Government employees accused of abusing sick days

The Canadian Taxpayers Federation says people who work for governments take more sick days than non-government workers, and Nova Scotia government workers use more sick days than anyone else in the country.

The organization released the statistics on Friday.

“Well, the reality is that the system is being abused and taxpayers are left to foot the bill,” says spokesperson Kevin Lacey.

He says the federation obtained stats from Statistics Canada covering the 2012 calendar year:

“That’s about a day-and-a-half longer than any other public sector employee across Canada and it’s about 43 per cent higher than any regular taxpayers would take outside of the government,” says Lacey.

The numbers show Nova Scotia government employees take about three-and-a-half days more than private sector workers in the province.

While Lacey says the numbers indicate the abuse of the sick day system, a spokesperson for the Nova Scotia Government Employees Union says the numbers show government workers are taking their health seriously.

“Many of us work with the public, you know, with the recent issues with infection control and H1N1, SARS, I believe that most people working with the public are told not to come to work when they’re ill,” says Darren McPhee.

“Most people wouldn’t want to be coming to a desk or having a visit from somebody who is coughing and sniffling and really ill.”

Private sector worker Neil Wade believes it has more to do with union protection.

“When they give you a unionized job like that, people take advantage of it,” says Wade.

Lacey says he wants to see change imposed by government

“We want to see the rules followed and we want to see government crack down on employees who are abusing these sick days,” says Lacey.

McPhee says he too would like to see change; he believes all workers across Nova Scotia should receive the same level of benefits as government workers.

“We would hope everything in our collective agreements are fair benefits,” says McPhee. “We do not believe they are excessive.”

Lacey says the Canadian Taxpayers Federation has not attached a price tag to the lost time.

With files from CTV Atlantic's Rick Grant