Memorable Excuses for Calling in Sick

We need to promote humor in the workplace for our employees. Most managers are aware that humor will lessen stress, can be educational and can improve teamwork. 

The lesson  your employees should learn, do not post your outrageous (fake) reasons for calling in sick on your social media!

Thanks to our friends an SHRM, we are re-posting CareerBuilder’s employees survey of funny employees excuses when calling in sick

According to the their survey, one in four employers have caught an employee faking being sick through social media and one in five employers have fired an employee for calling in sick with a fake excuse.

Some of the most memorable excuses reported this year:

• Employee just put a casserole in the oven.
• Employee’s plastic surgery for enhancement purposes needed some “tweaking” to get it just right.
• Employee was sitting in the bathroom and her feet and legs fell asleep. When she stood, up she fell and broke her ankle.
• Employee had been at the casino all weekend and still had money left to play with on Monday morning.
• Employee woke up in a good mood and didn’t want to ruin it.
• Employee had a “lucky night” and didn’t know where he was.
• Employee got stuck in the blood pressure machine at the grocery store and couldn’t get out.
• Employee had a gall stone they wanted to heal holistically.
• Employee caught their uniform on fire by putting it in the microwave to dry.
• Employee accidentally got on a plane. 

If you have heard of other funny excuses, please add a post

AB 2053 - Stop Bullies - Expanded Mandatory Supervisor Training in CA – Abusive Malicious Conduct

California businesses with 50 or more employees are already required to train supervisors on sexual harassment. A.B. 2053 requires that training must now include education on preventing “abusive conduct” in the workplace, even if the conduct is not based on prohibited discrimination or harassment.

The new Code defines abusive conduct as malicious conduct “that a reasonable person would find hostile, offensive, and unrelated to an employer’s legitimate business interests.” Although A.B. 2053 provides that a single act is not abusive “unless especially severe and egregious,” its list of conduct that may be abusive is expansive and includes:

• Infliction of verbal abuse, such as the use of derogatory remarks
• Insults, Epithets
• Verbal or physical conduct that a reasonable person would find threatening, intimidating, or humiliating
• Gratuitous sabotage or undermining of a person’s work performance

Like AB1825, supervisory employees must receive at least two hours of this enhanced anti-harassment training in an interactive format every two years.

We recommend to our clients, regardless of size, they provide AB2053 and AB1825 training every two years to all employees as proactive measure to reduce potential claims and lawsuits. 

Another Legislative Setback for CA Employers

California has amended Cal. Lab. Code § 218.5 to limit the circumstances under which an employer may recover its attorney’s fees and costs as the prevailing party in a lawsuit in which an employee has sued for nonpayment of wages, fringe benefits, or health and welfare or pension fund contributions (SB 462).

Prior to enactment of Senate Bill 462, the prevailing party (either the employer or the employee) could seek recovery of his, her or its attorney’s fees and costs.

As amended, the statute provides that “if the prevailing party in the court action is not an employee, attorney’s fees and costs shall be awarded pursuant to this section only if the court finds that the employee brought the court action in bad faith.”  See Kirby v. Immoos Fire Prot., Inc., 53 Cal. 4th 1244 (2012