Time for sick leave fix
Democrats on Beacon Hill have ignored attempts to reform an employee leave policy that leave taxpayers on the hook for hundreds of millions of dollars. It may be in their political interest to continue ignoring this problem, but it’s certainly not in the public interest.
The Herald reported yesterday on a letter written by state Inspector General Glenn Cunha to lawmakers, urging them to address the commonwealth’s liability for state workers’ unused sick and vacation time. Cunha puts the current value of unused leave at $558 million, a figure he called “staggering.”
Currently, nonunion state employees and managers in the executive branch can cash out 20 percent of the value of any unused sick days when they leave state employment. Depending on union contracts, some employees can cash in much more.
A proposal filed twice by Gov. Charlie Baker would cap at 1,000 the number of sick leave hours executive branch employees can bank. That’s the equivalent of six months, 20 percent of which would be paid out upon separation.
That’s still an exceedingly generous policy — one that workers in the private sector have to subsidize, but could never hope to enjoy themselves. Baker’s bill grandfathered in employees who have already accumulated more than 1,000 hours. And yet lawmakers ignored it when he first proposed it in 2016, and again when he included it in his fiscal 2018 budget proposal.
A representative of the National Association of Government Employees pointed out Cunha’s finding that between January 2014 and November 2016 the average payout for 9,100 departing employees was just $15,000, hardly enough to “break the bank.”
“This isn’t anything the Legislature should be involved in,” David Holway said. “Those discussions should be at the contract table.”
In other words, dear lawmakers, when it comes to perks of public employment and the burden they place on taxpayers — just butt out!
For too long Democratic politicians have obediently followed that direction from their union patrons. That must end.