Been watching for a long time on this site, also been searching for a new job after many years with Express. I found one, will be giving my 2 weeks notice in, I plan on using all 5 sick days during my last 2 weeks. Does anyone know of any policy out there in Express that will not allow this? Will they not pay me if I call in sick during my last 2 weeks with the company?
If you haven't already given your notice of voluntary termination (2 week notice), then hold off - get sick, and take a mini-vacation before you do turn in your notice. Be prepared to provide a physician's note regarding the nature of the sickness and your ability to return to work "without any restrictions". If you have given notice, then forget about it. Your management will do everything they can to deny you pay for any time you call off (if you get sick after giving notice) and there isn't a hell of a lot you can do about unless you provide a physician's note for the time. Just isn't worth the fight.
It all depends on when your start date with your new job is. If you have a start date more than 3 weeks out and haven't given notice - get sick. If you have a start date sooner than that - forget about the sick time, and just do your last 2 weeks.
I used my personals, floaters and most of my sick time going to interviews before I left Express. I managed to find a position before using my last sick day (damn, my health did a real nose dive in the last month or so of my employment...). My manager knew what was going on, but since I hadn't turned in notice, there wasn't a damn thing "they" could do about.
The last 2 weeks was more or less a "victory lap", since I knew there wasn't a damn thing they could do to me, I wouldn't return no matter what and all the little crap that constantly got thrown at me - I could ignore and laugh off.
Congrats on getting out of the hell hole and into something else.