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Nečas sick of Czech absenteeism

Labor minister's proposal would cut benefits for employees missing work

By František Bouc
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
February 7th, 2007 issue

VLADIMÍR WEISS/THE PRAGUE POST
Labor and Social Affairs Minister Petr Nečas says his plan could save the state 12 billion Kč.
As far as sick leave goes, the Czech Republic is king. The country has led the European Union in illness-related absenteeism since it joined in 2004. An average of 6.1 percent of Czech employees are home sick on any given workday, nearly 10 percent more than in second-ranked Sweden. And generous benefits cost the Czech Republic 30 billion Kč ($1.4 billion) anually.
Labor and Social Affairs Minister Petr Nečas said that the Czech Republic tops the list because many workers abuse the system, playing hooky in order to indulge in unofficial holidays.
“When one looks at the steep rise in the amount of ‘sick’ people when gardening season begins, it becomes apparent that the current system of sickness benefits has been widely abused,” Nečas said.
Billions spent by state on sick pay:
  • 2000 27.2
  • 2001 29.6
  • 2002 32.6
  • 2003 37.3
  • 2004 29.6
  • 2005 31.7
  • 2006 30.9
Source: Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs
Under the law, the state has to pay sick leave for employees who have doctors’ notes proving their illness. But Czech doctors are notoriously liberal with their diagnoses, often prescribing two weeks leave for a minor ailment.
Those who took leave in 2006 missed 38 days on average, according to the Czech Social Security Administration (ČSSZ).
Nečas said he has had enough. The minister is currently drafting a law he hopes will fight fake sickness by canceling any and all leave pay for the first three days an employee misses work.
“It’s high time that we prevented people from abusing the system of sickness benefits,” Nečas said.
The ČSSZ announced last November that 4,400 people were stripped of their leave pay in 2006 because they were not at home when an inspector visited them to verify their illness. ČSSZ spokeswoman Štěpánka Filipiová said the inspectors made about 187,000 random checks last year.
Nečas said canceling the benefits over the first three days of employees’ sickness could help downsize illness-related work absence and save up to 12 billion Kč in the state budget.
Saving billions
When the Cabinet led by the Social Democrats (ČSSD) cut sick pay from 50 percent of the average salary to 25 percent in 2004, the government saved 2.7 billion Kč per year.
For years, the cash-strapped government has unsuccessfully attempted to curb sick-leave expenditures. Last spring, the ČSSD Cabinet shifted the burden to employers, forcing them to pay leave to workers during the first two weeks of illness, but reducing the employer’s yearly sickness insurance contribution by more than half.
The law ruffled the feathers of many employers, who questioned their ability to verify the legitimacy of an employee’s illness.
“I cannot imagine how we’ll check whether employees are on sick leave legally or illegally,” said Stanislav Němec, chairman of the Association of Private Agriculture in the Czech Republic.
Meanwhile, the Economic Chamber’s president Jaromír Drábek warned that the new law could push fledgling companies out of business.
“Small firms are struggling in these times of flu epidemics, when many employees cannot work,” Drábek said. “If the companies are forced to finance their sick days, it could drive them to the verge of bankruptcy.”
The law was delayed until 2008, as the right-of-center Civic Democrats pushed it back in Parliament in November after taking power in last June’s election.
In 2008, employers’ sickness insurance contributions stand to decrease from the current 3.3 percent of an employee’s salary to 2.3 percent. They will also pay only half the amount of benefits over the first two weeks of absence.
In 2009, the insurance contributions will further drop to 1.4 percent and companies will pay the full amount of wage compensation. Also, companies will be entitled to carry out their own checks to see whether employees are abusing the benefit system.

František Bouc can be reached at fbouc@praguepost.com


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