Departmental Staff Sick Leave

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 18 June 2013

Tuesday, 18 June 2013

Questions (411)

Barry Cowen

Question:

411. Deputy Barry Cowen asked the Minister for Defence if he will provide in tabular form the total number of uncertified sick days taken by employees in his Department; the average uncertified sick days per employee taken; the total certified sick days taken by employees; the average certified sick days per employee; the total sick days taken by employees; the average total sick days and median overall sick days per employee in 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012. [29269/13]

Written answers

Minister for Defence

The information requested by the Deputy is set out in the following table.

	2009	2010	2011	2012
Total number of uncertified sick days	455	378	270	246
Average number of uncertified sick days per employee	1.14	1.00	0.72	0.66
Total number of certified sick days	4190	4043	3079	2275
Average number of certified sick days per employee	10.50	10.70	8.25	6.10
Total number of sick days taken	4645	4421	3349	2521
Average number of sick days taken per employee	11.64	11.70	8.98	6.76
Median number of sick days per employee	2	2	2	2

My Department adopts a policy of proactive management of sick leave through a range of strategies designed to reduce absence from work. Sick leave rates are closely monitored and analysed, and in recent years the number of days lost to sick leave has been reducing. Sick leave rates for the Department have fallen to a rate of 3.15% for 2012.