Grey Cup and Christmas some of the most popular government sick days

REGINA – The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) has released a list of some of the most common sick days for Saskatchewan government employees.

It is no surprise some of the ‘sick’ days on the list for the 2013-1014 fiscal year were around Christmas time, during the Grey Cup – and even on video game release dates.

Here are some of the most – used sick days of the year:

• 1st place – January 6, the first Monday after the Christmas holidays
• 2nd place – January 8, the first Wednesday after the Christmas holidays
• 3rd place – November 4, the first winter storm of the year
• 5th place – January 2, day after New Year’s Day
• 6th place – September 23, day after a Riders home game
• 10th place – November 27, day after the Grey Cup parade
• 13th place –November 26, day of the Grey Cup parade
• 21st place – December 16, CFL expansion draft
• 23rd place –September 17, Grand Theft Auto 5 video game released

Also Monday’s represented 11 out of the top 25 sick days used which is 44 per cent.

“Definitely looks like a few of these spikes in sick days aren’t a coincidence,” said CTF Prairie Director Colin Craig.

“The government could save a healthy amount of tax dollars if it tackled high sick day usage by government employees.”

The average Saskatchewan employee took 6.9 sick days in 2012, while the average government employee took 11 days on average.