The answer has to be that if the boss doesn't want his whole staff getting sick, then as a business management decision he's *got* to cut some slack if he wants you to stay home.

If he thinks he can threaten to fire you if you don't stay home during the early symptoms stage, when it's impossible to know if you've got the bad one yet are contagious if you do, then he will loose loose loose if challenged for making a false dismissal based on facts that a junior lawyer could nail him with, namely, upon whos shoulders lays the burden of proof and what his liability with damages would be if he is wrong.

The most fair compromise would be that your living expenses get covered for every day that you are asked to be away when it's not certain that you are really sick. That would mean what your rent or mortgage and food and utilities boild down to on a per-dium bases, and yes it would be funny if it turns out to match your daily wage...

Larger organizations would find it easier to simply account for it as a travel budget, so whatever is the per-dium for someone on the road for business travel, that's what you get... and yes it would be funny if that's more than what you earn per-dium for wage or salary.

Or... if he's really stingy, and is willing to gamble, then for every day that you are asked to stay away before it's known if you're really sick with a bad one, if you *do* turn out to be sick then he was doing you a favor to have you stay home and rest, but if you're not sick, then he still has to pay you for the time.

In a just society it would be simple... if it looks like you might be sick then you stay home and you still get paid, and the employer gets to apply that part of your wage as a deduction against from his business taxes, because it's cheaper for the government to get a bit less tax from your bosses business profits than would be the roundabout social costs t the government if everyone is getting sick because you didn't stay home.

It might sound like something you can scam, but actually not for very long if you try, because a deduction isn't a full discount from the boss's taxes... it's just a deduction from the taxable part, so it's still not a free ride from him... it's just made less painful for him to keep paying you in order to not get the whole staff sick, plus if you think he won't mind you taking false sick days off because he's getting the deduction, that only lasts as long as it takes form the boss to realize the place is still running without you, or until the temp they bring in to cover for you while you're away turns out to be more productive...

However people want to do it, you're right. You can't just send people home without pay because you think they *might* be sick.

I am fortunate in that I have sick pay and sick days even for when my daughter is sick or needs to go to the doctor. I work for extremely understanding people and I'm thankful

I have been in the situation where there is no sick pay and I sympathize with anyone who has to choose between going to work and spreading the sickness or staying home and not getting paid.

To me, it would be worth it for everyone to have paid sick leave. Everyone. Sure, people will take advantage of it but given a certain amount of sick days a year even would be helpful. It wouldn't cost the employer as much as forcing a sick person to pretend they're ok so they can work and spread their illness around. Even if 10 out of 10 people take an extra day playing sick a year, it wouldn't hurt anyone when you think about how much healthier it is for people who are really sick to stay home, relax and rest and not worry about missing a day of pay.