City’s sick time higher than nat'l average

PORTLAND, Ore. - City of Portland employees are using more sick time than ever before - setting a record in 2009, according to a city report.

City officials said there’s a clear reason why sick leave soared by nearly 10 percent in 2009, but not all employees are calling in sick more often.

Employees at Portland International Raceway, for example, used the least amount of sick time - one year using just over two hours on average.

But this year’s sick leave study lumps PIR in with the rest of the parks bureau so there is no way to tell how they did.

So the 2009 honor for the least amount of sick time used goes to government relations with only a day and a half of sick leave taken.

But that’s the exception.

Since 1993, the average city employee took just under eight days of sick time. It increased to just over nine days in 2002. After a dip, it began creeping back up, reaching 9.5 days in 2009, according to the report from the Bureau of Human Resources.

Compare that to the latest study by CCH showing the average American worker takes about 5.6 sick days a year.

Why is Portland higher? City officials said the city has an aging workforce which is more prone to be gone.

City officials also blamed the big jump in used sick time last year because of the H1N1 flu. The city issued instructions to employees to stay home to keep the virus from spreading.

“I know for our bureau (human resources) we had a number of people who got sick,” said Anna Kanwit from the city’s Bureau of Human Resources. “We had larger absences particularly in the fall then we’ve had before.”

With about 4,825 city employees taking 9.5 days off last year, 45,741 days of productivity were lost. Looked at another way, that’s 183 years of lost productivity in 2009 if 250 (work days per year) is divided into the 45,741 days.

When asked whether she would think the public would be troubled by such a large number of lost work days, Kanwit said, “I suppose if you just take it at that face value. I think that what you have to look at is a number of things: a lot of employers don’t provide sick leave. A lot of employers fire you if you call into work sick.”

At the top of the sick leave list last year is the Transportation Bureau. Its employees used an average of 11 days, which was down a bit from when they also had the highest usage in 2007.

“It’s an anomaly. Hopefully, it’s an anomaly,” Maintenance and Transportation Director Susan Keil said in 2007. “You don’t want to experience that every year if you’re an employer.”

She said the numbers were too high and that she doesn’t like it. She also said her department would review what’s going on.

According to the Human Resources Bureau, the overall employee sick time is high because of the federal Family Leave Act.

The city allows employees to use 40 hours of sick time a year to care for dependents.