May 25, 2016
BOSTON — Unions on Wednesday began to push back against Gov. Charlie Baker's proposal to cap public employee sick time, a bill that faces major hurdles to pass before the end of this year's legislative session.
"We believe the Baker administration should begin by focusing on the top earners in the administration before looking at the rank-and-file state employees," said Jim Durkin, director of legislation, political action and communications for AFSCME Council 93.
Baker, a Republican, introduced a bill Wednesday to cap the amount of sick time that executive branch state government employees can accrue to 1,000 hours, which is equal to six months' pay. Employees who have already accrued more than 1,000 hours would be able to keep that time.
The bill would save the state approximately $3.5 million annually, based on data from the last three fiscal years, by limiting payouts when employees retire.
Under current law, public employees can accrue up to 15 sick days a year. When they retire, they can cash out 20 percent of the unused time.
Recent media reports have highlighted huge payouts taken by public employees, particularly in public higher education. Baker's bill would not apply to higher education.
Durkin said AFSCME, which represents employees of state, county and municipal governments, opposes any effort to change members' benefits outside the collective bargaining process.
"Unfortunately, legislation like this is a common reaction by elected officials after a story breaks about top earners like our public higher education executives who are able to retire with these golden parachutes," Durkin said. "For the rank-and-file state employees that AFSCME represents, the 20 percent buyback amounts to a modest one-time benefit on top of a modest pension."
Durkin said the estimated cost savings from limiting the benefit does not take into account the state's savings on overtime when workers minimize the use of sick time.
For employees with existing state contracts, if the law passes, the administration would need to bargain the impact of the change into the terms and conditions of a contract.
David Holway, national president of NAGE, which represents 22,000 workers in 60 state agencies, could not say yet whether NAGE might support the change because it would have to be implemented through bargaining. Holway noted that part of the reason for allowing sick time to accumulate is because state workers do not get any short or long-term disability pay, so sick time is used in place of disability.
"If the governor brings the sense of fairness that he's shown thus far to state employees, I think we can work things out," Holway said.
Holway added that most employees get nowhere near the type of buybacks that make the news. "A few people get these payouts, it makes all state employees look bad, and we're tired of that," Holway said.
Barbara Madeloni, president of the Massachusetts Teachers Association, said the MTA believes decisions about sick time should be made through collective bargaining, not legislation. "Governor Baker's proposed legislation is a reaction to a few highly paid administrators abusing the system," Madeloni said. "Instead of addressing that, the legislation would affect hard-working public employees who provide essential services to residents of the Commonwealth."
State Rep. Aaron Vega, D-Holyoke, a member of the Joint Committee on Public Service, which looks at bills related to public employees, said he thinks lawmakers may be interested in taking a larger look at issues related to public employee pensions and benefits. "There's definitely parts of it that make sense," Vega said.
But Vega predicted that the bill is unlikely to move forward before the July 31 end of the legislative session.
"I'm not sure what the will of the House or the Senate will be to look at that, especially given that we only have two months left in the formal session," Vega said. "I can't imagine it getting passed.... I can see it being something he files next session as part of a bigger package."
Vega added, "I've not heard from leadership or anyone else that this is a priority."
A spokesman for House Speaker Robert DeLeo, D-Winthrop, said the speaker has not yet seen the legislation, and it will be referred to a committee and reviewed.
Baker acknowledged that it is late in the legislative session to pass a major bill, but he told reporters that he hopes to "engage the debate."
"We're proposing the issue based on a growing body of evidence that the amount of accumulated sick leave that people were cashing out when they left state service was extraordinary, and certainly way beyond what anybody who actually works in the private sector, and pays the taxes that pays for that, would be eligible for in the private sector," Baker said.
Baker said the 1,000-hour limit would allow sick leave to function in a way that is comparable to the type of short-term disability policy available at many private companies.
Currently, Baker said, "It's pretty hard to argue that there's anybody in the private sector who has anything that looks like what the state's current policy is."
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