Not sure this is the result they wanted

I've posted before about the sick leave policy of the agency I currently am working for. As I said back in September, when the policy change was foisted on us:

What this policy does -- and the policy was not written until about a week ago -- is ensure that anyone on a project that has overtime hours available will not be able to utilize sick time if they are working the overtime hours available. In other words, the people who are accruing the most sick time by working the most hours won't be able to use any of that sick time. Got it? I'm not sure why the agency would want to write a policy on sick leave that discourages working overtime -- which I think makes the agency more money and certainly is the only way for temps to make a living -- but that's what they are doing.

You are only allowed to claim sick time if doing so will not put you over 40 hours per week. That means people who work a lot of overtime (and thus accrue a lot of sick leave, which is based on hours worked) would never be able to claim sick leave unless they quit working overtime. The policy encourages slacking, no doubt about it. And this week, I have proof.

A guy I know on the project left early each night this week, did not come to work today (Thursday) and is not going to be at work Friday. He was looking a little peaked, maybe like he was about to throw up, so it would not surprise me if he submitted for sick time for those two days. Coincidentally, he only worked 24 hours the first three days of the week, which means that two days of sick time would give him 40 hours for the week. Normally, this guy works about 10 hours a week of overtime -- which makes him a slacker in my book, but hey -- but I guess he was getting a little run down.

The point, I guess, is this: if benefits don't help your hardest-working employees, they aren't much of an incentive to work hard, are they? Everytime somebody tries to claim a sick day, the policy here changes so that in the future, that sick day under those circumstances will be denied. They figure out how to deny sick days, we figure out how to get them. I predict that it is only a matter of time before the agency simply does away with its sick leave policy or, at best, makes it so restricted that no one qualifies for sick leave under any circumstances. Bet on it.

Can't wait to see how they react to Obamacare when the employer mandate kicks in.