force themselves to become more aware of their employees' habits and be on the lookout for things like stress or specific types of lifestyles that may force an employee to take more time off. Single parents or recent divorcees would fall into this category.

In some instances, the company could consider providing counseling or other assistance to employees who suffer from problems that cause them to miss work including alcoholism, drug abuse, and psychological problems. In addition, many employers can combat an attendance problem before it gets out of hand simply by confronting the employee and discussing the reasons why he or she has missed so much work.

An official attendance record could be kept just in case the employee disputes the employer's claims. Policies requiring an employee to file a report stating why they missed work can also be helpful in these types of situations. Also, since many employees spend a lot of time in the workplace, an employer can also reduce the chances of them getting sick in the first place by promoting a clean, safe, and healthy office environment.

Another concept that many employers have found useful in cutting down on unscheduled absences is known either as a paid leave bank PLB or a paid time off program PTO. This program requires employees to consider all of their vacation, sick, and personal days as one unit to be used either for PTO or serious catastrophic situations.