Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 10 March 2015
234. Deputy Olivia Mitchell asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the reason the sick leave policy introduced for the public sector in March 2014, and for the education sector in September 2014, was backdated for four years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10004/15]
View answerThe Public Service Sick Leave Scheme provides that an individual's sick leave record will be reviewed over a four-year period in order to determine how much paid sick leave they have access to. Reviewing sick leave over a period of four years has operated as a flexible way of providing support to employees during periods of illness. The alternative approach of providing more limited access to sick pay over a shorter time frame, is often more restrictive.
The application of a four-year look back was agreed by the Labour Court and reflects the practice that previously existed in the majority of the Public Service. A key rationale for maintaining this provision was that otherwise the introduction of the new Scheme would result in an employee's four-year sick leave record being cleared. Allowing public servants who had exhausted their access to paid sick leave under previous sick leave arrangements to have access to the full allowance of paid sick leave under the new Scheme would have undermined a fundamental purpose of the new Sick Leave Scheme, which was to reduce the unsustainable cost of sick leave, and on that basis was rejected by the Labour Court.
