Sick leave benefits are included in nearly all lines of work, and with good reason. Employees need the flexibility to take time off when they are ill or injured. Ideally, a limited number of sick days are granted, and employees use them up when they can?t make it to work. But that?s not always the case for Wisconsin state employees and elected officials.

Because there is so little accounting of leave for elected officials ? legislators are not docked for missing committee hearings, votes, etc. ? and because those officials are allowed to roll over their leave from year to year, many have been able to accrue mountains of unused sick days. According to a report by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel last year, only two legislators were found to have claimed sick leave over a four-year period, and just one of the 62 district attorneys getting state benefits claimed sick leave over a one-year period.

The sick days can then be cashed in by state employees and elected officials for health insurance premiums upon retirement. The monetary value of this benefit can become astronomical; according to Rep. Rich Zipperer, R-Pewaukee, state Supreme Court Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson, for example, has tallied up more than $400,000 in health care benefits just through the collection of sick leave during her time in office.

A year ago this month, the Assembly passed a bill to disallow state legislators, district attorneys, judges and other elected officials from accumulating sick leave from year to year for use upon retirement. As this legislative session comes to a close, four Republican lawmakers are scrambling for a vote on the legislation ? saying the bill would have saved the state $3.4 million in the year since the Assembly passed it.

We are encouraged by the impetus for reform of the sick leave policy, but we are wary of the drastic change that would result from complete overhaul. We propose the allowance of sick-day accrual for a finite number of years ? two or three, perhaps ? coupled by more stringent reporting requirements to add accountability to the process. Days missed for illness must be recorded, and the health insurance benefit upon retirement ? however attractive to potential state employees ? must be kept to a reasonable limit.

It seems nearly certain the Senate will not take up the Assembly bill today, the last day of their session. Next session we hope both houses can come to an agreement on this widely abused and expensive policy.