Many U.S. workers are willing to lie about a death in the family, illness or jury duty to play hooky, according to a survey conducted by a temporary job staffing firm.

Bereavement time has been used for vacation by 26 percent of workers surveyed and jury duty by 27 percent, according to a quarterly survey conducted by Adecco Group North America.

Some 47 percent of full-time workers surveyed said they have called in sick to take a day off, the phone survey conducted in late November found.

When workers do call in sick, 72 percent of their colleagues believe they are faking it, according to the poll of 522 full-time workers.

The poll also showed men are twice as likely as women to use bereavement time and four times as likely to use jury duty as a way to take extra vacation time.

A quarter of women, compared to 11 percent of men, said they are “jealous” when a co-worker leaves work early.

Two-thirds of those surveyed said their workload increased and 44 percent said they have added responsibility when their colleagues take off work.

The poll also found 43 percent of workers in the South, compared to 23 percent of workers in the Northeast and 15 percent in the West, are happy with their current vacation package.

The poll measuring attitudes toward the use of allotted time off was conducted between Nov. 21 and 25 and had a 4.3 percent margin of error.

(Reuters)