Curbing abuse by the lazy

Different categories of lazy people rule the labour force. They are better off than royalty because Big Brother is not watching them.

These shameful people include people who are boarded-out of employment on false pretexts, the happy unemployed, people who vanish from their place of work by 10 a.m., and people who throw sickies repeatedly.

Here are some solutions.

Cases of people who are boarded out of employment on false pretexts should be regularly reviewed, if possible annually, by a board, whose members should be changed every three years or so. Members of the investigating board, including doctors, should be subject to heavy penalties if they do not perform their jobs professionally and responsibly.

Many Maltese who started working at a young age, claim invalidity in their 50s to receive a full pension early because the present system allows individuals to accumulate a two-thirds pension after just 30 years. This has to change, as proposed in the White Paper on Pension Reform.

Enforcement officers should act immediately after being informed even by anonymous callers and strict confidentiality has to be observed.

The happy unemployed who refuse work that is offered to them from time to time should have their names immediately removed from the register, if they cannot give a justified reason.

For people who throw sickies often, the government should also seriously consider implementing the concept of "the more you work officially, the earlier you retire". (This does not mean that you can retire before 61!). This will not only discourage abuse, but will also promote productivity.

For example, if you accumulate a total of between, say, 73,500 to 75,000 working hours, you are entitled to retire at, say, 63. It would however be very unfair to penalise an employee, who genuinely had to take some sick leave throughout a 40-year career by forcing him to retire later.

It is absolutely unacceptable that we have to work for lazy people as well. Enough is enough!