St. Louis' sick-day payout drains city of millions

ST. LOUIS -- In the last five years, the city of St. Louis has spent more than $4 million buying unused sick days from dozens of employees, a St. Louis Post-Dispatch analysis shows.

And while advocates say the generous policy helps offset low worker salaries, those who gain the most are managers who already are at the high-end of the pay scale.

Some say it's time to scrap the program for a more equitable pay system that also could save the city money.

Bill Fronick is one who benefited. He hardly ever stayed home sick, and retired as assistant director at Lambert Airport in 2003 with months of unused sick time, worth a lump-sum payout of $65,680.

He said the program kept him at his city job when he could have pursued a higher-paying one.

One outside expert said St. Louis has turned sick days into an investment vehicle for workers.

"You've, like, got better than a 401(k) here," said Peter Ronza, benefits manager for the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minn.

Under the plan, St. Louis city employees can bank all sick days they don't take and exchange them for lump sum payments and a higher pension upon retirement.

The result: Employees come to work even when they are ill, use only a handful of sick days over years or decades of employment, and walk out with five-figure payouts at a time when the city is strapped for cash.

The system is uncommon in corporate America and hard to find in government.

Former mayor Clarence Harmon pushed the practice 10 years ago as a way to encourage seasoned employees to retire.

The Post-Dispatch analysis found that taxpayers paid at least $4.18 million to purchase unused sick days from 281 employees since January 2003.

The newspaper found more than half walked away with at least $10,000; 15 of those workers received more than $50,000.

The median payment was $10,590. Two workers got payments higher than their annual salary.

City hall workers can exchange half of their unused sick days for cash when they retire. The other half of accrued days can be used to increase an employee's monthly pension.

It's a perk the city, which increased the sales tax recently to help pay for pension obligations, no longer can afford, one alderman says.

"We're eliminating jobs through attrition so that we don't have layoffs," Alderman Matt Villa said. "And then you have departments that have huge deficits because of pensions and the sick-leave buyback."

Gene Brantley, a former information systems manager who cashed out his sick days for $58,000, agreed.

"It doesn't look good. It's a lot of money going to a few people. It probably could be done some other way."

Kansas City places a ceiling on how many sick-leave hours employees can collect.

Mayor Francis Slay prefers a system that, like St. Louis County and the city schools, allows for paid time off that can be used for sick days or vacation, his chief of staff, Jeff Rainford, said.

"We've got to find a way to pay our people more," Rainford said. "But we have to do it through the front door, and not the back door."

A change in policy could generate opposition from unions representing city workers.

The city could cap sick days for future employees, but it cannot take away sick days already earned by current workers.