November 4, 1999 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)
Few employees able to cash in unused sick leave
Most employees in
medium and large private establishments were not allowed to turn in unused
sick leave for compensation in 1997.
[Chart data—TXT]
Of employees who received sick leave in medium and large private
establishments, just 17 percent were allowed to obtain cash in exchange
for unused sick days. Among those employees in a sick-leave plan with a
cash-in provision, roughly half also had a carryover provision in
their plan.
In particular, 9 percent of employees with a sick leave benefit could
opt to cash in their sick leave or carry it over from year to year—8
percent were subject to a cash-in provision only.
Over half of workers who received sick leave in medium and large
private establishments were able to carry over days of sick leave from year to year;
specifically, 53 percent were permitted to carry over unused sick leave.
Among those employees in a sick-leave plan with a carryover provision,
about 4 out of 5 faced a limit on the total number of days accumulated.
These data are from the BLS Employee
Benefits Survey. Learn more in Employee
Benefits in Medium and Large Establishments, 1997, BLS Bulletin 2517(PDF
804 K). Sick leave data presented here are for full-time employees.
Of interest
Spotlight on Statistics: National Hispanic Heritage Month
In this Spotlight, we take a look at the Hispanic labor force—including labor force participation, employment and unemployment, educational attainment, geographic location, country of birth, earnings, consumer expenditures, time use, workplace injuries, and employment projections.
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Read more »