• FREE RESOURCES
        • Accounts Payable
          Finally! The trick to securing greater T&E compliance
          Benefits
          Rooting out folks who don’t belong on your health plan: A 6-point dependent audit checklist
          IT
          3 costly misconceptions about biz email compromise
          Credit and Collections
          Collecting via email: 4 must-make moves in your subject line
          Accounts Payable
          5 Tough-to-spot signs that an invoice is fake
  • PREMIUM CONTENT
        • Staff management
          120 Proven Communications Tips for Today’s CFO
        • Payroll
          Handling Nonexempt Employee Pay: Stay Compliant and Avoid DOL Audits
          Accounts Payable
          T&E Best Practices: Complete Guide to Ensure Compliance
          Payroll
          Payroll Best Practices: 4 Ways to Save Time and Money
        • Staff management
          Email Best Practices: A 6-Question Quiz
          Staff management
          Innovative Communications Strategies: An Email Case Study
          Staff management
          A 5-part Framework for Successful Workplace Communications
        • SEE MORE
          PREMIUM RESOURCES
  • CORONAVIRUS RESOURCES
  • LOGIN
  • SIGN UP FREE

CFO Daily News

  • FREE RESOURCES
        • Accounts Payable
          Finally! The trick to securing greater T&E compliance
          Benefits
          Rooting out folks who don’t belong on your health plan: A 6-point dependent audit checklist
          IT
          3 costly misconceptions about biz email compromise
          Credit and Collections
          Collecting via email: 4 must-make moves in your subject line
          Accounts Payable
          5 Tough-to-spot signs that an invoice is fake
  • PREMIUM CONTENT
        • Staff management
          120 Proven Communications Tips for Today’s CFO
        • Payroll
          Handling Nonexempt Employee Pay: Stay Compliant and Avoid DOL Audits
          Accounts Payable
          T&E Best Practices: Complete Guide to Ensure Compliance
          Payroll
          Payroll Best Practices: 4 Ways to Save Time and Money
        • Staff management
          Email Best Practices: A 6-Question Quiz
          Staff management
          Innovative Communications Strategies: An Email Case Study
          Staff management
          A 5-part Framework for Successful Workplace Communications
        • SEE MORE
          PREMIUM RESOURCES
  • CORONAVIRUS RESOURCES
  • Accounts Payable
  • Credit and Collections
  • Payroll
  • Accounting
  • Benefits
  • Finance Technology
  • More
    • Employment Law
    • Strategy
    • Policy and Culture
    • Fraud
    • Payments and Transactions
    • Budgeting and Forecasting
    • Banking
    • Staff Management
    • Cost Control
    • Supply Chain
    • IT

Is that employee sick-sick or just sick of working?

Scott Ball
by Scott Ball
October 23, 2014
  • Benefits
  • Fraud
2 minute read
  • SHARE ON

Social media is helping employers spot fraud in all kinds of ways.

For example: Nearly one in four (24%) of employers have caught an employee faking sickness by checking sources like  Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc.

A new CareerBuilder survey shows that workers calling in sick when they feel perfectly fine isn’t going away – it’s just that employees aren’t being smart about covering their trail.

You’d think most bosses wouldn’t be too forgiving if they saw an employee kite-boarding the same day he was expected in the office.

But 54% of those employers who caught a “faker” only reprimanded the employee. And only 22% of that group did fire the offending employee.

Excuses, excuses, excuses …

The survey shows that 28% of workers faked sick last year, a 4% drop from the previous year.

The reasons?

  • 30% “didn’t feel like going in”
  • 29% wanted a day to relax
  • 21% skipped work for a doctor’s appointment
  • 19% had some sleep to catch up on, and
  • 11% cited bad weather.

Believe it or not, 49% of employees say their companies have a Paid Time Off program that lets them get paid for attending to personal matters.

Yet 23% of those workers still felt the need to make an excuse, ie. “Boss, I’m not feeling well today …”

At least some of the fakers came up with memorable and humorous excuses. Here are 10 of the best (or should we say “worst”) excuses managers provided:

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

Ever hear an excuse that tops any of those? Let’s hear it.

Keep Up To Date with the Latest Finance News

With CFO Daily News arriving in your inbox, you will never miss critical stories on accounting, benefits, payroll & employment law strategies.

Sign up for a free CFO Daily News membership and get our newsletter!
  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
CFO Daily News Logo
  • ABOUT CFO DAILY NEWS
  • ADVERTISE WITH US
  • WRITE FOR US
  • CONTACT
  • Accounting
  • Benefits
  • Payroll
  • Policy and Culture
  • Employment Law
  • Fraud
  • Finance Technology
  • Accounts Payable
  • Credit and Collections
  • Strategy
  • Payments and Transactions
  • Budgeting and Forecasting
  • Banking
  • Staff Management
  • Cost Control
  • Supply Chain
  • IT

CFO Daily News, part of the SuccessFuel Network, provides the latest Finance and employment law news for Finance professionals in the trenches of small-to-medium-sized businesses. Rather than simply regurgitating the day’s headlines, CFO Daily News delivers actionable insights, helping Finance execs understand what Finance trends mean to their business.

Privacy Policy Terms of Service
Copyright © 2021 SuccessFuel

WELCOME BACK!

Enter your username and password below to log in

Forget Your Username or Password?

Reset Password

Lost your password? Please enter your username or email address. You will receive a link to create a new password via email.

Log In

preloader