It used to be if you were sick, you called into work and told them you weren't feeling well and took the day off. 

Las week, FTVLIve showed you how the Fox O&O's told staffers to quit getting sick and just come to work. 

Now, Sinclair's San Antonio station has sent a memo to staffers, telling them that they can only get sick between certain dates, otherwise, it's a bitch for payroll. 

Here's the internal memo sent to the staff: 

From: Dena Bedri
Sent: Thursday, December 08, 2016 9:29 AM
To: SanAntonio-All
Subject: Please Read!! Reminder!! Update to Personal and Sick Leave
 
 
If you are a full-time employee eligible for the Company personal and sick paid time off plans, please carefully review the following information regarding updates to these plans.
 
In effort to further utilize the automation features of our timekeeping system, we are updating the grant and use-by dates within the personal and sick leave policies.  Specifically, we are changing the annual grant date and the period of use dates to be in line with our bi-weekly payroll calendar.  
 
Currently, personal and sick time is granted and used based on a calendar year (time is granted on January 1and must be used by December 31 each year), which is not in line with the payroll calendar.  The payroll calendar is based on bi-weekly pay dates, which covers a two week pay period.  Each year, when sick and personal leave balances are updated, this results in an excessive amount of manual payroll timekeeping adjustments by the employee, manager and staff processing payroll.  By granting and accounting for these leave categories to be in line with the first and the last pay dates of the year, we can ease the administration of timekeeping and take advantage of automation. 
 
Employees will still be able to use personal and sick time during a one year period.  The only change is that the dates for the period of use will no longer follow an exact calendar year, but rather a “payroll” year that begins with the first pay date of each calendar year.
 
Per Corporate Payroll, you will have from to 12/17/2016 to use 2016 personal and sick leave balances.  Balances for 2017 will be loaded and available for use beginning 12/18/2016. 
 
Cordially,
 
Dena Bedri
HR Manager
Sinclair Broadcast Group
NBC 4 / FOX 29 / CW 35 San Antonio