Quote:
Originally Posted by chemgear
Throwing this in here because we have and will have to pay for stuff like this somehow:
http://calgary.ctvnews.ca/alberta-he...days-1.2864428
A CTV News Investigation looked into the sick days taken by Alberta Health Services managers and found that hundreds of people were taking months of sick leave at the expense of provincial taxpayers.
Documents acquired through access to information requests show hundreds of managers taking time off and collecting full pay over the last two years.
AHS managers are allowed to take 16 weeks of sick time and in many cases they did exactly that, before returning to work.
AHS says four months of fully paid sick time isn't excessive and that it's common across Canada in this sector.
AHS acknowledged that sick time is costing it millions and that it created an attendance awareness program for staff, which has led to a one percent drop in sick time. |
Just to be clear, this article says that hundreds of managers took some sick leave, not the full 16 weeks, over the last two years. So it is not really helpful in terms measuring the amount of abuse that may be occurring.
Also, presumably, especially with a formal attendance management program in place, any absence due to illness that extends beyond a few days or any absence after the nth short-term absence from work, must be supported by information from the employee's physician.
Lastly, many employers (including private sector employers) offer their employees short and long term disability insurance plans (the costs of which are borne by the employer) that can pay employees a large proportion of their lost earnings all the way to retirement (if the disability is supported by medical evidence).
Ultimately, although I'm sure that there is sick leave abuse, this article doesn't actually provide any evidence of it. Further, in my experience, the largest culprits in sick leave abuse are family physicians who all too frequently see themselves as advocates for their patients and will recommend time off from work at their patients' request.