Sick Leave

When Kim Butler got sick and had to miss a week of work, her co-workers at the Department of Social Services office on Broadway in Baltimore took up a collection to help pay her bills.Although Butler works full time as an administrator, she is one of a growing number of state employees who do not get benefits many others take for granted, such as medical insurance, sick leave, vacation time and basic job protections.The employees are called "contractual workers" because they sign annual contracts to work for the state.

In a ruling that could affect Baltimore County's more than 2,000 male teachers, a federal judge has ruled that the school system discriminated against a kindergarten teacher by denying him a paid leave of absence to care for his newborn daughter.U.S. District Judge Marvin J. Garbis said the county school system violated the U.S. Constitution and federal and state civil rights laws by denying the leave to 20-year teaching veteran Kenneth J. Shapiro while allowing female teachers to take paid child-rearing leave.

Pressing its case for broader protections, a union representing hundreds of Baltimore public school clerical employees said yesterday it would oppose an education aid-and-reform bill unless the legislature guarantees workers can cash in unused sick leave and keep their seniority in applying for other city jobs.But the chief sponsor of legislation sending $254 million in new aid to the city in exchange for a school management overhaul accused union leaders of trying to foment "hysteria," saying negotiators had agreed to preserve key collective bargaining rights for employees and were unlikely to agree to more changes.

MAYBE ICE CREAM parlors and bagel shops should step forward to help keep Howard County teachers in the classroom and off sick leave. Each marking period, these establishments could distribute coupons that teachers with perfect attendance can redeem for a cone or two blueberry bagels. Or school administrators can print gold-trimmed certificates that teachers with perfect attendance can accept, along with their students, on report card day.If this sounds silly, not half as much as suggestions by some that sweeteners are needed to improve the dismal attendance record of Howard teachers.

BORIS N. YELTSIN lost no time in reaffirming his authority after returning from a long sick leave earlier this month. He shuffled the Kremlin cabinet and vowed to continue economic reforms. He also promised to push for closer union between Russia and Belarus. Next on the agenda will be his summit with President Clinton in the capital of neighboring Finland March 20.Mr. Yeltsin's popularity at home is sagging. Millions of Russians -- including military officers -- have not been paid for months because the government simply does not have enough money.

Outgoing Baltimore Schools Superintendent Walter G. Amprey will continue to receive his $140,000 salary and health, pension and other benefits through June 1998, but will not get an additional lump-sum payment for the termination of his city employment, according to documents and interviews.Amprey also retains the right to cash in any unused sick leave and vacation time he has accumulated during his six-year tenure at the helm of city schools, a sum that could amount to 40 percent of his annual salary under the terms of a severance agreement made public yesterday.

Baltimore's police commissioner, upset that 200 officers do ,, not show up for work each day, is cracking down on sick leave abuse that he complains is preventing the department from putting more officers on the street.The department's 3,100 officers have unlimited sick leave, one of the most liberal policies in the nation. Compared with other departments in Maryland and across the country, Baltimore's force has nearly double the percentage of officers calling in sick each day.Police Commissioner Thomas C. Frazier called Baltimore's figures "excessively high."

THE LABOR contract governing Baltimore City police officers puts no limit on the number of sick days an officer can take. Implicit in that agreement is an assumption that sick leave will not be abused, that officers will take time off only when absolutely necessary. In the days when the department sent someone to check on officers who called in sick, abuse was no doubt kept to a minimum.But that strict scrutiny loosened over the years, and now Police Commissioner Thomas C. Frazier is confronting a situation in which the average number of sick days per officer has reached 15 a year.

The union representing Baltimore police officers has demanded an independent arbitrator to resolve an 11-month contract dispute and may call for a no-confidence vote against the police commissioner.Although both sides continued to talk yesterday, the union called for outside help at a meeting Friday when talks stalled on pay raises, sick leave and floating holidays."I honestly believe we were very close to having a deal that satisfied everybody's concerns," said Officer Gary McLhinney, president of Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 3. "The city was unable to deliver."

In an attempt to limit political damage to his fledgling administration, Gov. Parris N. Glendening said yesterday that he and three top aides would forgo tens of thousands of dollars in early pension payments from Prince George's County that sparked sharp criticism over the weekend.But the administration also said that the governor's chief of staff, Major F. Riddick Jr., would nonetheless receive a payment of nearly $184,000 from the county as compensation for unused sick leave and vacation time from his 16 years of work in Upper Marlboro.

At his final bill signing ceremony, Gov. Martin O'Malley signed legislation yesterday to provide prescription-drug subsidies for seniors, give workers more flexibility with sick leave, and bring transparency to what is expected to be a well-funded fight over November's slot-machine referendum. The governor also signed several bills aimed at benefiting veterans, including a measure intended to help veterans obtain mental health services. Lt. Gov. Anthony G. Brown, an Army Reserve officer who did a tour in Iraq, took the lead on veterans-related bills and said yesterday that the new laws "provide a seamless transition for veterans from combat back into the community."

