Sick leave not excessive among State employees

Every Sunday, “Back in the Day” looks at an article that ran on this date in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin. The items are verbatim, so don’t blame us today for yesteryear’s bad grammar.

The State Government’s 17,000 civil service employees miss only an average of 7.1 days of work each year because of sickness.

And this is interpreted as a sign of good morale in the Administration.

"I kinda had my fingers crossed," commented Mrs. Edna T. Taufaasau, State personnel director.

"I’ve always said there is little sick leave abuse among State employees. I’m so happy my observations have been substantiated by facts."

Any time the average falls below nine days, she said, "Morale is pretty good."

City-County employees take an average of 9.2 days of sick leave a year.

The State personnel director also notes that the statistics for State employees include those who were on sick leave for 30 days or more.

Generally, these are not included in computing the average because they tend to throw it off-balance, she said.

For example, the Hawaiian Homes Land Department had an average of 9.1 days of sick leave, one of the highest rate of absences.

But four of the department’s 39 employees were out sick for 40 days or more. Also, 16 of the employees are over 50 years old.

"We have many employees who have worked for the State Government for 25 or 30 years without abusing sick leave," Mrs. Taufaasau said.

As they become older, however, they would be expected to average more sick leave, she pointed out.

The Department of Transportation had the highest number of sick leave absences.

The department’s 1,149 employees used 9.4 days of sick leave on an average.

Other departments and their average sick leave:

The Governor’s office, 2 days; Lieutenant Governor’s office, 6.5; Agriculture, 4.4; Land and Natural Resources, 6.8; Planning and Economic Development, 5.7; Education, 6.6; University of Hawaii, 4.4; Health, 8.7; Social Services, 8.3.

The Department of Defense, 6.2; Labor and Industrial Relations, 5.2; Personnel Services, 5.1; Budget and Finance, 4.4; Taxation, 8.6; Judiciary, 8.2; Regulatory Agencies, 6.2; Accounting and General Services, 8.2; Attorney General’s Office, 6.2.