Yep, it does sound a bit harsh, but remember that not many years ago, in fact in the lead in to the current sickness policy within BA, the company was seeing the average days sick per employee running at around 18. This was getting on for three times as many days as most major organisations. If it was all genuine then there were some serious problems with employees lifestyles at work and at home. The health and safety side got ramped up. There was also a fair bit of analysis done on when the peaks occurred. Strangely, there were consistent spikes around Wimbledon fortnight and Royal Ascot. Cup Finals also featured. Clearly there was a need to weed out the 'social sickness/duvet day' culture from those who were genuinely ill.