Anonymous wrote:All this discussion is moot until we hear from OP and HIS work policy. Every workplace in this country doesn’t allow an employee to take sick leave by the hour to accompany their child to the dentist, doctor etc. Do you know anyone who works in healthcare? They do not have the ability to leave for a few hours during the day. In that case, the employee would schedule a vacation day.

Anonymous wrote:All this discussion is moot until we hear from OP and HIS work policy. Every workplace in this country doesn’t allow an employee to take sick leave by the hour to accompany their child to the dentist, doctor etc. Do you know anyone who works in healthcare? They do not have the ability to leave for a few hours during the day. In that case, the employee would schedule a vacation day.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I changed jobs for the first time in almost a decade so I admit I'm rusty on the norms, but this is .... odd, right?

My DD is having severe cramps during her menstrual cycle and my wife was to take her next week but the pediatrician called with an opening tomorrow. My wife cant do it so I'm filling in.

My manager wants to know 'why' my DD is going to the Dr and is requiring that I tell him AND get a note.

First of all if an employee at my last few jobs is taking a kid to a doctor during work hours and using sick time it is normally an emergency, with a specialist that is not available off hours or spouse is unavailable.

Otherwife I have people taking sick days to take kids to Dentist, Flu Shots, Orthdonist during work hours. It is a gray area and 90 percen of folks folks are honest.

In this case it would be my daughter is sick, My wife is unavailable to do it so I have to as she is young and does not drive and needs a parent present as a minor.

At my prior jobs we had all types of scammers. My favorite of all time this guy at my company after both his wife and him took off every time kids was sick but they had a nanny and would netflix and chill.

That is not the norm at all and your workplace is broken. Every place I have worked allows sick leave for annual appointments and taking children to annual appointments.

+1 if a workplace has typical 40-hour work week hours, which are also generally when doctors, dentists, and physical therapists operate, it is assumed you will use sick leave for regular appointments. You don't have some obligation to schedule your kid's doctor's appointments for the sliver of Saturday morning the pediatrician is open just because you work Mon-Fri, that's stupid.

This is the whole point of sick leave.

Anonymous wrote:Please clarify: The OP wants to use his sick time for his child's doctor's appointment? Wouldn't vacation/personal time be more appropriate?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just get the note and present it. My son had to do this at a job. The doctor will just confirm that they had an appointment at a certain date and time and won't say what it was for. You give it to your boss without further comment. "Here's the note confirming that I took my daughter to the doctor." If he asks what it was for, you say, a medical issue.

If you are new, they are establishing that you are not abusing the practice. At ine job I had we did require notes. It was not illegal to do this.

Find out the policy at your company.

You should not have to present a note for one appointment. The type of doctor signing the note can reveal health information the manager does not need to know.

Anonymous wrote:I changed jobs for the first time in almost a decade so I admit I'm rusty on the norms, but this is .... odd, right?

My DD is having severe cramps during her menstrual cycle and my wife was to take her next week but the pediatrician called with an opening tomorrow. My wife cant do it so I'm filling in.

My manager wants to know 'why' my DD is going to the Dr and is requiring that I tell him AND get a note.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I changed jobs for the first time in almost a decade so I admit I'm rusty on the norms, but this is .... odd, right?

My DD is having severe cramps during her menstrual cycle and my wife was to take her next week but the pediatrician called with an opening tomorrow. My wife cant do it so I'm filling in.

My manager wants to know 'why' my DD is going to the Dr and is requiring that I tell him AND get a note.

First of all if an employee at my last few jobs is taking a kid to a doctor during work hours and using sick time it is normally an emergency, with a specialist that is not available off hours or spouse is unavailable.

Otherwife I have people taking sick days to take kids to Dentist, Flu Shots, Orthdonist during work hours. It is a gray area and 90 percen of folks folks are honest.

In this case it would be my daughter is sick, My wife is unavailable to do it so I have to as she is young and does not drive and needs a parent present as a minor.

At my prior jobs we had all types of scammers. My favorite of all time this guy at my company after both his wife and him took off every time kids was sick but they had a nanny and would netflix and chill.

This is literally one reason why sick time exists.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Please clarify: The OP wants to use his sick time for his child's doctor's appointment? Wouldn't vacation/personal time be more appropriate?

No, legally you are able to use your sick time for immediate family members.

This is not really true. In some states you can use a limited number of days for this. The employer is sort of messing up but there’s some basi do what they are saying. Here’s the issues:
1) does your policy allow you to fake sick leave for children’s illness? If so, follow the rules in that policy.
2) do you work in a state like DC that allows you to take a certain number of days for family sick leave? If so, provide enough info that they know it is covered by the law (which is DC is the ASSLA.)
3) is the illness FMLA covered (maybe). If so, the employer is entitled to track is against your 12 week entitlement (16 in DC). Taking one day is not worth tracking for most employers but if their HR delarent is very rigid, I can see them just asking as a matter of course. You can say it a not a serious health condition in which case it won’t be FMLA protected. If you want the FMLA protection you need to give sufficient medical facts to establish it’s a serious health condition (you can look that definition up easily online).

Again, #2 and #3 don't apply here -- OP is using paid sick leave granted by his job and the boss is not questioning it being used for a family member so that's clearly within the policy. If his policy didn't cover appointments for family members, the boss would just say "sorry our policy doesn't cover that, you need to use personal leave for that."

But the sort of leave being used doesn't change the fact that it is a violation of privacy laws to request detailed information about OP's or their child's medical care. They can ask for documentation from a doctor just to verify that the sick leave is being used for a proper medical purpose. They cannot ask what the diagnosis is or anything related to that (how long it's been going on, how sick they are, etc.).

There are multiple reasons for the privacy limitation. One is that if an employer asks about details of your medical diagnosis, it creates a risk of discrimination. For instance if my boss demands to know why I have had several doctor's appointments in recent months and I reveal it's because I am pregnant or trying to get pregnant, this creates a risk of discrimination against me for family or pregnancy status, which is illegal. Thus employers are not supposed to ask. The same concerns extend to medical conditions of family members, since asking about your spouse's medical diagnosis or that of your kid could be viewed as discriminating against someone for family status. This is also why employers are never supposed to ask if you are pregnant or trying to get pregnant, or even whether you have kids (they are supposed to wait for you to disclose this info).

Anonymous wrote:What is the J1 J2 thing?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I changed jobs for the first time in almost a decade so I admit I'm rusty on the norms, but this is .... odd, right?

My DD is having severe cramps during her menstrual cycle and my wife was to take her next week but the pediatrician called with an opening tomorrow. My wife cant do it so I'm filling in.

My manager wants to know 'why' my DD is going to the Dr and is requiring that I tell him AND get a note.

First of all if an employee at my last few jobs is taking a kid to a doctor during work hours and using sick time it is normally an emergency, with a specialist that is not available off hours or spouse is unavailable.

Otherwife I have people taking sick days to take kids to Dentist, Flu Shots, Orthdonist during work hours. It is a gray area and 90 percen of folks folks are honest.

In this case it would be my daughter is sick, My wife is unavailable to do it so I have to as she is young and does not drive and needs a parent present as a minor.

At my prior jobs we had all types of scammers. My favorite of all time this guy at my company after both his wife and him took off every time kids was sick but they had a nanny and would netflix and chill.