Top 10 strange reasons for calling in sick

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

Over the past year, 28% of employees have called in to work sick when they were feeling well, down from 32% last year.

When asked for a reason, 30% said they just didn’t feel like going to work, and 29% said they wanted the day to relax. Another 21% took the day off to attend a doctor’s appointment, and 19% wanted to catch up on sleep. Meanwhile, bad weather was enough for 11% of employees to take the day off.

Though the majority of employers give their employees the benefit of the doubt, 31% say they have checked to see if an employee was telling the truth in one way or another.

Among employers that have checked up on an employee who called in sick, asking to see a doctor’s note was the most popular way to find out if the absence was legit (66%), followed by calling the employee (49%). As many as 15% of employers went the extra mile (quite literally) and drove past the employee’s house.

Nearly one in five (18%) employers say they have fired an employee for calling in sick with a fake excuse.

Some workers have inadvertently busted themselves online. Twenty-four percent have caught an employee lying about being sick by checking social media. Of those, 22% have actually fired the employee, but 54% were more forgiving, only reprimanding the employee for the lie.

Not every employee is playing hooky, however. In fact, a majority of workers feel they do not have the luxury to take a sick day. More than half of employees (53%) say they have gone into work when sick because they felt the work won’t get done otherwise, and 38% did the same because they can’t afford to miss a day of pay.

Perhaps, not surprisingly, employee absentee rates seem to peak with flu season. December is the most popular time of year for employees to call in sick, according to 21% of employers, followed by January (17%) and February (14%).

Despite higher absentee rates during the holiday season, only 8% of employees say they have ever faked being sick during this time. Of those who have, most did it to spend time with family and friends (69%), while others wanted to holiday shop or decorate for the season.

This survey was conducted by Harris Poll on behalf of CareerBuilder among 2,203 hiring managers and HR professionals and 3,103 U.S. workers.

Related articles:

• Sick employees still show up for work
• Employees go to work in sickness and in health
• Top 12 excuses workers have used for being late