Some public servants abusing the system and failing to utilize their yearly entitlement of 42 sick leave days have prompted the Ministry of Finance to decrease justified sick leave by 14 days and unjustified sick leave by two days for individuals without a medical certificate.
Furthermore, the number of rest days that public servants can transfer annually is also reduced, along with the maximum total accumulated leave from previous years.
Both aforementioned changes (sick leave and rest days) are included in the amendment to the Public Service regulations approved yesterday by the Cabinet.
Sick leaves:
Under the new regulations, justified sick leaves are reduced from the current 42 days to 28, and unjustified leaves are reduced from 8 to 6.
Both justified and unjustified leaves cannot exceed 28 days according to the regulations. According to the draft law, the employee union has consented to the changes related to sick leaves.
According to the regulations viewed by Phileleftheros, which will soon be submitted for approval in Parliament, the following modifications are envisaged:
- Reduction of annual sick leave days from 42 to 28.
- Corresponding reduction of sick leaves without a medical certificate from 8 to 6 days, included in the 28 annual sick leave days.
- Introduction of three periods of six-month extensions for sick leave. The first period will be with full pay, the second with 60% of the employee’s earnings, and the third with 50% of the earnings. The right to three periods of sick leave extension applies once within a period of three consecutive years and starts after the expiration of the 28 annual sick leave days. It is worth noting that this regulation applies to chronic patients.
- Elimination of the requirement for approval of sick leave extensions by the medical board. Instead, it will be granted with the submission of a medical certificate, approved by the relevant supervisor. This regulation aims to address the problem caused by the overload of medical boards, which, due to a large workload, provide formal approvals months after patients are referred to them. According to the regulations, the supervisor retains the right to challenge the medical certificate and referral to the Medical Board.
The aforementioned regulation will take effect, once approved, from January 1, 2024, to cover the entire year and ensure a smooth transition to the new policy.
A provision has been summarized that mandates the presence of the employee at the Medical Board when called; otherwise, his absence will result in the deduction from the rest leave in his possession.
Rest leaves:
According to the amendment to the regulations, the annual limit of accumulating 13 days per year is also eliminated for the case of a five-day workweek and 16 days per year for the case of a six-day workweek.
Moreover, the total limit of accumulated days from previous years is reduced from 70 and 84 days (five-day and six-day workweek, respectively) to 58 and 72 days, respectively.
Additionally, the new regulations include provisions so that individuals who served either as indefinite part-time employees or held a permanent position in another state agency (i.e., Security Forces, Armed Forces, Public Education Service, or a legal entity of public law) and are appointed to a public position are entitled to the number of rest leave days they were entitled to under their previous employment status. Also, their years of service in the previous position will be taken into account for the scaling of their rest leaves.
These regulations will be applied retroactively from January 1, 2018, as the equalization of rest and sick leaves of indefinite part-time employees with those of permanent public servants was approved at that time.
Furthermore, a provision has been added stating that employees on rest leave are not allowed to attend their work and perform their duties unless properly authorized to interrupt it in writing. Finally, in the event that an employee falls ill during a period of rest leave, they can interrupt the rest leave by providing a medical certificate.
