London: Women are more likely than men to take unplanned leave and don't mind giving an embarrassing excuse for doing so. Research carried out for Sovereign Health Care found employees were more likely to take an unwarranted day off this month than at any other time of year and women were less likely than men to believe a colleague who phoned in sick was genuinely ill. Sovereign Health Care polled 1,360 people and found more than half (56 percent) of the female participants admitted to pulling a sickie when not really ill, compared with just a third of men, the Telegraph reports. Both sexes agreed that using "women's issues" was the most common embarrassing excuse to a boss for being off. The poll also highlighted some extreme - perhaps far-fetched reasons for absence. Some of them were: My dog has fallen and broken all its legs, there's a squirrel in my lounge, a pigeon has just flown into my flat, I can't find my shoes, I forgot I worked here, I'm locked in the house. Russ Piper, Sovereign Health Care chief executive, said: "Workplace absence is an emotive subject, particularly when so many employees now feel they have to do more just to keep their jobs, without having to pick up the slack from others who are taking, perhaps unjustified, days off." Sovereign Health Care is one of the UK's longest established providers of health care cash plans to individuals and businesses.