Most unusual excuses for employees calling in sick

It’s not just students who play truant anymore. In the past year, a survey found that 30% of workers who have called in sick were not actually ill.

In a study by CareerBuilder, almost one-third of employers (29%) have checked up on an employee to verify that the illness is legitimate. Some employers have had employees call a suspected faker (18%) or even gone so far as to drive by the employee’s home (14%).

Seventeen per cent of employers have fired employees for giving a fake excuse.

The study also found that December is the most popular month to call in sick, with 20% saying their employees call in the most during that month.

Next to actually being sick, the most common reasons employees call in sick are because they just don’t feel like going to work (34%), or because they felt like they needed to relax (29%). Others take the day off so they can make it to a doctor’s appointment (22%), catch up on sleep (16%), or run some errands (15%).

Excuses, Excuses

Some workers come up with slightly more colourful explanations for their absences. When asked to share the most memorable excuses, employers reported the following real-life examples:

• Employee’s sobriety tool wouldn't allow the car to start
• Employee forgot he had been hired for the job
• Employee said her dog was having a nervous breakdown
• Employee’s dead grandmother was being exhumed for a police investigation
• Employee’s toe was stuck in a faucet
• Employee said a bird bit her
• Employee was upset after watching “The Hunger Games”
• Employee got sick from reading too much
• Employee was suffering from a broken heart
• Employee’s hair turned orange from dying her hair at home