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.

However, employers in the private sector are angry at the proposal saying it could drive many small businesses out of operation and lead to thousands of job losses.

The cost to the Exchequer of illness benefit went from €330 million in 2001 to €990m in 2010 and the number of people paid rose from 170,000 to 247,000 over the same period.

Employer representatives said the plan is anti-employer, adding it was unacceptable that bosses would be expected to pay for staff members to take time off.

“To even suggest that business pick up the tab for employee absenteeism in the current environment quite clearly shows that the minister is living in ‘cloud cuckoo land’ and has no idea of how businesses are struggling on the ground, during the worst recession in modern times,” said ISME chief executive Mark Fielding.

Mr Fielding said many small businesses, already hamstrung by increased transport, energy and local charges, are struggling to stay afloat.

“It is as if the Government have a ‘death wish’ for the small business sector,” he added.

RGDATA, which represents small shops and supermarkets, predicted the sick pay proposal will close businesses and threaten thousands of jobs.

RGDATA director general Tara Buckley said a number of her members were already battling for survival, some even having to forgo a salary.

“Many of the retailers who have contacted RGDATA cannot believe this proposal,” she said. “Since 2007 they have done everything they can to cut their costs and make their business viable. Many have stopped paying into their pensions and are using their savings to keep the business open. Some are at the tipping point and a move such as the one proposed by Ms Burton relating to sick pay will close them down and put the people they employ out of jobs.”

David Begg of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions said the proposals were a move towards what would be considered the norm in Europe and similar to what had been brought into operation in the Netherlands.

“You do have to take into account that we probably have one of the lowest levels of social insurance for employers in the OECD,” he said.

“Ireland is still a very business-friendly environment,” he said.