PART-TIME staff in the Civil Service were given additional leave days in error over recent years, but they are to be allowed keep them for a further year.
Civil Service management discovered in recent months that some departments and offices had been granting part-time staff the full official complement of two privilege days per year on top of annual leave rather than reducing the number to reflect the fact that they were not full-time employees.
The issue came to light as part of official moves to incorporate privilege days for Civil Service personnel into annual leave arrangements. This followed a controversial decision by an arbitration board in the Civil Service to reject moves by the Department of Finance to abolish privilege days for staff under the provisions of the Croke Park agreement.
However, public service trade unions argued the move to incorporate privilege days into annual leave could have an impact on the part-time staff, who had been receiving the full complement of privilege days up to now.
In a memo sent to management in the Civil Service, the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform said that having considered representations made by trade unions it was prepared “as an exceptional measure” to allow the job-sharing staff concerned to retain the extra two full days annual leave for this year.
A spokeswoman for the department said last night the numbers involved were “very small”, although she did not provide figures.
She said the decision to allow the staff concerned to retain the additional days was based on the numbers involved and on the fact the leave year had already begun.
The exceptional measures would only apply for the leave year 2011-2012, she added.
The Department of Public Expenditure memo to personnel officers in the Civil Service stated that “it seems that some departments/offices may have been incorrectly granting the two full privilege days (rather than reducing them to reflect their non-full-time status) to non-full-time officers”.
Meanwhile the Department of Public Expenditure said yesterday its plans to reform leave arrangements across the public service were continuing.
In May, Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Brendan Howlin said new arrangements would be put in place to standardise annual leave and working time arrangements and to address what he described as “traditional but over-generous” entitlements that had grown up.
He said the Government had opened negotiations with trade unions on new leave arrangements. He said what was likely to emerge was a twin-track position that would involve new “ceilings and floors” for leave entitlements for serving personnel and revised lower leave arrangements for new entrants. However, little has been heard since then about the move.
The Minister’s comments followed controversy over the arbitration boards report on privilege days and on revelations that some local authority managers had up to 42 leave days each year.
Last week The Irish Timesreported that one hospital manager had 37 days leave per year.