Urban council workers off sick more than rural counterparts

Urban council workers in Dublin and Limerick take far more uncertified sick days off than their rural counterparts, it emerged today.

The two major cities topped the league table of 34 local authorities across the country.

Dublin City Council lost an average of three days per employee to uncertified sick days last year while Limerick city council lost 2.6 days per employee.

In contrast, the employees of Offaly County council were the best attendees in the country with just 0.2 days per employee missed due to uncertified sick leave. In Laois, Wexford and Cavan County Councils, the figure was 0.7 days missed.

The local authority service indicators, which were complied for the first time last year, cover all categories of employees, including librarians, litter wardens, road sweepers, tour guides and motor tax officials.

Based on the average working year of 231 days, they reveal that workers in Limerick County Council had a better turn out than their urban counterparts, with an verage of 0.7 days annual uncertified sick leave.

The workers in Galway City Council missed 0.2% of all working days (0.4 days) which was slightly better than the workers in Galway County Council (0.6).

The workers in Cork City and County Councils missed an average of 1.8 days each last year.

The table will make interesting reading for county managers, who have been told by Environment Minister Dick Roche that they should be used to identify problems and learn from the best practice of other local authorities.

Most local authorities, such as South Dublin County Council, require a medical certificate after more than three days sick leave, and require it sooner if sick leave is taken before and after a weekend or bank holiday.

There are also statistics for the number of working days lost to certified illness.

North Tipperary County Council had the highest percentage of certified illness, with an average of 11 days lost per employee, followed by Limerick City Council which lost 10 days per employee.

There were also high levels of certified illness in Leitrim County Council (nine days per employee), Offaly and Laois County Council (8 days).

However, the Local Government Management Services Board has cautioned that the figures can be disproportionately affected by a small number of long term absences.

“There are considerable variations but that’s a note of caution that would be sounded,” said its director Anne O’Keefe.

The appendices to the service indicators show that Laois County Council had 13 employees on long term sick leave, while Leitrim and Offaly County Council had eight employees each on long term sick leave. There were also a small number of staff in the same situation in North Tipperary County Council.

Ms O’Keefe said the figures for certified and uncertified sick leave compared well to figures in the private sector produced by the Irish Business and Employers Confederation (IBEC).

It said that a survey of 557 organisations had found that workers are absent for an average of 7.8 days each year.

However, the methodology of the survey was disputed by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, which said that Irish workers took the second-lowest number of sick days in the EU.