Analysis: Lying About a Sick Day

When an IT executive used a medical excuse to sneak off to a job interview, he erred in more ways than one

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Is it really unethical for a usually faultless and diligent information technology senior director—or any employee, for that matter—to use one measly sick day—fabricating the need to see a doctor for bronchitis—to go on a job interview? After all, his rationale for conserving personal and vacation days is that he wants to use them to attend an extended celebration of his mother's 90th birthday.

Just how seriously he went wrong depends on who you talk to, but he definitely did go astray ethically, according to experts. Let's start with the smallest error, which actually has more to do with a lack of savvy than a shortfall in ethics: claiming to have bronchitis.

Personal vs. Sick Days

"Those who do choose to lie about time off should make an excuse people won't ask about later," says Pearl Meyer, senior managing director at Steven Hall & Partners, an executive compensation consulting firm in New York City. "If you say you're going to the doctor, they'll ask you how you're doing forever." Second, the ever-popular argument—"It's my time off, what's the difference how I use it?"—wouldn't cut it here.

"A lot of companies have PTO, a set amount of personal time off you can use for any reason," says Karen Russo, president of K. Russo Associates, a Greenwich (Conn.) executive search firm. Had our executive worked for such a company, he could have simply called in that morning to say: "Something has come up, and I need the day off."

But his employer does have an unlimited sick-day policy. This director receives a set number of personal days for such things as taking the car to get registered, and there's an honor system for medical needs. As long as you're legitimately ill or in pain, you can take off as much time as you need.

Purist's POV

So "in the ethical purist's point of view, if it's understood your sick days are for illness, it's wrong to use them for any other reason," says Bruce Barry, a professor of management and sociology at Vanderbilt University in Nashville and author of Speechless: The Erosion of Free Expression in the American Workplace.

Bruce Weinstein, who writes the Ask the Ethics Guy! column for BusinessWeek.com, agrees. "Taking a sick day for a job interview is just as bad as using company time to nap or surf the Internet for fun," he says. "That's not what you're hired for. Sure, 99% of people may do it, but does that make it right? If 99% of people cheated on their taxes, would that make it right for you to do it, too?"

Co-Workers and White Lies

There's also the matter of fairness to co-workers, says Weinstein. Any computer-network system failure emergency our IT executive would normally handle, were he not taking a sick day, will fall into the hands of already harried colleagues. It also means lost productivity for other workers because the fix will take longer than it would were he on the job.

Finally, on a lighthearted note, even if the man decided for certain he wanted to lie to get time off, he could have changed his approach, according to Barry. "I'd do it the other way—take vacation days for your interviews and then call in sick for your mother's birthday," says Barry. "It seems more noble to lie for your family's sake."

What would you do if you needed time off for an interview? Do you think it's fair to use sick time to look for a job? And what can you ethically allow yourself if you have to find another job?

Reisner is an editor at BusinessWeek.com .