Out sick. Again?

How much sick time do public employees take?

Following the case of the Brockton policeman who was roundly criticized by state officials for using 251 sick days over three years while simultaneously working two public jobs, the Globe decided to find out. The common perception has been that public employees take more sick days than workers in the private business world.

And that view appears to be on the mark in five local communities: Municipal workers in Brockton , Dedham , Plymouth , Quincy , and Weymouth take up to 50 percent more sick days than employees in the private sector overall, based on sick-time records from those communities and a survey of private industry.

On average, public employees in the five communities called in sick about eight or nine days a year. In the private sector, it's about five or six days, according to business groups.

The Globe analyzed a year's worth of sick-time data from the five municipalities for all but school department employees. The numbers, from either 2005 or the fiscal year that ended June 30 of this year, were relatively consistent: Municipal employees took approximately eight sick days in Brockton, seven in Dedham, and nine in Plymouth, Quincy, and Weymouth . Brockton and Dedham provided numbers for the fiscal year, the others for 2005.

The data also showed that about 25 percent or more of the public employees in the five communities called in sick at least 10 days during the year. No such data were available from the private sector.

Barbara Anderson , executive director of Citizens for Limited Taxation , a taxpayer advocacy group, said municipal leaders should exercise tighter control over employees' use of sick time, which some workers apparently see as allowable personal time.

``Somehow they think sick leave is time off, rather than time when you are supposed to be in bed with a fever," she said. ``As long as cities and towns have plenty of money to throw around, and apparently they do, there will be abuse of sick leave and pensions and overtime. That's the way it is."

Local officials acknowledge that some public workers view sick time as ``earned days" that could be used at any point, but that sick-time abusers are few and far between. Most employees are conscientious and hard working, they say, and some jobs -- such as public safety positions like police and fire -- can be so tough and stressful they cannot reasonably be compared with private-sector jobs. Those jobs wear a person down and more sick time might be expected, they say.

The officials also note that, in today's workplace, single parents or households with two working spouses need unscheduled time to stay home with a sick child or to help an infirm parent. Some argue that town employees have historically made less than those working in the business sector , and make up for the lower pay somewhat with better benefits.

``I do not look at eight or nine days sick as an abuse of sick time," said Marie-Louise Kehoe , chairwoman of the Board of Selectmen in Dedham. The town has hard-working employees, she said, who should not go to work if they have a contagious illness like a cold or the flu, which could get others sick.

Weymouth Mayor David M. Madden conceded some public employees see a sick day ``as a day they are entitled to, for whatever they want to use them for. There's a mindset."

But he and other municipal officials insisted they did not have a problem with an employee who has to stay home with a sick child. ``It's the person who thinks it is a vacation day or uses it to go golfing," Madden said.

The Globe asked for sick-time records from five sample municipalities in the area following the widely publicized case of Charles B. Lincoln, who, according to a report released in May by state Inspector General Gregory W. Sullivan, used 251 sick days over three years on his two jobs as a Brockton police lieutenant and Plymouth County jail security director . Sullivan blasted Lincoln's remarkable use of sick time as ``shocking and alarming."

Lincoln has been sued by the City of Brockton and the Plymouth sheriff's department for fraud. He worked for Brockton for more than 30 years and the sheriff's department for three years. The city and sheriff's department stated in their lawsuits that Lincoln would call in sick on one job and then work at the other.

More recently, Boston officials said they are examining the case of Officer Christine Meegan, who allegedly took advantage of the department's generous sick-time and vacation policies to take off more than 100 days from work between July of last year and March of this year. A department official said the days off were allowed under the union contract but were improper.

But the two cases are exceptions, according to local officials, who say they monitor sick time, do not tolerate abuse, and make changes when needed.

Quincy said it recently fired one worker, at least in part for sick-time abuse, and tightened contract language, while Weymouth has suspended several employees. Brockton, Dedham, and Plymouth reported no recent suspensions or firings.

Brockton Mayor James E. Harrington said tracking sick time beyond the department level was difficult because records are still kept on paper, not computers. An upgrade by the end of the year should fix the problem, he said.

Using sick days as personal days is not just a problem in the public sector. Private companies wrestle with the issue, although they generally offer fewer sick days as a benefit and fewer such days are taken.

Like their publicly employed counterparts, most hourly employees in the private sector will take a sick day as additional time off, said Lynda Slevoski, a vice president at Associated Industries of Massachusetts , a nonprofit, business advocacy group. ``They don't look at it as for when they are sick. `If you give it to me, I should take it ' is the mindset."

Most public employees in Brockton, Dedham, Plymouth, Quincy, and Weymouth get 15 sick days a year. Some municipalities allow the days to be carried over indefinitely while others, including Quincy, have a cap on the maximum number of carryover sick days.

But only between 3 and 6 percent of private companies offer as many as 10 to 15 days of sick time, according to a survey of companies in Massachusetts by Associated Industries. Overall, paid sick leave is offered by about 60 percent of the nation's firms, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Private-industry employees take fewer sick days, too. Data from CCH Inc., an Illinois-based company that tracks business data, indicate that those workers take, on average, about five to six ``unscheduled absences" from work per year.

Companies -- or municipalities -- with sick-time issues usually can trace them to poor morale, said Thomas A. Kochan, a professor who teaches work and employment relations at MIT's Sloan School of Management.

``Where people are motivated, committed, and satisfied with their work environment," Kochan said, ``you see a lower rate of use of sick leave or other forms of leave. When they don't, they feel it is an entitlement."

Managers in the public sector, though, often feel they have less flexibility in dealing with the sick-time issue because it is often tied up in collective bargaining, he said. In the past, public employees have tended to receive better benefits -- such as sick time -- because their pay was lower than in the private sector, Kochan and others said.

Sometimes, a high number of workers calling in sick can be attributed to the makeup of the department.

In Dedham , seven of 21 library workers called in sick 10 or more days, and library director Patricia Lambert said the illnesses were simply a matter of the library's older workforce. ``They don't go out for a day; they go out for a month," she said. ``The joke among staff is, `Can't you ever get sick for just a day?' "

In Weymouth , Fire Chief Robert Leary attributed the number of firefighters out for 10 sick days or more to family leave and injuries in outside activities, such as sports. ``It's a very young department," he said. ``I believe we've had six children born in the past year."

Kevin Dawyskiba, president of the Weymouth firefighters' union, noted the stressful nature of the job. Also, he said, the department has been undermanned, increasing the risk of illness and injury to all.

George Crombie , director of the Plymouth Highway Department , said he was not surprised that more than half of his 30-man crew was out of work 10 days or more last year. He said it was the difficult nature of the work.

In the Brockton Building Department , where 18 of 28 employees were sick 10 days or more last year, Superintendent Joseph Vasapollo blamed on-the-job injuries. Some workers, he said, took sick days to take care of their families.

``It's all documented pretty well."

Matt Carroll can be reached at mcarroll@globe.com.

What do you think?

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