Company only allows PTO on 'sick days,' forcing employees to lie about their time off: 'That’s basically no PTO with extra steps'

Sometimes you have no choice but to lie.

Honesty is usually the best policy, but there's not always room for it. You've probably told a lie at some point and felt like it was your only option. Sometimes we tell lies to spare each other's feelings. We know that the truth would hurt them, so we've chosen a white lie instead. There is nothing inherently wrong with this. Sometimes it's better to choose the whole picture over the small truth. But in other scenarios, we're forced to tell lies even when we don't want to. Sometimes you have to do this when there is a policy in place that doesn't make sense. It forces you to follow rules where they shouldn't exist, and thus, you end up becoming dishonest in the process.

For instance, instituting "sick only PTO," a policy that only excuses you from work when you have to call out due to illness. Of course, though, illness is not the only reason we sometimes need to miss work. Maybe family stuff comes up, or personal projects, or heaven forbid, a vacation. If it's paid time off, we should be allowed to use it however we want to. After all, what difference does it make? And wouldn't they rather know in advance, so they can find coverage and plan for your absence? Why relegate it to a day-of call out? Who does that benefit? I have a hard time imagining the benefits in that scenario. But that's what happened in one workplace.

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So the employees were left with no choice but to fib about their time off. In order to comply with the policy but also get the time off they needed, they had to make up excuses. The way they saw it, they were complying with a policy that didn't make any sense. But sense isn't always the first priority of some of these businesses. But the workers were fed up and felt that they deserved far more than what they were being given. So one of them posted their plight online, where other workers chimed in with stories of their own.
Sick-only PTO policies just incentivize lying and last-minute call-outs.

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