State Disability Insurance a. The County shall maintain State Disability Insurance (SDI), at the employee cost, for employees in classes covered by the Agreement. This section shall not be valid if the membership elects to withdraw from SDI during the term of this Agreement and the State has approved withdrawal from SDI.
b. Employees who are absent from duty because of illness or injury and have been authorized to use County-paid leave benefits, sick leave, vacation, compensating time off, holidays and holiday-in-lieu time, shall be eligible to integrate the payment of State Disability Insurance benefits with such County-paid leave benefits. No integration of County-paid leave benefits and State Disability Insurance shall occur unless the appointing authority has approved the use of the County-paid leave benefits by the employee requesting integration.
c. Integration of County-paid leave benefits with State Disability Insurance will require detailed procedures which the County shall, in its sole discretion, implement to ensure the equitable application of the program consistent with this Agreement provision. In accordance with current County policy, integration of County-paid leave balances and State Disability Insurance shall not be paid in a retroactive manner.
d. Integration of County-paid leave balances and State Disability Insurance shall take place subject to the following conditions:
(1) The intent of this program and contract provision is to insure that those employees who participate in the program comply with all applicable laws, policies, and procedures established to provide integration of County-paid leave balances and State Disability Insurance so as to provide a combined biweekly adjusted net income equivalent to 100% of regular net income - gross income less required deductions, such as taxes, retirement, State Disability Insurance premiums, and other mandatory deductions - as long as such eligible disability qualifies and available leave balances are authorized by the appointing authority. Other employee authorized deductions shall be deducted from the resultant net pay.
(2) Upon approval of the use of County-paid leave benefits by the appointing authority and the employee's established eligibility for State Disability Insurance, the County shall make leave accrual payments to the employee in the usual manner except that the net pay, including State Disability Insurance benefits and net County pay, shall not exceed 100% of the regular net pay. If State Disability Insurance benefits equal or exceed 100% of the regular net pay, no County payment shall be made. County-paid leave benefits shall be used in the following order: sick leave, vacation, compensating time off, and holiday-in-lieu time.
(3) Special pay allowances not of a permanent nature, such as overtime compensation, standby, night shift differential, call back or out-of- class pay, shall not be counted in determining the employee's gross or net pay.
(4) Sick leave, vacation, and holiday-in-lieu shall not accrue during any pay period in which the employee receives County-paid leave benefits integrated with State Disability Insurance payments, except that the employee shall accrue sick leave, vacation, and holiday-in- lieu for any actual hours worked during a pay period in which integration occurs. Service credits toward seniority and step increase eligibility shall not be affected by any pay period during which an employee is on the integrated leave and State Disability Insurance program.
(5) When an employee exhausts all available County-paid leave balances, the employee shall either return to work or request an unpaid leave of absence from his/her appointing authority. Regardless of whether the employee continues to receive State Disability Insurance payments, once all County-paid leave balances are exhausted, County compensation shall cease unless the employee returns to work.
(6) The County shall continue its contributions towards the employee's health, dental, life and retirement contributions in accordance with established laws and practices during the pay periods which include County payment for integrated leave balances. The employee shall be responsible for payment of premiums required to maintain insurance coverage when County contributions cease.
(7) Eligible part-time employees shall be included in this program on a prorated basis.
e. In the event the County determines that legislative or judicial determinations cause changes which in any way restrict, reduce or prohibit this program operation, it shall immediately and automatically terminate without any further action by either party to this Agreement.
Long Term Disability Insurance 250. The City, at its own cost, shall provide to employees a Long Term Disability (LTD) benefit that provides, after a one hundred and eighty (180) day elimination period, sixty percent salary (60%) (subject to integration) up to age sixty-five (65). Employees who are receiving or who are eligible to receive LTD shall be eligible to participate in the City's Catastrophic Illness Program as set forth in the ordinance governing such program.
STATE DISABILITY INSURANCE (SDI) The Agency agrees to integrate SDI benefits with sick leave. The employee shall pay required premium costs which will be deducted from their paycheck and transmitted to the state by the Agency.
Short Term Disability Insurance The Employer will provide access to a short term disability supplemental insurance plan to employees through payroll deduction. Such plan will be 100% paid for by the employee through payroll deduction using post- taxed dollars. Prior to the implementation, the Employer will review the plan with the Union. If an employee purchases the short-term disability insurance plan and incurs hours of leave that would qualify for both short-term disability and Extended Illness Bank paid leave, the employee may elect to use either short-term disability leave or Extended Illness Bank hours.
