Leave Sharing Consistent with RCW 28A.400.380 and WAC 392-126, a leave sharing program is established as follows:
A. A district employee is eligible to receive donated leave if:
1. The staff member suffers from, or has a relative or household member suffering from, an extraordinary or severe illness, injury, impairment, or physical or mental condition which as caused, or is likely to cause, the staff member to:
a. Go on leave without pay status; or
b. Terminate his/her employment;
2. The staff member’s absence and the use of shared leave are justified;
3. The staff member has depleted, or will shortly deplete, his/her annual leave and sick leave reserves;
4. The staff member has abided by district rules regarding sick leave use; and
5. The staff member has diligently pursued and been found to be ineligible to receive industrial insurance benefits. Any employee who wishes to receive leave under this provision shall submit a request in writing to the personnel office. The employee shall submit, prior to leave sharing approval, documentation from a licensed physician or other authorized health care practitioner verifying the severe or extraordinary nature and expected duration of the condition. Employees meeting the criteria indicated above shall be eligible for leave sharing. A staff member shall not receive more leave than the number of normal work days remaining in the current school year. In the event that the condition requiring the employee’s absence continues beyond the current school year, the employee shall not receive a total of more than 261 days of leave.
B. District employees may donate leave as follows:
1. An employee who does not earn annual leave (vacation) and who has an accrued sick leave balance of more than sixty (60) days may request that the superintendent or designee transfer a specified amount of sick leave to another staff member authorized to receive such leave. A staff member may request to transfer no more than six (6) days of sick leave during any twelve (12) month period, and may not request a transfer that would result in an accrued sick leave balance of fewer than sixty (60) days. Employees who accrue vacation must transfer vacation days prior to sick leave days. Sick leave as defined in RCW 28A.58.099 (28A.400.300) means leaves for illness, injury, and emergencies. The number of leave days transferred shall not exceed the amount authorized by the donating staff member.
2. The value of any leave transferred under this policy which remains unused shall be returned to its original value to the staff member who donated the leave. To the extent administratively feasible, the value of unused leave which was transferred by more than one staff member shall be returned on a pro-rata value basis.
Sick Leave Transfer The Board will honor written requests from a bargaining unit member to donate one or more sick leave days from the donor’s accumulated sick leave to a member under the following conditions:
1. The written request for donation of sick leave shall be forwarded to the Superintendent and the Association President who shall meet and confer if the request falls into the category of “catastrophic”. For purposes of this Section normal pregnancy shall not be considered a “catastrophic” illness. Any disagreement between the Association President and the Superintendent shall be resolved using expedited arbitration in accordance with the voluntary rules of the Federal Mediation Conciliation Services (FMCS). Expenses for the arbitrator’s services shall be equally shared by the parties.
a. Should the Association President and the Superintendent agree that the request falls in the category of “catastrophic”, they will forward the request to the Sick Leave Transfer Committee.
b. Should the Association President and the Superintendent agree that the request does not represent a catastrophic illness or injury, the request shall then be denied. The member will have the right to request expedited arbitration indicated in paragraph a. above.
2. Donated sick leave days may only be credited to a member who has, or is about to exhaust all of the members’ accumulated sick leave and personal leave due to a catastrophic illness or injury of the member or illness of child and/or spouse of the member.
3. Donated sick leave days may only be used for personal catastrophic illness/injury of the member, or illness of child and/or spouse of the member, and may not be used for the illness of other family members.
4. A sick leave donation form, authorizing the Treasurer to deduct donated sick leave days from the donor member’s accumulated sick leave and to credit the donated sick leave day(s) to the member will be sent to unit members for completion. Completed forms will be returned to the committee. The committee will provide the Treasurer with a form indicating the number of days to be transferred, from whom, and the name of the recipient.
5. Any request to donate sick leave days to a member must be submitted to the Treasurer not less than fifteen (15) days prior to any payroll that will include payment for the donated sick leave days.
6. Any member who has reached the maximum sick leave accumulation will have his accumulation reduced by the number of sick leave days donated.
7. Requests for sick leave days will be honored only as long as days are available from donors.
8. The following limitations will apply to this section:
a. No bargaining unit member who begins the school year with less than 45 days as of July 1 can donate sick days.
b. Donations from a bargaining unit member must be in units of one (1) day or more provided that the donor does not go under 45 days of accumulated sick leave.
c. Either the bargaining unit member or the member’s spouse and/or child must have the catastrophic illness or injury.
d. The bargaining unit member can use donated sick days until disability retirement is effective.
