I could telecommute one or two days a week most of the time at my current job. But certain managers don't like it because they can't look over our shoulders if we are at home.
It's the same thing with sick days. If you run the statics, it's actually in the companies best interest to give a fairly generous set of sick days. People coming in sick get other people sick and even if they are at work they don't work well. But managers can't stand the idea that somebody might use a sick day as an extra vacation day.
Jay