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Mental illness merits 180 days, Butler says

A new short-term disability policy treats physical and mental problems differently.

By ANNE LINDBERG
Published March 2, 2005

PINELLAS PARK - A city policy that allows sick workers paid leave discriminates against those who have mental or emotional diseases, council member Rick Butler says.

Under the short-term disability policy the City Council passed Thursday, employees with physical ailments can take up to 180 days off for recovery while receiving full pay and benefits from the city. Workers with mental illnesses can take up to 90 days.

That's unfair, said Butler, who was the lone vote against the updated policy.

Pinellas Park should not distinguish between mental and physical illnesses, he said. Employees should be able to take up to 180 days to recover whether the illness is mental or physical, he contends.

Mental illness is a painful subject for Pinellas Park officials. City Manager Jerry Mudd killed himself in 2003.

Butler said Monday that Mudd's suicide was not the only reason for his concern about employees who are having emotional difficulties.

"It probably has to do with a lot of things," Butler said. "I've been involved with mental health issues for a number of years."

The problem, as Butler saw it, was that the city was treating mental illness as an inferior disease.

"I think a lot of folks don't take it very seriously," Butler said. "I don't understand why they even had an issue with it."

Although there was not much discussion at Thursday's meeting, other council members talked of the difficulties with diagnosing mental illnesses.

Pinellas Park has had a short-term disability policy since about 1986, said John Moore, Pinellas Park's risk management director.

It was updated around 1999, when the council also discussed the issue of 90 days vs. 180 days. The policy adopted then was similar to the one passed Thursday.

Under that policy, the city paid $177,675 last year in salary for employees who claimed short-term disability. That number does not include benefits that the city also continues to pay during short-term disability, Moore said.

It is impossible, he said, to divide the money paid for mental disability leave from that paid for leave because of a physical injury or illness.

On Thursday the city added definitions to allow supervisors to better determine if an injury or illness qualifies for short-term leave, Moore said.

[Last modified March 2, 2005, 00:47:18]