Government employees in B.C. take 62 per cent more sick days than the average private sector worker, according to figures just released by the Canadians Taxpayers Federation.

The Statistics Canada data, obtained by the CTF, show all public sector employees in B.C., including university, health care and municipal workers, take an average of 12 sick days a year. That’s compared to private sector employees who take 7.4.

With 410,895 government employees in B.C., the federation estimates those sick days could be costing taxpayers hundreds of millions in lost productivity annually.

“Government employees have no idea what it’s like in the real world, where sick days are taken only when you’re actually sick,” said CTF Director Jordan Bateman.

“It should be taxpayers who feel nauseous and need time off.”

Bateman said his organization began looking into the topic after several unions settled their contracts with the B.C. government by promising to reduce their sick leave in return for getting raises.

“Obviously government employees are going to be sick from time to time and will need to stay home, but when they’re actually getting 60 per cent more sick days than the private sector that tells you there’s a bit of gaming of the system going on,” Bateman said.

The CTF obtained figures from the B.C. government through Freedom of Information that show “core provincial employees,” or direct government employees, took an average of 9.1 sick days each. The CTF says this only represents less than 10 per cent of the government employees in B.C., but their sick days still represent a $29.2-million annual cost to taxpayers.

The 12 sick day average calculated by Statistics Canada takes into account municipalities, regional districts, universities, colleges, transit authorities, health authorities, federal offices and other government employees in B.C.

“Do the math and you can conservatively estimate that sick leave costs B.C. taxpayers way over $300 million a year, and maybe as much as half a billion dollars,” said Bateman.

Only Quebec and Manitoba have more sick days per government worker, he added.

Mark Hancock, the spokesperson for CUPE, the union that represents 85,000 public sector employees in B.C., says the higher number of sick days reflects the collective bargaining agreements that allow workers to take paid leave when they’re sick.

“Do they want those workers coming in, driving ambulances, working with sick people, with kids, when they’re feeling sick, nauseous, when they have injuries?” said Hancock.

Hancock says private sector employees take less sick days because they’re forced to work when they’re not feeling well.

“It’s comparing apples to oranges and it’s not fair at all,” he told CTV News.

The CTF cites a recent Treasury Board survey that said federal government employees took 17.9 days of sick leave a year.

It is calling for all government agencies to be aggressive in reducing the amount of sick time taken by employees.

In June, the federal government introduced sweeping new reforms to rein in absenteeism among public service employees.