There will be times as an adult when you just don’t want to go to work. It might be that you’re stressed out and need to take a self-care day. Maybe your boss wouldn’t give you time off to do something fun with your family, and so you just work around it by pretending to be sick. Depending on the relationship you have with your job, there are all sorts of reasons behind different actions you can choose. That said, there are plenty of legitimate medical reasons for missing work then you should have no problem talking through with your employer.
Consider some examples that will help to illustrate this point. If there is an epidemic or a pandemic happening, you have every reason to stay home from work. These last months have created unemployment panic because of the coronavirus. Both employers and employees agree that staying home is appropriate for medical reasons in many cases. If you have an injury or a surgery that you are recovering from, that is an adequate medical reason to stay home. And finally, if you suffer from severe psychological issues, including depression, being at work is not the right place for you to be.
The Pandemic Panic
Everyone is on high alert about the current coronavirus pandemic. If you’re concerned that being at work will expose you to this virus and you then will expose someone who potentially could die from this disease, then you are well within your rights to miss work. Medically, only 80% of people who catch the virus have anything more than mild symptoms. However, because there are a lot of unknowns, many employers and employees are being better safe than sorry and working remotely. Intriguingly, many employers find that employees work more productively this way.
Ruptures or Tears
Some injuries really aren’t that bad. However, there are others that you definitely should not go to work if you are recovering from them. For example, if you have recently had surgery and need to take care of yourself to avoid infection, you probably should not be straining yourself at a physically oriented workshop. Or if you have suffered from a rupture from previous surgery, this is caused to go to a hospital, not to work. You have to use common sense when applicable so that you are not causing further injury or damage to yourself or putting others at risk around you.
Psychological Issues
Then there is the more silent type of medical condition that you still might need to take work off to handle. In particular, if you have clinical depression of any kind, going to work may be debilitating. If you have a note from a doctor suggesting that your depression is severe enough, then you should have it built into your work options to be able to take necessary days off as required.