Sick pay changes ‘to cost thousands of jobs’

GOVERNMENT plans to force employers to pay the first four weeks of staff sick pay will apply to public sector bosses as well as those in the private sector.

That means that, for example, if a worker in the health service rings in sick, rather than claiming from the Department of Social Protection the person’s sick pay will be taken from the budget of their specific employer — the HSE or the Department of Health.

A source close to Social Protection Minister Joan Burton said the move is designed to force employers in both the public and private sectors to more closely and actively monitor and address absenteeism.