slowplay

All $5 billion is borrowed money. Delta's debt load is $17 billion, and total indebtedness is $44 billion.

That's not accounting. That sucks.

Cogf16

You lost me on the "pushed into temptation" part. Life is full of temptation, EVERYWHERE. Don't see how this has anything to do with sick leave abuse.

80ktsClamp

One cannot be taught the difference between idealism and reality, only shown.

I would suggest you begin to see reality.

tsquare

There was no ambiguity in my mind either. And like I have said, I am not coming down on one side of this issue nor the other. But one thing I just might throw out there for consumption: How many of us have flown with a cold because of the onerous nature of our current sick policy? Dontcha think that that is as insidiously bad from the other perspective as to what Carl illuded? Think about that for a minute. On one hand we have pilots calling in sick because... and on the other we have pilots FLYING sick because... Who is truly right (or wronged as the case may be) in this scenario? Discuss amongst yourselves, I'm outta this one.


Anybody wanna guess who I'm pulling for in the Super Bowl?

satchip

Well I for one will be avoiding the US sports media for the next two weeks. The airwaves and the ether will be filled with stories about the hurricane and how Bush sucked. No matter what your political persuasion, the politicization of the sports media is annoying. They should talk about more pertinent things like the Naughright Incidnet.

I'm sure I will be in some foreign garden spot the night of the Super Bowl. Or maybe I'll follow Carl's lead and call in sick on Super Sunday because It's all about me, right?

tsquare

I have no idea of anything you mentioned in the above post. I watched the Colts' game in GRU in the bar, on ESPN (the Ocho)... and there was no politicization that I saw. Of course the sound was off so I wouldn't have recognized it if it DID occur. But I digress... The Naughright Incident is something (else) about which I know nothing.

Did ya hear that urbie's health is fine, and he's gonna be back for the spring game? Bwaaa haaaaaa haaaaaa

Herkflyr

Think of sick leave balances as your car or home insurance limits. NO insurance company insures anyone with the expectation that they will immediately and in perpetuity file claims right to the limits of your coverage--every year. In fact customers who do that are quickly dropped from the rolls!

But, if you could not do that (i.e. can't fire a guy for sick leave abuse) then you better believe that premiums for everyone would jump up rather quickly--a perfect example of a few selfish "my insurance limits and claim history are mine to be used as I see fit" types ruining it for everyone else.

Of course, from a statistical sense, you do have the high insurance limits for the RARE occasion of your house burning down, car being totaled, etc. Insurance companies can make a pretty decent statistical guess how many of those events that they will end up insuring over time. Therefore in a similar manner we have a lot of sick hours available for not only the occasional sore back or nasty cold, but for the broken leg or post-surgery recovery period.

But no one goes into a policy thinking, "gee, if I don't total my car next year, then I have just 'wasted' all that insurance premium" and similarly, you shouldn't go into a year thinking, "if I don't burn all my sick time I have somehow 'lost.'"

Call in sick when you are sick. Don't call in sick when you aren't. By the way, unlike some koolaid-drinking types, I will acknowledge that it is not necessarily YOU who has to be the sick one. If your kid is sick, and your spouse can't be there, then you are in no position to be flying airplanes. You shouldn't have to take a trip drop without pay to take care of the most important think in your life. I think it entirely appropriate to use sick leave for that.

But don't use sick leave just so you can turn a week's vacation into two. Also, don't NOT call in sick (and therefore sicken everyone you are flying with) and wear it as some perverted badge of honor, as some used to do back in the more inbred years of DAL.

Gnewt

I'd describe it as more of a "ruck" than a scrum. Rucks involved far more scratching, biting, gouging, and stamping after the break down of the initial phase of play. Indeed, rude words were often exchanged. Always highly entertaining to be at the bottom of that pile. Scrums, by contrast, are highly organized opposing points of view that occur in full view of the referee and the audience thus limiting any "extracurricular" activity. Rugby: a hooligans game played by gentlemen.

So, in the interest of rucking over the Jumpseat ball......Seniority based J/S? No F-ing way!

Gnewt

remlap

Slow,

I think you are missing one big demographic point. What happened about 12 months before bankruptcy? 2,500 very senior pilots left the Company. Most of them were between the ages of 53 and 60. That age group has higher sick usage than any other demographic. This dynamic has to be factored into the drop in over all usage.

1234

Hey Slow,

Can you provide some additional background into the numbers and analysis that was performed. I would certainly hope that just because management "showed a __% increase/decrease" in sick leave costs that there was more analysis than just a total block hours vs sick called hrs (way to simple of a number that does not tell any story).

Also, are you talking about the cost of sick to the company or is it just purely on an hourly basis?

I don't like it when percentages get thrown into an argument because they are so often irrelevant when truly analyzed.

Just to play devils advocate, what were the trips like that were called in sick for (could pairing construction be a contributing factor in the use of sick leave)?