Nancy Gunzenhauser Popper, Member of the Firm in the Employment, Labor & Workforce Management practice, in the firm’s New York office, was quoted in Law360 Employment Authority, in “4 Tips for Ensuring Workers Take the Sick Time They Need,” by Anne Cullen. (Read the full version – subscription required.)

Following is an excerpt:

The proliferation of remote work has increased workers' ability to keep contributing while they're ill, though experts say employers could face problems if their sick team members are forgoing time off and clocking in from home because they feel pressured to be available.

Working while ill predates the pandemic; however, studies have shown the increasing acceptance of remote work has pushed more employees to try to tackle their task list from home when they're feeling under the weather. Some of this reluctance to take a break stems from workplace environments that discourage sick time, experts said, a trend they said was amplified by the health crisis. …

Manager Modeling

However, experts said the message won't get through regardless of where it comes from if the supervisors who are recommending employees take sick time refuse to tap into their own days off when they're not feeling well.

For any workplace policy to be effective, people in leadership roles need to model the practice, said Epstein Becker Green member Nancy Gunzenhauser Popper, a management-side attorney.

"It's important that from the top down, it's actually being appropriately modeled for other employees, so there isn't a disconnect between what's on the written page of a handbook versus what is happening in practice," Popper said.

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