Even in Sickness, Wedded to the Job

Of course there are those workers who know when to yell "uncle." And there will always be the workers who try to abuse the system and consider a hangnail a three-day vacation. But that population is a small one.

Almost 50 percent of employees at private companies in the United States have no paid sick days and don't have the option of staying home. Even if they wanted to take time off when they or their child had the flu, they would lose that pay or potentially their job. Most people without paid time off work in the service industry or in low-wage jobs, according to Jean Flatley McGuire, a visiting professor at the Institute on Urban Health Research at Northeastern University. That means the people who make the food and serve the coffee are forced to work even when they are infectious. Nice image, yes?

Some lawmakers have introduced legislation that would provide seven days of paid sick leave a year for any worker. It was met with disdain from some employers who feel it's another burden on business.

"People who . . . keep coming to work are at risk of becoming seriously sick themselves and making other people sick. That can extend into issues employers face in terms of productivity," McGuire said of both those with and without sick leave.

And yet we come to work. Even if our illness is debilitating but not contagious, we force ourselves to work.

Take Luis Mocete, a communications specialist with the Bryan Cave law firm in New York. Mocete was back at work just three days after a major car accident last month. His head, fresh with a major gash, had seven or eight staples in it. He was sore and quite down about the whole incident. But being home was no fun. He was bored and was dwelling on the accident. His boss asked him to take at least a week off. And when he refused to do that, they compromised on a few days.

"You read a lot of stories that people are afraid to take off because of the economy. That they are afraid it will impact whether they have a job," Mocete said. "That doesn't pop into my head. I just feel like I have a responsibility, that I have a responsibility to my employer."

But do we all feel that responsible? Or have we created a culture where taking time off of work, no matter the illness or injury, is not acceptable?

"We have a problem in our cultural norm today that to be considered a good worker, you have to show up all the time. Not only is that unrealistic, it's harmful," said Chai R. Feldblum, a law professor at Georgetown University and director of Workplace Flexibility 2010, a research organization that aims to develop a national policy on workplace flexibility.

Feldblum argues that workplaces should allow more flexibility. "This is the moment in history for that shift to occur," Feldblum said. That's because "there used to be this thing called wives who stayed home. That's how people could volunteer in the community and take care of kids and not miss work."

But with more gender equality in the workplace, we need to take another step: make it acceptable for both men and women to take time off from work to deal with child care or a sick family member, or to do a bit of community volunteering. And make it not only acceptable, but allow ourselves to realize that those who take off the time they need are "still good workers."

Maybe then we will start to consider taking a day to recover.

Join Amy Joyce from 11 a.m. to noon Tuesday at washingtonpost.com to discuss your life at work. You can e-mail her at lifeatwork@washpost.com.