Disability Insurance The Superintendent shall purchase long-term disability insurance from the school district’s carrier at his own expense. The Board will increase his salary by the amount of the premium cost.
Long Term Disability Insurance Plan The Employer shall provide a mutually acceptable long-term disability insurance plan, a copy of which shall appear in Appendix “A” – Long-Term Disability Insurance Plan. The plan shall provide post-probationary regular employees with salary continuation as per Appendix “A” until age sixty-five (65) in the event of a disability. The cost of the plan shall be borne by the Employer.
Life and Disability Insurance The Company will provide term life and disability insurance payable to the Employee, in each case in an amount up to a maximum of one times the Employee’s base salary in effect from time to time, provided however, that such amount will be reduced by the amount of any life insurance or death or disability benefit coverage, as applicable, that is provided to the Employee under any other benefit plans or arrangements of the Company. Such policies will be in accordance with the Company’s standard policies from time to time with respect to such insurance and the rules established for individual participation in such plans and under applicable law.
Long-Term Disability (Employee Paid Plans)
a) All permanent Teachers shall participate in the long term disability plan (LTD Plan) as a condition of employment, subject to the terms of the LTD plan.
b) The Board shall cooperate in the administration of the LTD Plan. It is understood that administration means that the Board will co-operate with the enrolment and deduction of premiums and provide available necessary data to the insurer, upon request. The Board will remit premiums collected to the carrier on behalf of the Teachers.
c) Where the plan administrator implements changes in the terms and conditions of the LTD Plan or the selection of an insurance carrier, the Board shall, for administrative purposes, be advised of changes at least thirty (30) days prior to the date the changes are to be implemented.
Long-term Disability Coverage New employees may enroll in long-term disability insurance by their initial effective date of coverage. Employees who become eligible for insurance may enroll in long-term disability insurance within thirty (30) days of their initial effective date as defined in this Article, Section 5C. An employee who is insurance eligible and moves from a temporary position to a permanent position will be allowed to enroll in long-term disability coverage within thirty (30) days of the event without providing evidence of insurability. The terms are the same as for employees who wish to add/increase during the annual open enrollment. During open enrollment only, an employee may purchase long-term disability coverage that provides benefits of from three hundred dollars ($300) to seven thousand dollars ($7,000) per month, based on the employee's salary, commencing on the 181st calendar day of total disability, and not subject to evidence of insurability but with a limited term pre-existing condition exclusion. Employees should be aware that other wage replacement benefits, as described in the certificate of coverage (i.e., Social Security Disability, Minnesota State Retirement Disability, etc.), may result in a reduction of the monthly benefit levels purchased. In any event, the minimum is the greater of three hundred dollars ($300) or fifteen (15) percent of the amount purchased. The minimum benefit will not be reduced by any other wage replacement benefit. In the event that the employee becomes totally disabled before age seventy (70), the premiums on this benefit shall be waived.
SICK LEAVE AND LONG-TERM DISABILITY (Articles 12.01 to 12.11 apply to full-time nurses only)
12.01 The Hospital will assume total responsibility for providing and funding a short-term sick leave plan at least equivalent to that described in the 1980 Hospitals of Ontario Disability Income Plan brochure. Effective January 1, 2006, new hires will be covered under the 1992 Hospitals of Ontario Disability Income Plan. The Hospital will pay 75% of the billed premium towards coverage of eligible employees under the long-term disability portion of the Plan (HOODIP or an equivalent plan). The employee will pay the balance of the billed premium through payroll deduction. For the purpose of transfer to the short-term portion of the disability program, employees on the payroll as of the effective date of the transfer with three (3) months or more of service shall be deemed to have three (3) months of service. For the purpose of transfer to the long-term portion of the disability program, employees on the active payroll as of the effective date of the transfer with one (1) year or more of service shall be deemed to have one (1) year of service.
12.02 Effective the first of the month following the transfer, all existing sick leave plans in the Participating Hospitals shall be terminated and any provisions relating to such plans shall be null and void under the respective Collective Agreements except as to those provisions relating to payout of unused sick leave benefits which are specifically dealt with hereinafter.
