SowetanLive reports that according to a study conducted by the Limpopo department of health, nurses have been singled out as the worst abusers of overtime and sick leave in the province.
The study, which looked into the department's spending on overtime and sick leave, revealed that nurses aged between 20 and 29 utilised sick leave overtime systems in order to milk the state. "The age group would take sick leave a day before holiday and after it. And when they return to work they would work for few days then subsequently be placed on overtime because he or she was on sick leave," the report indicated. Other healthcare workers, including medical officers and pharmacists, were also found to have benefitted from abuse of the system. The department said on Monday that health workers milked the state of nearly R2bn in the past two years by allegedly manipulating rosters to create the need for overtime pay. It has sent a circular to all facilities introducing new rosters meant to cut the need for overtime and ensure employees worked 40 hours a week. But unions representing health workers are up in arms and have vowed to go ahead with a planned strike on Monday next week over what they claim was lack of consultation in the implementation of the new working conditions. They have called on their members to embark on a total shutdown on 8 March to protest against the unilateral implementation of the policy.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Peter Ramothwala at SowetanLive
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