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THE IRISH CONGRESS of Trade Unions has said the Covid-19 pandemic has exposed failings in how the country protects workers against loss of income and has called for the governemnt to introduce mandatory sick pay for all workers.
Speaking ahead of the publication of ICTU’s quick guide to sick pay tomorrow, general secretary Patricia King said:
“It took a pandemic to expose the big failings in how we protect workers against loss of income, the lack of a legal entitlement to sick pay from an employer being one of the most glaring examples.
Ireland is completely out of line with European norms in not requiring employers to continue to pay a worker’s wage if sick and unable to work for a period of time.
“In the club of high-income European countries, of which Ireland is a member, the guaranteed period of paid sick leave is for no less than two weeks and typically paid at 100% the worker’s wage, with one exception.”
Sick pay in Ireland is at the discretion of the employer to include in a contract of employment. There have been calls in recent months for mandatory sick pay policies for certain sectors such as the food processing industry after large Covid-19 clusters were identified.
King said up to half of the labour force, including hundreds of thousands of low-paid essential workers, do not receive sick pay and “face being financially compelled to keep on working when sick”.
Tomorrow ICTU will publish its quick guide to sick pay and is contacting all Oireachtas members to call on them to legislate to guarantee all workers an entitlement to sick pay.
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Healthcare professionals working either in nursing homes or visiting clients in the community receive no employer sick pay despite the high risks of picking up infections/injuries while carrying out their duties caring for the most vulnerable in our society. TD’s get paid mileage for their commute to work. The government need to address the lack of employer sick pay and bring us on a par with our EU neighbours.
@Frank Cauldhame: this is not true. Employees pay 12% on top of all employees wages in employer prsi which goes to pay for many things including statutory sick pay.
@john s: I can assure you that this in in fact true. If you are in the private sector it is up to your employer whether they give you sick pay or not regardless of the fact that you provide them with a sick cert from your GP. You get nothing from the state with regard to illness benefit for the first 5 days of certified absence.
@Frank Cauldhame: your statement talks about getting no sick pay whatsoever. Which is wrong. Now you talk about the 1st 5 days not being paid which is probably true. But why should the employer pick up what the state won’t. Employers pay enough.
@john s: My opening comment is about a particular sector of employees working in the private healthcare sector and is completely try reading it again mate !
@john s: My opening comment is about a particular sector of employees working in the private healthcare sector and is completely true. Not trying to be smart but read it again and you should manage to get the gist ;-)
@Frank Cauldhame: fair enough but if they are public sector workers which the majority of these are im sure their union would never have allowed this to happen. So I still Don’t believe this.
Private sector on its knees do not need unions pushing for more expense on their shoulders because fat cat unions demand it
@john s: Unions have become toothless over the last 30 years, a bit like the Labour party, they bear no resemblance to the movements started by Jim Larkin & James Connolly which is a terrible shame for all workers everywhere.
It’s a disgrace the amount of people not entitled to sick pay in this country, of course people were going to continue coming to work during pandemic even if feeling a bit off
@Frank Scanlon: I’m in a managerial position with an SME and I don’t get sick pay, our contracts also do not include any maternity benefit.
@HairyTeeth: or laser hair removal for your teeth…
So, Patricia sticks her head above the parapet after a long slumber since SIPTU sold out the workers of this country back in the Ahern days. They connived in the corrupt benchmarking exercise which delivered huge salary hikes for the Union leadership. They also never faced up to the loss of €600000 of tax payers money by utilising Partnership money to fund junkets and enjoyment. No one held responsible as the culprits went free. Then they backed DOB in the water charges debacle. They were corrupted by seats on State Boards and honorary degrees to the leadership. They sold out the workers to their own enrichment. The workers could take a hike!Sinn Fein have stolen their clothes.
They should be ashamed of themselves!
Devils advocate here-there are plenty of places that can’t afford to pay this when they have to also pay someone to cover. In an ideal world this would be perfect but we don’t live in an ideal world
@just me: government pays gold plated sick pay to public servants and the can’t afford it.
@Tom’s: thats because they keep putting their hand in private sector pockets to pay for it simple. Not 1 cent have public sector employees missed out on since this all started and private sector on its knees. But yes let’s get the law changed to put more pressure on the private sector
@john s: also public sector and politician pensions need to be looked at again the government can’t afford them either.
@Tom’s: turkeys don’t vote for Christmas. And we have alot of turkey’s in the public sector. As for the unions I still await the day they help a business survive.
@just me: how does it work in other countries then?? It’d be unheard of in Germany for example that your employer is not contributing to your maternity pay.. Or sick pay.. Its mandatory for employers to pay a certain part of this, there’s no way around it…
@Lotta Rossler: employers pay 12% employers prsi per employee that goes towards alot of thing including statutory sick pay.
@Tom’s: not true. Sick pay to public servants was cut in half under austerity. People have a right to get sick and for their employers to take care of them.
@john s: there are workers and employers not public and private. If you want better working conditions. Unionise.
@feargal ‘2 metres’ de cantuin: didn’t get too many likes for that.
