Really dumb policy for hospitals, they were out 1 nurse and had to pay the sick day, plus call in a nurse for the day from the nursing service they used....Should have been able to bank days to use when retiring or quitting....
They have come in handy two different occasions when I needed back surgery, and another time for a gall bladder operation.
Even at that I have saved up 180 sick days in my 28 years as a teacher.
You are right about building up immunities, after the first ten years of teaching I very rarely miss a day of work.
Tax laws force hospitals to differentiate between sick days and vacation days so a lot of hospitals have gone to a “time or PTO bank” and have gotten rid of sick time. Any accumulations of employees’ vacation/sick time has to be considered a debt to the company under financial and tax laws which can make a company look weaker financially than it really is. So geting rid oa a sick bank or combining it with vacation time saves the company money
Where I work we do have a “sick” bank but you have to use 2 “pto” days in one “occurence” before you can use a “sick: bank day,,,ie. a small surgical procedure that keeps you out a week. The “sick” bank accumulates much more slowly than PTO and I don’t get to take it with me if I leave the company. Both the PTO and sick banks have maximum caps on them.