asked the Minister for Justice if he will outline the conditions under which sick leave is allowed to prison officers; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Ceisteanna — Questions. Oral Answers. - Prison Officers Sick Leave.
3.
Mr. S. Barret
Sick leave is granted to prison officers on the conditions that apply throughout the Civil Service.
In gerneral, during properly certified sick absence, and provided there is no evidence of permanent disability for service, full pay may be allowed for up to a maximum of six months in one year, and half-pay may be allowed thereafter, subject to a maximum of 12 months sick leave in any period of four years or less. Where these sick leave provisions have been exhausted, an officer whose service could render him eligible for pension may, on certain conditions, be granted further sick leave with pay, at pension rate. Sick leave without pay may be allowed under certain conditions to officers whose service does not qualify them for sick pay at pension rate and who have exhausted all the sick leave with pay that is allowable.
When an officer is compelled to absent himself from duty because of sickness, he is required to get notice to his immediate supervisor as early as possible on the first day of absence and, in all cases of continuing absence, a medical certificate must be furnished on the third day at the latest. Sick leave for single or two day absences may be granted without a medical certificate provided that they do not exceed seven days in any period of 12 months.
Does the same scheme apply to the Garda Síochána? Am I correct in saying that there is no guarantee that an officer will be paid for sick leave even with a scheme in place? In relation to uncertified sick leave, the Minister mentioned that seven days are allowed in any one year but is he aware that in some instances a report on prison officers who have been sick for one day, two days or three days in one year is sent by the governor of the prison to the Department? Will the Minister agree that there is inconsistency between governors as to what is allowable? I heard of a case recently of a prison officer who had three days uncertified sick leave receiving a letter from the Department of Justice threatening him that if this continued his employment would be reviewed. Surely that is not right and proper? A prison officer should know where he or she stands and if that officer is entitled to seven days uncertified sick leave that should be sufficient unless there is a reason to suspect that an officer is acting in an improper manner?
The conditions that apply in regard to sick leave for prison officers apply throughout the Civil Service. I should like to tell the Deputy that the position is that where an officer absents himself or herself the head of the department has discretion as to whether sick leave should be allowed and whether the sick leave should be with or without pay. In determining whether payment should be made, regard would be had to advice from the chief medical officer, warnings previously given to the officer and the officer's record of absences. Notwithstanding the fact that the vast majority of prison officers have good sick leave records, abuses do take place and such abuses have significant implications in terms of State expenditure. It is incumbent on me, therefore, to ensure that the abuses are dealt with effectively. That is particularly important when sick leave is on the increase. The detection of abuses involves the careful scrutiny of all sick absences. I should like to point out that sick leave regulations require that unacceptable patterns of sick absences be eradicated. The relevant paragraph in the regulations states that officers should also be aware that Departments are under instructions to keep a check on the sick absences of staff, particularly those in the early years of service, with a view to identifying tendencies towards unacceptable patterns and taking steps to eradicate them.
Would the Minister regard four days uncertified sick leave in one year as being unsatisfactory? Would the Minister agree that there is a need for consistency among governors before cases are reported to the Department? He will appreciate cases can arise where a governor may not like a prison officer and different treatment can be applied to different prison officers.
With regard to the particular problem the Deputy has asked me to comment on, I suggest that if the Deputy lets me have the details of the case, I will be glad to deal with it. I must say for the benefit of the House that sick leave in the prison service has been a serious problem for many years. The problem is getting worse. What makes the problem so serious is the cost associated with sick leave, because when officers take sick leave they are, as the Deputy knows, in most cases replaced by recalling other officers from their rest days to perform duty on overtime. Records are maintained to show how sick leave taken in a particular month compares with sick leave taken in the equivalent month for the previous year. The increases have been very high for the recent three month period. I will illustrate this by way of example: when we compare the figures for June 1988 with June 1987, there was an increase in sick leave of 67.5 per cent; the figures for July 1988 over July 1987 show an increase in sick leave of 40.4 per cent, and the figures for August 1988 over August 1987 show an increase of 46.6 per cent. It ought to be mentioned that the number of serving staff in 1988 is 10 per cent higher than in 1987, but even allowing for this, the increases in sick leave are very high indeed. Even though there are a number of prison officers with very good sick absence records, the average number of sick leave days per prison officer per annum is about 20, whereas the average number for the Civil Service as a whole is slightly over three.