For purposes of employment handbooks and benefit administration, is
there a real definition (or examples) of "sick" in sick time. 
Clearly, someone calling in sick to work with an actual illness is
"sick".  However, if a person is going the doctor or dentist for a
routine check, is that person entiteld to sick leave.  I realize there
is probably no hard and fast answer to this, but prior practice
examples would be welcomed, as would examples of actual personnel
policies in this regard.  If the answer depends upon state, then
please use California.

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Request for Question Clarification by pinkfreud-ga on 15 Mar 2006 17:06 PST

Please let me know if this is the kind of material you're seeking: 

"One in three workers has paid sick leave that may be used for
doctors? appointments, according to the [Institute for Women?s Policy
Research] report. This leave is available four times as often for
full-time workers than it is for part-time employees.

Government entities are most likely to provide paid leave for doctors?
appointments with 80 percent of their workers receiving this benefit,
the report estimates. Approximately 71 percent of educational services
employees and 65 percent of utilities staff receive paid leave for
medical appointments.

Paid leave for medical appointments is much less common in the private
sector, where the benefit was estimated to vary significantly by
industry, including:

financial services (51 percent);
natural resources (43 percent);
information services (42 percent);
health care and social assistance (38 percent);
professional and business services (36 percent); and
accommodation and food services (5 percent)."

http://www.thompson.com/libraries/leave/gone/samplenews/gone0412.html

"Paid Time Off for Seeing a Doctor. One in three
workers (33 percent) has paid sick leave that may
be used for doctors? appointments. This leaves
almost 82 million workers with insufficient paid
time off to take care of routine and acute medical
care. Full-time workers? ability to use paid sick leave
for this purpose is nearly four times as high as for
part-time workers (39 and 10 percent, respectively).
Access to paid sick leave for doctors? visits is three
times higher in the public sector than for private
employees (75 and 26 percent, respectively). Being
represented by a union increases coverage by
about one-third (with coverage rates of 42 percent
for union and 31 percent for non-union workers).
Among industries, state and local government (80
percent), educational services (71 percent), and utilities
(65) stand out as offering the most substantial
leave for doctors? appointments. Roughly 40 to 50
percent of workers in financial activities (51 percent),
natural resources (43 percent), information (42 percent),
health care and social assistance (38 percent),
can take advantage of this benefit as well. Coverage in
other industries ranges downward from these levels
to accommodation and food services, the industry
with the lowest coverage level?five percent.
White-collar occupations have the highest incidence
level for this policy, with around half of workers
in professional and technical jobs (50 percent),
executive, administrative, and managerial positions
(49 percent), and administrative support and clerical
occupations (47 percent) covered. In all other
occupations, coverage is provided to only about
one in four or one in five workers."

http://www.iwpr.org/pdf/B242.pdf

Note that the IWPR document linked above contains several relevant
tables and charts.

Below is what the Ca. labor code has to say. Please note the term
"accrued during six months" so if you earn 10 days a year this would
allow for 5 days a year. Notice 4b & 4c.

 http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/displaycode?section=lab&group=00001-01000&file=200-243

233.  (a) Any employer who provides sick leave for employees shall
permit an employee to use in any calendar year the employee's accrued
and available sick leave entitlement, in an amount not less than the
sick leave that would be accrued during six months at the employee's
then current rate of entitlement, to attend to an illness of a
child, parent, spouse, or domestic partner of the employee.  All
conditions and restrictions placed by the employer upon the use by an
employee of sick leave also shall apply to the use by an employee of
sick leave to attend to an illness of his or her child, parent,
spouse, or domestic partner.  This section does not extend the
maximum period of leave to which an employee is entitled under
Section 12945.2 of the Government Code or under the federal Family
and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (29 U.S.C. Sec. 2606 et seq.),
regardless of whether the employee receives sick leave compensation
during that leave.
   (b) As used in this section:
   (1) "Child" means a biological, foster, or adopted child, a
stepchild, a legal ward, a child of a domestic partner, or a child of
a person standing in loco parentis.
   (2) "Employer" means any person employing another under any
appointment or contract of hire and includes the state, political
subdivisions of the state, and municipalities.
   (3) "Parent" means a biological, foster, or adoptive parent, a
stepparent, or a legal guardian.
   (4) "Sick leave" means accrued increments of compensated leave
provided by an employer to an employee as a benefit of the employment
for use by the employee during an absence from the employment for
any of the following reasons:
   (A) The employee is physically or mentally unable to perform his
or her duties due to illness, injury, or a medical condition of the
employee.
   (B) The absence is for the purpose of obtaining professional
diagnosis or treatment for a medical condition of the employee.
   (C) The absence is for other medical reasons of the employee, such
as pregnancy or obtaining a physical examination.
   "Sick leave" does not include any benefit provided under an
employee welfare benefit plan subject to the federal Employee
Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (Public Law 93-406, as
amended) and does not include any insurance benefit, workers'
compensation benefit, unemployment compensation disability benefit,
or benefit not payable from the employer's general assets.
   (c) No employer shall deny an employee the right to use sick leave
or discharge, threaten to discharge, demote, suspend, or in any
manner discriminate against an employee for using, or attempting to
exercise the right to use, sick leave to attend to an illness of a
child, parent, spouse, or domestic partner of the employee.
   (d) Any employee aggrieved by a violation of this section shall be
entitled to reinstatement and actual damages or one day's pay,
whichever is greater, and to appropriate equitable relief.
   (e) Upon the filing of a complaint by an employee, the Labor
Commissioner shall enforce the provisions of this section in
accordance with the provisions of Chapter 4 (commencing with Section
79) of Division 1, including, but not limited to, Sections 92, 96.7,
98, and 98.1 to 98.8, inclusive.  Alternatively, an employee may
bring a civil action for the remedies provided by this section in a
court of competent jurisdiction.  If the employee prevails, the court
may award reasonable attorney's fees.
   (f) The rights and remedies specified in this section are
cumulative and nonexclusive and are in addition to any other rights
or remedies afforded by contract or under other provisions of law.
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Also don,t forget about the Ca. Paid family leave 
http://www.paidfamilyleave.org/law.html


Beginning July 1, 2004, the Paid Family Leave (PFL) Law  provides
workers with a maximum of six weeks of partial pay each year while
taking time off from work to bond with a newborn baby, newly adopted
or foster child, or to care for a seriously ill parent, child, spouse
or registered domestic partner.
----------------
Not sick leave, but good to know.

My employer eliminated sick and personal time and created a single
category, UPTO (unscheduled paid time off) that you can call in the
same day.  This eliminates employees having to lie when they need a
day off ore a "mental health day".  (Not sure if this appiles to the
Calif. offices, as that state tends to have some whacko rules.)