I had that for two years at my current job. Full time as an engineer with that shit. One year I got a vacation, the next I got covid. These days I’ve got a bit more and we have separate sick time which is very nice
Every single employer I had until I was past 30 pressed for reasons when I called in sick. Some required doctor's notes. Granted, I'm middle aged and lived in a shitty conservative town where employers constantly broke the law and violated employee rights.
Screw those employers. Whenever they send one of their employees in to me to get a note, I give them way more off than they’d normally take.
You got a cold? The first 5 days suck the most and you’re most contagious during those days, so have 5 days off work. Oh, you only wanted today off and were considering going back tomorrow if you were feeling better? Sucks for your boss, I guess. My medical opinion is based on the disease, not your employee’s self-assessment.
Yes, these were mostly low level blue collar jobs. As much as I hate corporations, sole proprietorships were way worse about violating worker's rights. They don't have established policies, HR departments, and all that kind of stuff. They have some rich fucker with a huge ego, and a few managers who are led by said rich fucker, so his attitude trickles down and affects everything. It sucks, especially in a smaller town with limited opportunities.
Say you're shitting your brains out and the only thing coming to work will accomplish is a line for the bathroom and possibly more people shitting their brains out