Scott Brison resigned as Treasury Board president earlier this month, triggering Monday's cabinet shuffle that saw the creation of a new ministerial post. iPolitics/Matthew Usherwood

Treasury Board President Scott Brison said he wants to modernize the sick-leave benefits of Canada’s public service with a new “wellness” plan.

Brison told senators who are studying the Liberals’ legislation to repeal a Tory law that allowed the government to unilaterally take away public servants’ sick leave that he also wants a new sick-leave regimen, but he plans to negotiate one with federal unions.

“We don’t believe the current sick-leave system is perfect,” said Brison. “It can disadvantage younger public servants who fall ill before they have worked long enough to accumulate a sufficient number of sick days.

“But the key is that we believe improvements to the sick-leave system must be made through negotiation, not unilaterally imposed by the government.”

Brison told members of the Senate finance committee Wednesday that negotiations are underway with federal unions to develop a more “holistic” approach to wellness than the 45-year sick-leave plan, which gives public servants 15 days of sick leave a year.

He said a holistic approach designed to “enhance employee wellness” would also improve public services, because “employees who are in good physical and mental health are better equipped to meet Canadians’ expectations.”

The committee is studying Bill C-62, the legislation that will repeal Harper-era legislation that the unions claim watered down collective-bargaining rights, and gave the government the power to scrap public servants’ sick leave and replace it with a new short-term disability system. Federal unions have ramped up the pressure to ensure the two Tory laws are repealed before the election next October.

The Conservatives drastically changed the ground rules for bargaining in the public service, first with the sweeping reforms of omnibus budget bill C-4 in 2013, followed by C-59.

C-59 gave the government the power to override employee contracts and impose a sick-leave deal aimed at eliminating public servants’ sick-leave banks, saving $1.5 billion over five years. The Liberals’ legislation would undo both those laws.

Brison said by repealing the law, the Liberals live up to their election promise to restore respect for the public service and “fairness in collective bargaining.” He said the move would also send sick leave back to the bargaining table.

Treasury Board and unions are currently negotiating new “wellness support plans” at two separate tables, Brison said, adding that talks with the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada (PIPSC) are going well.

These negotiations grew out of the last round of bargaining, when sick leave was a contentious issue. The Liberals agreed to take sick leave off the table and negotiate it separately.

Discussions revolve around two plans: one proposed by PIPSC, which adopted some of the features of a short-term plan proposed by the Conservatives, and another endorsed by the Public Service Alliance of Canada, which wants sick-leave banks to remain part of any future plan.

Brison acknowledged that a negotiated plan would take longer than imposing one, but he argued the outcome would be better for all players.

Brison didn’t specify what changes he wanted to make to modernize existing sick leave, but seemed to share some of the Conservatives’s concerns about the current plan.

Several senators questioned whether Liberals intended to keep the sick-leave banks, which critics have argued are open to abuse. Conservative Sen. Scott Tannas asked whether the government is looking at ways to deter public servants from using up their sick-leave banks in the years before they retire.

Brison said he couldn’t assure senators the system wasn’t being abused, but pointed to a Statistics Canada study that showed the private and public sectors are off sick for a similar amount of time.

Treasury Board officials said 1,400 of the 6,200 employees who retired in 2015-16 had used up all their sick leave by the time they left. Many, however, retired for health reasons, and may have used up all their sick days. Retirees left with an average of 104 days left in their banks. Public servants lose their sick-leave banks when they retire.

The Conservatives introduced the legislation when they were unable to negotiate a deal with unions to give up the existing sick-leave regimen for a new short-term disability plan. Under that plan, the sick-leave banks would eventually be abolished.

They argued the system needed reform because: the plan was outdated; it disadvantaged young workers; it didn’t do enough to help those with mental illness; and the public service was battling high absenteeism.

Over the years, the government has faced some of the highest mental-health claims in the country, with mental illness accounting for half of all its health claims.

Public servants get 15 days of sick leave a year, which they can accumulate and carry over from year to year.

Public servants must use up all their sick leave before they can qualify for long-term disability. Disability only kicks in after ill employees have spent 13 weeks off work, so those with less than 13 weeks, such as new employees, would be off work without pay, other than employment-insurance sick benefits.

A career public servant in good health could retire with months of sick leave left, but a young or new employee hasn’t built up enough sick leave, should she or he face catastrophic illness.