The issue is also the reliance on migrant workers who are not even eligible for statutory sick pay as they are often employed by agencies in other countries or are bogus self-employed. Add that to the shocking state of our housing market where many people, especially low paid workers in private rentals, are living in cramped, over crowded accommodation
@Anne Marie Devlin: exactly. The Fine Gael model of economics.
@Anne Marie Devlin: Well Hello There! What are people doing here if they have no right to work, they must be illegal immigrants! And in which case they certainly have no right to housing or any other benefits which are being paid for by the tax payers of Ireland. If people come here to work they must have legitimate immigration status otherwise they are illegal and have no rights. Its the same in every country in Europe. There are lots of low paid Irish workers who are not living in multi people accommodation. Many migrants live like this because it is what they choose. They want to make as much money as possible and pay as little as possible to live.
@MrHammey12: Are you a spokesman for Larry Goodman?
@Donal Desmond: absolutely not. I think that all the Beef Barons should be called out including the hugely massive and wealthy family who own the factory in Naas (and many other factories) in Kildare. These Factories should be investigated by immigration officials but hey who cares – all the elites and billionaires in this together! I am just stating a fact that non nationals who are illegals cant expect special status and are not entitled to sick pay or housing.
My boss refused to give me sick pay when I informed him I wouldn’t be in for a few days as I was told to take it easy.
Who said that he asked,your doctor?
No,I replied.The Eagles.
I think it was FG and Labour got rid of sick pay from the department of social welfare. People lose the first week now. I could be wrong.
It’s not feasible to have Sick pay across the board unless it’s a based on weekly contributions from the employee. . As an employer with only a few employees how much of a cost would I have to pass onto the customer/client to cover the cost of payment and a replacement worker.
@Philip Kedney: USC was brought in a few years back and was only meant to be temporary, perhaps they could use this tax to help employers pay their employees who are certified ill by their GP’s? Also a small weekly contribution by an employee matched by the employer could help small business to assist staff on sick leave (€5 pw by both employee and employer)???
@Frank Cauldhame: Unfortunately the USC is here forever and there is two chances of any of it getting diverted. €5 a week from employer & employee is €520 which would roughly equate to 2 and half days a year for a tradesman. No easy solution .
@Philip Kedney: it’s how much you truely value your employees. Surely employers could come up with a scheme where both themselves and their employee contribute towards a sickpay scheme that is affordable to both. It could also have some kind of stipulation in it that the employee has to be in the job for at least 12 months or whatever to benefit from it. Of course it will be abused by some but the best employee you will ever have is the one who feels valued because these are the ones who will care about your business and go the extra mile whether asked or not.
@Derek Lyster: I can assure you they are valued and well looked after. If you take an average of 10 days a year (approx €2000) it would work out at €40 a week after taxes. Not sure how many would opt into that scheme and also would it turn into a guaranteed extra 10 days off with pay even if it wasn’t required .
@Derek Lyster: Totally agree, there are solutions to this problem, they just need to be discussed and hammered out, I don’t mind paying a little extra into a sickpay fund, it doesn’t mean I’m going to abuse it and automatically take 10 sick days off to avail of it. The money collected can remain in an account and be carried forward year on year. It’s a bit like household or car insurance, we all pay it but most of us don’t make claims.
@Philip Kedney: i never implied you didnt look after your employees it was just a general statement. A happy employee is a productive employee, an unhappy employee is always looking at the exit and their negative attitude can spread to others.
Sitting down with employees and discussing the option of sick pay would be far more beneficial than just dismissing it out of hand. You can be sure the employees are talking among themselves.
Many a Monday I would have called in sick if they had sick pay.
@Caoimhín: and its attitudes like this that ruin the idea of a proper sick pay system. No employer wants to pay sick pay because somebody can’t handle their drink
@Caoimhín: and therein lies the problem for employers. It is open for abuse. We used have a sick pay scheme but some ruined it for the rest of us.
@Caoimhín: The issue here is CERTIFIED sick pay, if you are I’ll and go to your GP and he/she advises you to stay at home and rest/ recover you should be entitled to sick pay from your employer.
@Frank Cauldhame: here is an honest question. Can you name 1 gp who will not swallow any line they are given by the person in front of them to sign a sick note. Pay €50 to gp get sick note for 2 weeks off .
@john s: Thats just hearsay John, most young GP’s nowadays are very reluctant to provide a cert unless you are genuinely ill, my GP certainly wouldn’t do it. GP’s these days are a lot stricter when it comes to handing out certs willy nilly. Also if a person is put on illness benefit they will eventually be called for an interview with the departments panel of doctors who are very very strict when assessing ongoing claims.
@Frank Cauldhame: not hearsay. This is the experience of many . I have never heard of this departments panel of doctors you talk about. But again another public sector joke shop.
@john s: Check it out on the citizens rights webpage :-)
Strange that Patricia has not forgotten to include the sick pay in Public Service contracts but misplaced it when negotiating the REA for the construction Industry who’s workers would arguably be more prone to sickness and injury due to the type of work!
Stop meat eating and production. Send workers home. Who needs meat anyway. We csn live without meat. Withdraw work permits bye bye Boners.
Please stop calling it a pandemic….. This is far from a pandemic… More like a scamdemic
@John John: yep, the whole thing is being made up for the craic
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