Employers are more lenient to workers’ absences in view of the crisis

According to a survey, conducted for CareerBuilder.com, an online jobs site, between August 20 and September 9, the number of workers calling in sick to work with fake excuses remains steady at about 30% each year, though fewer are getting fired for it.

 However, the amount of US employers who check up on absent workers declined to 29% this year from 31% last year and 35% the previous year. 

 The majority of employers usually do not question absences, but 15% reported they fired an employee for missing work without a legitimate excuse this year. Thus, last year, more employers, 18%, fired employees absent without legitimate excuses.

 In 2009, 28%of employers think more employees are absent with fake excuses due to stress and burnout caused by the recession.  

 As the research found, the number of workers calling in sick when they are not at least once a year has held steady at one-third in 2009, 2008 and 2007. About 65% of employers say they let workers use sick days as so-called mental health days. 

 Employers checking on absent employees, mostly required a doctor's note. Others called the employee at home, had another worker call or drove by the employee's home.

 Responded noted not feeling like going to work, followed by doctor's appointments, a need to relax, catching up on sleep, errands, avoiding a work-related event, housework and spending time with family and friends as the main reasons of falsely calling in sick.