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Legislation to prohibit payment of unused govt sick leave introduced
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Posted on Sep 28 2008
Government employees will no longer be able to claim advance annual leave benefits or cash out their unused sick leave credits if a bill passes into law.
Rep. Justo S. Quitugua has penned legislation prohibiting any government agency from offering annual leave and paying for unused sick leave benefits. The purpose of the bill is to cut the government’s personnel expenses.
If signed into law, the measure will apply to all new government contracts. It will require any employee who receives payment in violation of the law to immediately return the money. Any official who authorizes the payment will be fined $2,000.
In his bill, Quitugua notes that the government offers a very generous benefit package that includes advance annual leave, maternity leave, paternity leave, and compassionate leave. These benefits, he says, are “additional unfunded liabilities of the government.”
“As the Commonwealth is facing an economic crisis of major dimensions,” Quitugua adds, “the government can no longer be relied upon as the most generous employer in the Commonwealth nor can it continue to serve as the Commonwealth’s most lucrative source of employment. The government also can no longer continue to pay employees for not worker. It is appropriate and prudent that the government pay only for work that is performed.”
