A high school English teacher in Ohio is facing termination after she allegedly called out of work sick for two days to attend a concert in Nashville, Tennessee, district records show.
So, this whole "article" is pretty light on any details here.
Was this her first offense? Did she have vacation time and chose not to use it? Did she use up all of her vacation time and then chose to take sick days? Did she have other offenses that led up to this termination call?
I mean when I used to have a job with vacation/sick leave, no one ever got sacked for taking a sick day or two to just have some time off, UNLESS, it was chronic, you had other performance issues, or you used up all of your vacation and decided to game the system and took like a week long holiday anyways and got caught.
Most places I’ve taught in the US don’t have vacation days. You have sick days (10 a year, they stack), and personal days (3 a year, max of 5 before they turn into sick days).
Do remember that teachers generally work far, far longer each day than just 9-5. Their paid hours often don't give them time for lesson planning and marking.
Do remember that their "summers off" (which are often used to prep for the following year) are unpaid. Do also remember that when a person has been extremely stressed, their immune system will kick into high gear, helping to ward off illness during a time when energy is needed elsewhere. I.e. every paid break is spent being sick because your body finally went back to a normal immune system as you decompress. This, in turn, makes it difficult to enjoy your only actual vacation time.
Place I used to work at had your vacation days stack. Changed a lot to where it was use or lose and were able to not approve for what ever reason. Also told us not to take off around major holidays.
Changed out healthcare on us too. Became much worse. Found out high level employees had better vacation and better healthcare plans on top of that.
Wow, I've never had that much time off when working. We get 5 sick days from the state and 0-5 from the district. You lose any district days that you don't use, but you keep any state days that aren't used.
One of the teachers had never taken a day off in his 30+ years and had a ton of state days. They wouldn't let him donate more than 5 to a teacher who just gave birth, so she had to come back to work after just 2 months.
Most places these days lump theb two together into "PTO" - mostly to shave a week or two of paid time put off us poor ununioned drones. Because America and capitalism suck.
In the USA I get 3 weeks paid vacation, 3 personal days, and more sick days than I ever need, about 2-3 accrue per month. But I have a good job, best one I've had yet.
Just an example of what is available out there to look for.