Maryland lawmakers are nearing approval for legislation that would require employers to let workers use sick leave to care for a parent, child or spouse, and that would extend unemployment benefits to part-time workers. The bills, which have passed in one or both legislative chambers, have gained support this year as workers are faced with a shaky job outlook. Proponents say the measures are necessary because part-time workers make up a growing portion of the work force and because dual-job households are increasingly struggling to care for children or aging parents.

Do you feel guilty missing work even when you're sick? I do. I bet many of you do, too. Why is that? It makes sense to stay home. After all, you don't want to get colleagues sick. And you want to feel better, too. Eighty-seven percent of 317 human resource executives surveyed last year by CCH Inc., a Riverwoods, Ill., provider of tax and business information, said sick employees have shown up at work with a cold or the flu. There's even a name for this phenomenon: presenteeism. According to the survey, 38 percent referred to it as a problem.

Q: I have worked for a nonprofit organization for eight years. When I was hired, part of my benefits included vacation, sick and personal leave. As of the first of this year, the organization changed to having paid time off - we no longer have vacation, sick and personal leave. When absent from work, the time is deducted from paid time off. At the time this change was implemented, I had accrued 500 hours of sick leave, which was put in a bank. However, before this leave can be used, I have to use 24 hours, or three days, of paid time off. It seems that if I earned the sick leave under the old personnel policy, I should be able to use it before using paid time off. S.C., Baltimore A: Your concerns should be addressed in your employment contract.

2nd-time dad seeks short paternity leave Q. I work for a company too small to come under the Family Leave Act. My wife is due with our second child any day now. Other than using all my vacation/sick leave, what are my options for taking a small, extended leave to help her during her recovery? J.J., Baltimore A. A large and growing number of private companies provide leave to fathers upon the birth of a child. Parents employed by the state of Maryland are granted up to 30 days of paid leave to take care of a newly born or adopted child.

BOSTON - Not long ago, a young actor I know was doing a gig as a waiter. Faced with a truly obnoxious customer, he finally leaned over the table and said theatrically, "Sir, do you realize that I'm going to be spending time alone with your dinner?" This was a memorable moment in the annals of sick humor. But this winter, many of the people spending time alone with your dinner - or huddling around your desk - are just plain sick. A particularly nasty little virus has taken down two members of my family, and brought Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton to the floor in the middle of a speech.

Every workday has a certain consistency for Herbert B. Stevenson. He's at work in Millersville to take his regular walk by 4:30 a.m. He's reading the newspaper an hour later. And he's ready to punch in at 6 a.m. For 35 years, Stevenson hasn't missed a beat, and hardly a day of work because of sick leave. On Friday, the longtime Anne Arundel County employee was honored by County Executive Janet S. Owens for his dedication to an honest day's work. "He would put some of our police and fire personnel through a test of physical agility," Owens said in jest after presenting Stevenson, 55, a mechanic with the Department of Public Works, with a service citation during a lunch in his honor at Paul's on the South River.

Every workday has a certain consistency for Herbert B. Stevenson. He's at work in Millersville to take his regular walk by 4:30 a.m. He's reading the newspaper an hour later. And he's ready to punch in at 6 a.m. For 35 years, Stevenson hasn't missed a beat, and hardly a day of work because of sick leave. On Friday, the longtime Anne Arundel County employee was honored by County Executive Janet S. Owens for his dedication to an honest day's work. "He would put some of our police and fire personnel through a test of physical agility," Owens said in jest after presenting Stevenson, 55, a mechanic with the Department of Public Works, with a service citation during a lunch in his honor at Paul's on the South River.

A former Maryland correctional officer and his wife were convicted yesterday of conspiracy and multiple felony theft counts arising from a scheme to falsely collect sick leave pay from the state, according to the attorney general's office. Authorities said that Algie C. Epps of Baltimore, while working for the Department of Corrections, submitted false doctor's notes to collect more than $20,000 in sick leave pay over seven years, and that his wife, Sharon, a clerk at Johns Hopkins Hospital, falsified and faxed many of the documents.

Baltimore County Executive James T. Smith Jr. has proposed giving expanded vacation, sick leave and paid holidays to government employees who work between 30 and 39 hours a week. The county employs hundreds of such workers, mostly in social services jobs that are funded at least partly by grant money. But because these employees are not considered part of the county's merit system, they earn fewer benefits and enjoy less job security, which has led to complaints and lawsuits. One of those suits, brought by four part-time employees, was dismissed by a Baltimore County judge last summer but is scheduled for a hearing today at the Court of Appeals.