Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)
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258. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if civil servants with excessive sick leave due to critical illnesses prior to the change in sick leave policy in March 2014, will have some allowances applied to their total sick leave allowance, in order to facilitate them until their four year period has concluded, as some persons are being left without any allowance for at least another year; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48361/14]

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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The new Public Service Sick Leave Scheme is a very significant reform introduced by my Department earlier this year. The significant reduction in access to paid sick leave is required to reduce the unsustainable costs of sick leave in the public service. The new scheme was finalised on the basis of two Labour Court recommendations following extensive negotiations with staff representatives. The new approach seeks to ensure more proactive management of absenteeism while providing appropriate protection and support for public service personnel who experience illness.

In the case of individuals experiencing critical illnesses or serious injury, substantial additional protection is provided by means of a Critical Illness Protocol (CIP) which provides the basis for access to extended sick leave. Under the CIP, public servants who suffer from a critical illness or serious physical injury may have access to extended sick leave of 6 months on full pay in a rolling 1 year period, followed by 6 months on half pay subject to a maximum of 12 months' paid sick leave in a rolling 4 year period.

An illness or injury may be classified as critical depending on the severity of the illness or injury which the staff member has suffered and it will be assessed against specific medical criteria. It is not possible to determine definitively whether a past illness was a critical illness as it was not assessed under the CIP criteria at the time of the illness. Notwithstanding this, transitional arrangements have been introduced for staff who suffered from a very serious illness prior to the introduction of the new sick leave scheme. In the Civil Service, HR managers have been advised that they can use the discretionary provision within the CIP to award extended sick pay to civil servants who have had a serious illness or injury in the year prior to the introduction of the new scheme. In such cases staff will have access to the extended sick pay limits normally given for critical illness/injury (i.e. 365 days of sick pay), even where they are not critically ill, provided that they had a serious illness in the previous 12 months before the introduction of the new scheme. Moreover, the discretionary provisions within the CIP mean that organisations can take into account all relevant circumstances of the case when awarding extended sick pay where the strict medical criteria have not been met. 

I am satisfied that the new sick leave arrangements for the public service strike the appropriate balance between reducing the unsustainable costs of sick leave in the public service and safeguarding the interests of public servants who experience serious illness or injury.