In mid-October, state legislators criticized UW System faculty after an audit showed that school employees reported much less sick leave than other state workers. But another audit performed recently found that state lawmakers themselves report almost no sick leave.
In a system similar to UW's, legislators' unclaimed sick days are converted into a monetary value legislators are able to use for health insurance after they leave office. According to a recent Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article, only two lawmakers have reported sick time in the past four years. The longest serving state Senator Fred Risser, D-Madison has accumulated more than $160,000 in accrued benefits.
State Rep. Scott Suder, R-Abbotsford, was critical of the UW System in October but said lawmakers were largely unaware of the benefits they were accruing.
He said there is ""some room for reform"" in the state Legislature but added, ""I certainly don't think you see the abuses that you've seen at the UW in the legislature. I don't think the two are comparable in that respect.""
Common Cause Wisconsin executive director Jay Heck said the amount of sick leave lawmakers can accrue needs to be capped.
""I'm not for a minute saying that the people who work for the UW ... or who work for the Legislature not entitled to that,"" Heck said. The problem, he said, is that the unreported days are paid out as benefits and over time those days add up.
UW Board of Regents president David Walsh said sick leave is not an easy issue for the Legislature or the university. ""I think we should all recognize these people don't work an eight to five job,"" Walsh said. ""Their responsibilities go far beyond a normal work day—that said, we need to have a consistent policy.""
When state Rep. Terese Berceau, D-Madison, underwent a heart bypass surgery, she missed five voting days, but took no sick leave.
She said there is no clear sick leave policy for politicians and agreed that lawmakers are unaware of the benefit of accruing sick time.
""I guess we're probably told when we're first elected, but we don't have any forms or clear rules,"" Berceau said.
Assembly chief clerk Patrick Fuller disagreed. He said the procedure for reporting sick leave is explained in the administration code that is printed every two years. Fuller said lawmakers should be responsible for the information in the code.
Berceau said lawmakers want to follow the rules and that a new system will be implemented. ""If you're a politician, unlike a professor, you can get in trouble for not following the rules,"" she said. ""If you're a professor, your name probably doesn't get in the newspaper and people don't write you letters.""
