MEA defends unpaid sick leave proposal, cites widespread abuse
The Malta Employers Association has stuck to its guns on its controversial proposal that the first day of sick leave should be unpaid, citing widespread abuse by workers.
The proposal, included in the association’s pre-budget proposals, has been met with fierce opposition by the main workers’ unions.
Speaking to The Malta Independent, MEA director Joe Farrugia said the union had been speaking about abuse at the workplace for a long time. In 2016 Farrugia spoke about the so-called ‘Monday morning syndrome’, which refers to the abuse, mainly by younger workers, who call in sick after a weekend.
The association has previously also laid the blame “on ethical practices’ by medical doctors when issuing medical certificates.
Asked why the MEA was again targeting sick leave, Farrugia said: “We need to curtail abuse. Many employers have complained about the increase of sick leave being taken, particularly connected to days around the weekend, such as Mondays.” He added that other countries, such as Germany, have similar measures, where the companies either do not pay for the first sick day or the government does.
This newspaper also asked how one can differentiate between someone who is truly ill and those who are not. “That is a problem, but one of the issues in Malta is that it is very easy to get a medical certificate for anything. This is an issue for companies, which can often tell who really is sick and who isn’t. You start to notice patterns in certain individuals and point to this abuse,” Farrugia said.
The idea of companies sending doctors was also addressed, with Farrugia replying that it is very expensive to send a doctor to an employee’s home. “It would cost about €15 for each visit, which is expensive and therefore problematic for small companies. Some companies do send a doctor, but many do not,” Farrugia confirmed.
He also assured that when workers are in real need to extend their sick leave for more serious reasons, 90 per cent of employers are very generous about it, and they do grant extensions for serious and longterm illness.
Farrugia also added that although the economy is in good shape, there can be ups and downs, and employers cannot just give out so many benefits as this would be unsustainable. “We need to make sure these benefits don’t affect a company’s competitiveness. If one compares the entitlements of Malta with other, wealthier countries, we have reasonable sick and vacation leave entitlements.”
This newspaper also asked about health considerations. Acknowledging that employers need to make sure that people do not report to work sick, he said that these things need to be “looked into and weighed up.”
The MEA director said all this was necessary since new proposals would be reducing the number of working days. These include the increase in maternity and paternal leave, the change allowing parents to take sick leave when their children are sick, and the proposal to return public holidays that fall on weekends. “On thed one hand, these entitlements are necessary, but they must be accompanied by tighter controls on other things” Farrugia said. He explained that the government and employers need a package which they both agree on.
Union reactions
UĦM – Voice of the Workers said it was categorically against the proposal issued by MEA. CEO Josef Vella said the union would never accept this situation. “The union will not accept any conditions of sick leave to change in this regard because this goes against the rights of the worker and is illegal.”
The Malta Union of Teachers also says it completely disagrees with the MEA proposal. “It is unacceptable that such regressive measures are even proposed and discussed in this day and age, especially when the country is going through a positive economic period and following electoral campaigns in which everything was promised to everyone,” MUT said, adding that the government should implement the public holidays pledge at once.
The MUT said it has been working with the Directorate for Educational Services within the Ministry for Education and Employment and with the Superintendent for Public Health in order for a number of identified educators to obtain the inoculation for hepatitis and other chronic illnesses without incurring any fees. It emphasised that this should be the way forward to decrease sick leave.
Treating employees with suspicion and increasing monetary burdens of the unlucky ones who fall ill, on the other hand, is certainly not the way forward.
The Forum Unions Maltin also expressed itself against the idea.
Any sick leave certificate signed by a doctor is genuine and should not be up for discussion.
Forum said it is prepared to discuss ways to reduce abuse.
In another statement, the UĦM Voice of the Workers said any reduction of sick leave benefits goes against the interests of the workers.
Forum Unions Maltin does not agree with the Malta Employers Association as regards unpaid sick leave for the first day. The union stressed that all sick leave that is given with a doctor’s certificate is genuine and therefore there shouldn’t even be a discussion on this type of sick leave. On the other hand, it said that the union was against any type of abuse and ready to collaborate with whoever is ready to stop this abuse at the work place.
The union made this statement with other unions at the Employment Relations Board in the presence of the Employers’ Associations. It concluded that it could not accept genuine cases being lumped in with those who abused the system, and therefore the right mechanisms need to be identified to stop the abuse.