The Swine Flu and the Hyporcisy of Employers

If you're lucky like me, you're still employed. And if you're employed, I'd be very surprised if you told me that your employer hadn't sent out some emails or put up some notices about "Not coming to work sick with the H1N1 virus".

My employer certainly has. And my friends employers as well. They seem sincere in the fact that they want us to stay home and keep this stuff as isolated as possible. After all, President Obama has signed a National Emergency Declaration on H1N1. This stuff is serious. Sadly the people at the highest risk are pregnant women and newborns.

So it seems like a great idea to tell your employees that if they are sick, stay home for the well being of us all. Thats what they are saying. Problem is, many employers have strict attendance rules in effect that aren't being changed for the pandemic flu.

My employer gives me an undefined amount of sick days. That is, if you are sick, you stay home. However, if you start racking up the sick hours you get talked to by management. Get too many sick hours, you might lose your raise or even get fired if they climb too high. Thing is, while the HR people are sending out notice after notice about how we need to stay home if we have the flu, they're not relaxing this policy at all.

This leaves me with a choice. Get in trouble with work for staying home when I'm sick, or come into work sick and get everyone else here sick so they have to deal with the same problems. For me, the flu wouldn't be the end of the world most likely. I'm a healthy guy in my mid 30s. I'd be laid up for a while I'm sure, but I wouldn't die.

What if I share an office with someone who is pregnant or has small children at home? Do I come into work sick so I don't get in trouble with my employer and risk their lives to this virus? Do I stay home and get fired and then sit on unemployment for who knows how long these days?  Thats a tough choice to make, and frankly I shouldn't have to make that kind of a choice.

Unfortunately, many people I talk to have employers who are doing this same kind of thing. Telling you to stay home if you're sick on the one hand, while handing out punishments for staying home on the other. I've talked to people in many industries, including Healthcare. You'd think a hospital would be very careful about infection control in this manner, but at some facilities the employees are suffering the same dilemma.  Come to work sick and risk people's lives, or be fired.

I am a libertarian, I believe for the most part the government should stay out of people's affairs as much as possible. But there needs to be some form of legislation preventing employers from punishing employees for staying home when they are sick with the flu, period.