The government is currently studying sick leave patterns of public service employees, the Times of Malta has learnt.
Although the sick leave is certified by a doctor who visits employees to check that they are really sick, the government was still examining patterns to see if there were any administrative changes that needed to be introduced, a government spokesman said.
He was replying to questions sent by this newspaper to the Principal Permanent Secretary, Mario Cutajar. He was asked to comment on a statement made by the Malta Employers’ Association that there was rampant abuse of sick leave in the public service.
In a recent interview with The Sunday Times of Malta, MEA director general Joe Farrugia said that according to official statistics, public sector workers took three times more sick leave than employees with private companies.
While public sector workers take an average of nearly eight days each of sick leave per year, those in the private sector take just two-and-a-half.
Highest levels of sick leave were in January and February
The situation may be worse than it looks, because the statistics quoted are official government figures based on the records of those who take three or more days of sick leave at a stretch.
INTERVIEW: Public sector workers and the sick leave blues
Those claiming illness for one or two days are not covered by these statistics.
Mr Farrugia was commenting after his association proposed the introduction of a ‘waiting day’, whereby the first day of sick leave would be unpaid to curb abuse.
Mr Cutajar was not drawn into commenting specifically about whether he acknowledged the abuse but simply said: “All sick leave within is certified by a medical doctor.
“Nonetheless, the public service is studying sick leave patterns which might require organisational adjustments which in turn would need to be tackled.”
The official figures show that a total of €43.9 million was paid out in sickness benefit in 2015. The total number of sick days taken by public sector employees was 342,599 while that in the private sector was 333,139, for a national total of 675,738.
READ: Employers want the first day of sick leave to be unpaid
The public sector employed 44,239 in 2015 while 127,865 worked in the private sector. This resulted in 7.74 days for government workers and 2.6 days for private sector employees.
According to a 2013 study carried out by the Malta Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry, Monday is the most common day for sick leave, while Friday is the least likely day of the week when workers call in sick.
The research also showed that staff in junior levels took more sick leave than staff in more senior positions and that sick leave levels varied according to age, with the younger members of staff reporting sick more frequently than their older colleagues.
The highest levels of sick leave were in January and February while June and December were the months with the least sick absence.
According to the report, overtiredness was the cause for the bulk of reported sick leave but the study did not delve into whether it was work-related.