How many employees will call out sick the day after Memorial Day? A new study quantifies this type of sick leave abuse at one federal agency, and a U.S. Representative has an idea on how to limit it.
If employees at your workplace used 85% of their sick days every year, you’d probably look into a change in the policy.
That’s exactly what a recent report by the Inspector General found about IRS employees. Workers at the tax agency took an average of 11 out of their available 13 sick days in 2006. The study also showed frequent use of sick days on Tuesdays following a Monday holiday.
Here’s where the federal government may have blundered: The study suggests the high percentage of used sick days is partially caused by a change in the federal employees’ retirement benefits plan about 20 years ago. Workers covered under the new system aren’t allowed to fold their unused sick leave into their pension benefits when they retire. Employees grandfathered into the old system can take compensation for unused sick leave upon retirement.
So, if losing an incentive to not use sick days is the problem, how about providing such an incentive?
That’s what Rep. James Moran (D-VA) has proposed. Moran has introduced a bill that would provide federal employees under the new retirement plan with a lump-sum payment for any unused sick leave at retirement.
The incentive would be payment for 15% of all unused sick hours above 500. Payments would be capped at a maximum of $10,000.
It may not be a bad idea. At a previous job, HRB had an incentive for not using sick days: If an employee went four months without using a sick day, he/she would earn an extra vacation day.
HRB’s point of view: Why sneak around using sick time for an extra day off when you could earn bonus vacation days?
Of course, the potential problem with these plans is workers not taking sick days when they really need them and infecting those healthy individuals at work with their cold or flu bug.
Has your company done something that limits abuse of sick time yet doesn’t encourage employees from taking a sick day when they really need it? Let us know about it.
