
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, December 22, 1994                   TAG: 9412230057
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                 LENGTH: Medium

STATE EMPLOYEES OUT SICK OFTEN

State employees miss an average of nearly 13 days a year because of illness - almost four times the national average for all workers, a legislative commission was told Wednesday.

Virginia could save $25 million a year by tightening its liberal sick leave policy, consultant Dennis Treat told the Joint Commission on Management of the Commonwealth's Workforce.

State employees get 15 sick days a year. Unused sick leave can be carried over from one year to the next. The number of sick days that can be accumulated is unlimited.

Treat said state employees use an average of 12.8 sick days annually. The national average, excluding time off for chronic illnesses, is 2.9 days. Treat estimated that adding days missed for chronic conditions would boost the national average to 3.5 days.

``It's surprising our number of sick days is so high,'' said Del. Robert Hull, D-Falls Church and a member of the commission. ``If morale improves, maybe that will go down.''

Gov. George Allen's efforts to shrink the state payroll of 106,000 workers have already led to the firing of more than 450 workers. He has plans to get rid of another 1,100 workers next year, and his government reform commission has proposed cutting 16,000 jobs by January 1998.

Joan Dent, director of the Virginia Governmental Employees Association, said the firings and plans for further cuts have created ``almost a paralyzed work force.'' Efficiency is suffering because workers are preoccupied with their job security, she said.

But she said the morale problems have nothing to do with the number of sick days being used and called Treat's figures misleading. She said private-sector employers are more flexible than the state in allowing workers time off to take their children to the doctor or care for elderly parents. State employees typically have to take a sick day, she said.

Treat said after the meeting, though, that public and private workers tend to view sick time differently. He said government workers regard it as time they are entitled to take off ``for whatever purpose,'' while others view it as a benefit to be used only if absolutely necessary.

The state spends about $151 million annually on sick leave and retirement disability pay, according to a report by Treat's firm, A. Foster Higgins & Co.

Treat said the state could save $25 million by reducing the number of sick days to eight.

by CNB