(Boston, MA, 05/11/15) Carmen’s Union president James O’Brien speaks at the conclusion of a Joint Committee on Transportation hearing at the Statehouse on Monday, May 11, 2015. Photo by Christopher Evans

Boston Herald | By Erin Smith | Wednesday, January 27, 2016

The head of the Boston Carmen’s Union blasted criticism of a plum union perk that allows T employees to pad their pensions with unused paid sick leave — saying the benefit actually helps combat absenteeism.

“The MBTA for the past year has been saying our employees don’t come to work,” said Boston Carmen’s Union President James O’Brien. “You can’t have it both ways. This is an incentive for employees to come to work.”

The Herald reported yesterday that MBTA workers banked more than 380,000 unused paid sick days as of the end of 2014, according to a new Pioneer Institute report. Unlike other state employees, T union staffers can use sick days to pad their pensions in a benefit that has taxpayers on the hook for at least $72 million, data from the Pioneer Institute shows.

The 2013 MBTA Retirement Fund Annual Report noted that retiring T employees with 150 unused sick days can boost their pensions by seven months. In general, the more years a public employee works, the higher the pension payouts.

MBTA bosses have blamed binding arbitration — a benefit not enjoyed by any other public union — for the sweetheart deal. An arbitration decision in 1975 awarded the Carmen’s Union the pension sweetener, which paved the way for the perk to expand to all T unions.

But O’Brien countered that a union-designated arbitrator on the three-member panel voted down the 1975 award decision, which was supported by an MBTA-appointed arbitrator.

It’s unclear whether the union-appointed arbitrator was dissenting on the new pension perk or one of the 10 other union benefits spelled out in the decision.

T bosses have been trying to crack down on widespread abuse of unpaid leave under the Family Medical Leave Act and a new attendance policy requires workers to use paid sick days and vacation time concurrently with FMLA leave — rules the T previously failed to enforce.

Data obtained by the Pioneer Institute showed 235 employees with at least 200 days of paid sick leave at the end of 2014 and 11 workers with at least 300 sick days.

One T employee had banked more than 406 sick days at the time.

“This is in our contract,” said O’Brien. “If there’s changes that are brought to the table, we’ll negotiate it