Friday, July 18, 2008

Sullivan (D-Tosa): 65 "Sick" Hours/Year Is Too Much?

Seems that a Democrat leggie thinks 65 sick-hours/year is too much.

State employees on average use 65 hours - or a week and a half - of sick leave each year. Lawmakers said they believe that is higher than the private sector and want to see a further analysis of the issue.

"I don't think I've used 65 hours of sick time in my entire working career," said Sen. Jim Sullivan (D-Wauwatosa). "If I'm running a business or state agency and someone were to call in sick and they weren't, then they're lying to the boss. They should be disciplined."

Apparently Sullivan is not keeping up with Lefty demands--and he will soon either backtrack or otherwise put his thoughts into a memory hole.

In case you need a reminder:

The coalition of just over 40 groups wants Common Council to pass legislation that would require the city’s employers to offer employees an hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked.

Which just happens to work out to ~65 "sick" hours/year.

Sullivan just tossed a grenade into the legislative agenda of 9-to-5, folks. He won't get away with it.


Headless Blogger said...

Awesome work ethic.

I work with people who have trouble getting time off to use 65 hours of of paid vacation. One guy was bitching about getting 240 hours vacation annually and having to forfeit most of it.

Karen said...

I hate to be pedantic, but that 65 hours/ year almost certainly includes parental leave. Since most people who take such leave take three months, that would raise the average for everyone else. Also, it's not at all unlikely that parents of more than one small child would take a week and a half of sick leave during an entire year. My sons have managed to cost me that much this year, what with a couple cases of the flue and one sinus infection.

And yes, speaking as a card-carrying leftist, I do think paid sick leave is right of every employee. No one should lose her job for being a good parent to a sick child.

Dad29 said...

Well, Karen, the audit will prove exactly what leave(s) were taken--whether "sick" or "maternity."

As to paid sick leave--yah, I don't have a problem with that, either--except the employer should determine how much to throw around, not the municipality.

And if the State (or its subsidiaries, such as MPS or Cities) have more sick leave available than the average comparable-sized private employer, then it should be cut back to meet the average.

Prosqtor said...

I'll take a speech about responsibility from Rep. Sullivan when he either (1) reinstates or (2) surrenders his law license, which has been suspended for months.