Dole staff take three weeks a year in sick leave

STAFF in the department of Social and Family Affairs took more than 190,000 days of sick leave over the past three years, an average of 12 days per year for each staff member.

However clerical officers, who include those on the front line in social welfare offices, took the most sick leave last year – on average 15 days each, totalling more than 36,000 days.

Last month, the Irish Examiner reported on uncertified sick leave in the department, which ran to almost 20,000 days since 2006 and a quarter of which were on a Monday, but the true extent of lost working days is revealed upon looking at certified leave.

As serious backlogs continue in dole offices around the country, figures released to the Irish Examiner show that 62,133 certified sick days were taken by staff in the department, which has just under 5,000 employees, last year. The figure in 2006 was similar at 63,836, while in 2007 it peaked at 65,049.

Fine Gael spokeswoman for Social and Family Affairs Olwyn Enright conceded that the sick leave figures were high, but, she said, it was often directly related to the stress of the job.

Ms Enright warned that the problem was only going to get worse as frontline staff were under “enormous pressure” to deal with huge workloads, and this was leading to genuine stress-related illness. She said, in the absence of a staff member, there was no one there to deal with their workload, which was further exacerbating the problem.

Ms Enright said she had recently spoken to a social welfare officer who had expressed concern about the situation.

“This person is responsible for means-testing, and nobody was dealing with files which were building up while she was out sick. She will probably have to go out sick again a few weeks after her return to work to recover from the stress she will face,” she said. “What kind of system has nobody to fill in the gaps when people get sick or go on maternity leave?”

Social and Family Affairs Minister Mary Hanafin has been continually criticised because of the lengthy delays in processing unemployment claims. And, despite repeated pledges from the minister to re-deploy staff from other areas, some people are having to wait up to three months for benefits.

Labour spokeswoman for Social and Family Affairs Róisín Shortall accused the minister of failing to gear up the department to deal adequately with the dramatic increase in the number of people applying for benefits.

She said staff should be looked after and not be put under undue pressure, but added that people who find themselves unemployed and dependent on the department should not have to wait weeks, in some cases months, to have their claims treated

“A total of 28 social welfare offices have waiting times of more than two months. By any standard, that is completely unacceptable,” Ms Shortall said.