Days numbered for sickies?

A sick day register - it's enough to make you ill, reports ESTELLE SARNEY.

Imagine if every time you took a sick day, your boss registered the date and reason you were away on a central sickie register that could be accessed by other employers checking you out for a job in the future.

Just such a register has been set up in Australia, and there's nothing, not even our Privacy Act, to stop it happening here.

The Australian sick day register was launched in August by Queensland recruitment company Wayne and Diana's Employment Service.

Employers can register, free, the details of any worker who has taken a sick day and for $A40 ($NZ48) a year can receive 10 sickie reports.

"Prolific sickie and compo claimers are costing small business millions of dollars each year, and we believe it's time to weed out the troublemakers", says the service's website.

It goes on to suggest that employers display a sign, which the service can supply free, letting workers know that any sick days they take will be listed on the "sickie register".

A New Zealand sick day register could operate in the same way as a credit reference agency, says Bob Stevens, an Auckland barrister specialising in privacy law.

"The Privacy Act requires any outfit dealing with personal information to be transparent and clear as to what it's doing and why. If a sick day register was set up with the express purpose of collecting sick day information and releasing it to enquiring employers, the agency wouldn't even need to gain the employee's authorisation".

Employers would, however, need to spell out to employees exactly what they intended reporting, such as the dates sick leave is taken and the reasons given.

Existing employees would have to agree to have this written into their employment contracts, and potential employees would have to accept this as a term of employment, whether they liked it or not.

Employers checking out potential employees would need to gain authorisation to approach the agency for sick day records, in the same way employers should gain authorisation to seek references. Such a register could even note why you've been off sick. There's no word of a sickie register being set up here, and the northern branch of the Employers and Manufacturers Association doesn't support the idea.

"In terms of good faith obligations and good employment relationship issues these days, I don't think it's something we would encourage", says advisory services assistant manager Graeme Perfect.

"That's not to say that employers shouldn't explore a person's sick leave history when considering them for a job, simply by asking them or by checking back with former employers, with the consent of the prospective employee".

Perfect says keeping records of sick leave and the reasons given is part of good management practice.

If an employee was absent for unacceptable periods then a manager would need to address that, and there might be hidden reasons that the employer should be conscious of. At what point medical certificates are required needs to be covered in employment agreements.

This brings us to "mental health days" - formerly a euphemism for slacking, they are gaining credence in these days of long working hours and high stress.

Council of Trade Unions president Ross Wilson says many white-collar employers are now acknowledging them as a legitimate use of sick leave, although he doesn't hear of many blue-collar workers taking them.

The manager of the labour inspectorate at the Department of Labour, Chris Tracey, says "mental health days" - not a term the statute uses - fall into the area of stress leave.

If someone is incapacitated or unable to perform their work because of injury or illness, they're entitled to be paid, whether the illness is a stress-related headache or the flu.

Says Graeme Perfect: "It's about separating the chaff from the wheat. We've all heard the stories about the worker saying he was sick yesterday and the boss saying yes, he saw him at the opposite end of Eden Park.

"But if someone is showing indicators of stress or loss of productivity because of workplace issues, that needs to be managed. And if that means taking some time off as part of sick leave, then that should happen".

Although the law doesn't demand it, many employers allow sick leave to be accumulated.

The minimum requirement of five sick days a year is dismally inadequate, according to Ross Wilson.

He recently took part in a ministerial advisory group overhauling the Holidays Act and would like to see the minimum increased to 10 days, bereavement leave made separate, and the law demand that employers allow sick leave accumulation.

Mytoowoomba