12.03 Existing sick leave credits for each employee shall be converted to a sick leave bank to the credit of the employee. The sick leave bank shall contain the unused sick leave days to the credit of the nurse on the effective date of the transfer to the Plan set out in Article 12.01. The "sick leave bank" shall be utilized to:
(a) Supplement payment for sick leave days under the new plan which would otherwise be at less than full wages, and;
(b) Where a payout provision existed under the former sick leave plan in the Collective Agreement, payout shall be made on the termination of employment, or in the case of death, to the nurse's estate. The parties may agree to voluntarily cash out existing sick leave banks. The amount of the payout shall be a cash settlement at the nurse's then current salary rate for any unused sick credits to the maximum provided under the sick leave plan in which the nurse participated as of October 23, 1981;
(c) Where, as of the effective date of transfer, an employee does not have the required service to qualify for payout on termination, her or his existing sick leave credits as of that date shall nevertheless be converted to a sick leave bank in accordance with the foregoing and the nurse shall be entitled to the same cash out provisions as set out in paragraph (b) above providing the nurse subsequently achieves the necessary service to qualify for payout under the conditions of the sick leave plan in which she or he participated as of October 23, 1981;
(d) Where a payout provision existed under the former sick leave plan in the Collective Agreement, a nurse who, as of the date of this award, has accumulated sick leave credits and is prevented from working for the Hospital on account of an occupational illness or accident that is recognized by The Workplace Safety and Insurance Board as compensable within the meaning of the Workplace and Safety Insurance Act, the Hospital, on application from the nurse, will supplement the award made by The Workplace Safety and Insurance Board for loss of wages to the nurse by such amount that the award of The Workplace Safety and Insurance Board for loss of wages, together with the supplementation of the Hospital, will equal one hundred per cent (100%) of the nurse's net earnings to the limit of the nurse's accumulated sick leave credits. Nurses may utilize such sick leave credits while awaiting approval of a claim for WSIB benefits.
12.04 When a nurse has completed any portion of her or his regularly scheduled tour prior to going on sick leave benefits or WSIB benefits, the nurse shall be paid for the balance of the tour at her or his regular straight time hourly rate. This provision will not disentitle the nurse to a lieu day under Article 15.05 if she or he otherwise qualifies.
12.05 Any dispute which may arise concerning a nurse's entitlement to short-term or long- term benefits under HOODIP or an equivalent plan may be subject to grievance and arbitration under the provisions of this Agreement. The Union agrees that it will encourage a nurse to utilize the carrier’s medical appeals process, if any, to resolve disputes.
12.06 Nurses presently employed who are covered by a long-term disability plan in effect as of the date of this award, may elect to be covered by HOODIP or to continue their present coverage.
12.07 The Hospital further agrees to pay employees an amount equal to any loss of benefits under HOODIP for the first two days of the fourth and subsequent period of absence in any calendar year.
12.08 The Hospital will notify each nurse of the amount of unused sick leave in her or his bank annually.
12.09 For nurses whose regular hours of work are other than the standard work day, the short-term sick leave plan will provide payment for the number of hours of absence according to the scheduled tour to a total of 562.5 hours. All other provisions of the existing plan shall apply mutatis mutandis.
12.10 Absences due to pregnancy related illness shall be considered as sick leave under the sick leave plan.
12.11 A nurse who is absent from work as a result of an illness or injury sustained at work and who has been awaiting approval of a claim for WSIB benefits for a period longer than one complete tour or more may apply to the Hospital for payment equivalent to the lesser of the benefit the nurse would receive from WSIB if the nurse's claim was approved, or the benefit to which the nurse would be entitled under the short-term sick portion of the disability income plan (HOODIP or equivalent plan). Payment will be provided only if the nurse provides evidence of disability satisfactory to the Hospital and a written undertaking satisfactory to the Hospital that any payments will be refunded to the Hospital following final determination of the claim by The Workplace Safety and Insurance Board. If the claim for WSIB benefits is not approved, the monies paid as an advance will be applied towards the benefits to which the nurse would be entitled under the short-term portion of the disability income plan. Any payment under this provision will continue for a maximum of fifteen (15) weeks. (Articles 12.12, 12.13 and 12.14 apply to both full-time and part-time nurses)
12.12 Nurses returning to work from an illness or injury compensable from the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board will be assigned light work as necessary, if available.
12.13 A nurse who transfers from full-time to part-time may elect to retain her or his accumulated sick leave credits to be utilized during part-time or subsequent full-time employment as provided under the sick leave plan in which the nurse participates as of October 23, 1981.
12.14 If the Employer requires the employee to obtain a medical certificate, the employer shall pay the full cost of obtaining the certificate.
