St. Paul firefighters weekend sick days a disturbing pattern, chief says

St. Paul firefighters have “a disturbing — and costly — pattern” of calling in sick on weekends, the fire chief told the department in a recent email.

About half of the sick time was taken on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays this year. Sick leave use on Saturdays and Sundays was 53 percent higher than that used on the lowest days of the week, Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

“From my conversations with members of this department, I know that sick leave use balloons on the weekend in order to get ‘extra time off,’ ” Fire Chief Tim Butler wrote to his staff on Dec. 4. “Folks, that’s misusing the benefit, and we have to stop that misuse. It clearly hurts staffing, it violates the expectation of our citizens, and it’s just plain wrong.”

Nevertheless, Butler’s email said the department is on track to finish the year within its $59 million budget.

Read more: http://www.twincities.com/2016/12/12/st-paul-firefighters-weekend-sick-days-a-disturbing-pattern-chief-says/