NRP chief lays down law on sick days
Leaked memo cites problems of keeping officers on the front lines
Niagara Regional Police Chief Jeff McGuire has read his officers the riot act over absenteeism, The
Standard has learned. McGuire fired off an internal memo over “steadily increasing use of sick time.”
On Aug. 11, the day the memo was written, almost 40 front-line personnel were off sick. He noted that it also happened to be the hottest day of year.
“I am certain that some of the absences are totally justified,” McGuire wrote in the memo, which was obtained by Postmedia. “However, the trend that we are experiencing has to change. I need each and every one of you to look in the mirror and satisfy yourself that you are doing the right thing, every day. If you are not, then make a change.
“If you are in a supervisory role, supervise. Have the conversation with your subordinates.”
McGuire in an interview said the memo was meant to be internal and for his employees, not for the public or the media.
“That said I recognize that there will often be someone who feels they have the right to release my internal communications publicly,” he said. “I do not feel it is appropriate to comment publicly on specifics of deployment issues. So I won’t.”
McGuire wrote in his memo that for the past six months, the use of sick time is well above the average for the past three years.
According to reports the overtime hours needed to cover shift shortages because of sick time jumped to 16,898 in 2015 from 11,655 in 2014.
The NRP needed 12,536 hours of overtime to cover sick time in 2013.
“We are facing critical challenges in our ability to meet and maintain minimum staffing levels on the front line,” he wrote. “This is not good for anyone, including you on the frontline, members in detective offices and specialized units.
“Given these circumstances, it may soon be necessary to redeploy from specialty units to fill the gaps on the front line.”
McGuire wrote the vast majority of officers do everything they can to come to work every day, but he has “little doubt” some are using sick days as paid leave.
“Not for one moment would I begrudge any one of you for utilizing sick time when you are unable to fulfil your work responsibilities due to sickness,” he said. “That said, I need all of you to be aware of the impact on the service, on your fellow officers, on the community, that occurs when healthy, able-bodied people choose to use sick time as leave.”
It also impacts the budget. McGuire told when the NRP is unable to meet its minimum staffing levels it is obligated to hire members on their day off to fill those vacancies. Those hires are paid at an overtime rate of 1.5 times their regular rate.
In terms of cost, the NRP spent $5,134,660 on uniform overtime in 2015, a police board report said. The number was up from $3,848,345 in 2014. As the chief noted, the final overtime budget figures include factorsotherthansicktime.Majorinvestigations, vacations, training time and court time all have an impact.
Cliff Priest, president of the Niagara Region Police Association, the union that represents the officers, took issue with a number of points in the memo.
“We have not seen anything to justify his assertions,” he said. “If we had, we would have expected these officers to be charged (under the Police Services Act).
“I know the chief is constantly harassed by the police service board about members being off sick because he has to use overtime. I think some of it is politically driven, but a lot of my members were really offended by the memo.
“The ones who were on duty were offended. The ones who were off sick aren’t happy about being characterized as malingerers.”
Priest said the ongoing contract negotiations between the board and the association had nothing to do with the situation. Niagara’s officers have been working without a contract for eight months.
“There is no protest,” Priest said. “It wasn’t the ‘Blue Flu.’ Some of the people he was talking about were off on long-term disability. Some have been off sick for quite a while. It’s not like it was a flood of 40 officers on that one day suddenly booked off. From our point of view, it is more of a crisis of staffing levels than a crisis of sickness.”
Along with public safety concerns, police board chair Bob Gale said he is concerned about the budget implications from misuse of sick time.
Police board members watch the overtime numbers closely. They receive a detailed quarterly breakdown of how and when it is being used. It is often a topic of discussion at police board meetings.
“Wehavegreat police officers, and they are well paid, but we can’t put up with this,” Gale said. “We have to solve it. Nobody can be happy about this — from the officers who show up for duty every day to the taxpayers.
“I understand people get sick, but 40 in one day? The chief did the right thing by sending the memo.”
Priest said the board knows there are problems with staffing levels, but nobody wants to make the politically tough decision to add manpower, which would alleviate the overtime costs.
“We haven’t hired like other services in Peel, York and Durham,” Priest said. “The other services have hired to cover the increasing requirements. Before we had all the specialty units, we didn’t run into overtime when people were sick.
“The times have changed. The legislation has changed, and you have to have dedicated units, but they keep taking away from the front line, and you can only do that for so long.
“There is a difference between front-line officers and someone working in an office. We have a job where deal with violent members of the public. People get injured. People get sick. You have to factor that into your staffing and your budget.”
Gale said, in a perfect world, he would like to hire more officers, but that has to be balanced against controlling costs. A first-class constable in Niagara makes about $92,000 a year.
“We can’t have extra officers out there at what they are getting paid,” he said.
The ones who were on duty were offended. The ones who were off sick aren’t happy about being characterized as malingerers.” Police officers’ union president Cliff Priest