9. No member may use donated sick leave days to defer eligibility for disability retirement under STRS regulations, to claim severance pay, or to transfer to any other public employer.
10. No member may use more than thirty (30) donated sick leave days in total in any year. 18
Parental Leave Allowance
(a) An employee who qualifies for parental leave pursuant to Article 35.03, shall be paid a parental leave allowance in accordance with the Supplemental Employment Benefit (SEB) Plan. In order to receive this allowance, the employee must provide to the Employer proof of application and eligibility to receive employment insurance benefits pursuant to the Employment Insurance Act. An employee disentitled or disqualified from receiving employment insurance benefits is not eligible for parental leave allowance.
(b) Pursuant to the Supplemental Employment Benefit (SEB) Plan and subject to leave apportionment pursuant to Article 35.03(b), the parental leave allowance will consist of a maximum of ten (10) weekly payments, equivalent to the difference between the employment insurance gross benefits and any other earnings received by the employee, and seventy-five (75) percent of the employee’s basic pay.
Sick Leave Sharing The program permits employees to donate sick leave to a fellow employee who is suffering from or has a relative or household member suffering from an extraordinary or severe illness, injury, impairment, or physical, or mental condition which has caused or is likely to cause the employee to take leave without pay or to terminate employment
Leave Time During the Employment Period, Employee shall be entitled to paid vacation and leave days each calendar year in accordance with the leave policies established by Employer from time to time. Any leave time not used during each fiscal year of Employer may be carried over into the next year to the extent permitted by Employer policy.
Sick Leave Buy Back To encourage and reward employees who maintain good job attendance, the parties agree to the following incentive award: Employees who utilize two (2) sick leave days or less each assigned school calendar year and year-round employees who utilize three (3) sick leave days or less during each assigned school calendar year - upon request – shall receive payment for up to eight (8) days of sick leave, provided the employee worked the full assigned calendar year.* The following procedures apply to the payment of sick leave under this section.
1. An employee must have a minimum of twenty-five (25) days of accumulated sick leave remaining after the payment for unused sick leave under this section.
2. The payment of this incentive shall be paid to eligible employees no later than October 31st of the school year following the school year in which the employee qualified for the incentive pay.
3. For purposes of this section, sick leave shall be defined pursuant to all sections of F.S.1012.61.
4. Days for which such award payment is received shall be deducted from the accumulated leave balance.
5. Payment shall be equal to the number of eligible days times the affected employees daily rate of base pay times eighty percent (80%).
Leave Usage Full shift absences on vacation, sick leave, compensating time off, or holiday in lieu taken by employees on a scheduled twelve-hour workshift shall result in the deduction of twelve (12) hours from the employees’ accrued leave balances.
Parental Allowance (a) An employee who has been granted parental leave without pay, shall be paid a parental allowance in accordance with the terms of the Supplemental Unemployment Benefit (SUB) Plan described in paragraphs (c) to (i), providing he or she:
(i) has completed six (6) months of continuous employment before the commencement of parental leave without pay,
(ii) provides the Employer with proof that he or she has applied for and is in receipt of parental, paternity or adoption benefits under the Employment Insurance or Québec Parental Insurance Plan in respect of insurable employment with the Employer, and
(iii) has signed an agreement with the Employer stating that:
(A) the employee will return to work on the expiry date of his/her parental leave without pay, unless the return to work date is modified by the approval of another form of leave;
(B) Following his or her return to work, as described in section (A), the employee will work for a period equal to the period the employee was in receipt of the parental allowance, in addition to the period of time referred to in section 17.02(a)(iii)(B), if applicable;
(C) should he or she fail to return to work in accordance with section (A), for reasons other than death, lay-off, early termination due to lack of work or discontinuance of a function of a specified period of employment that would have been sufficient to meet the obligations specified in section (B), or having become disabled as defined in the Public Service Superannuation Act, he or she will be indebted to the Employer for the full amount of the parental allowance he or she has received. Should he or she return to work but fail to work the total period specified in section (B), for reasons other than death, lay-off, early termination due to lack of work or discontinuance of a function of a specified period of employment that would have been sufficient to meet the obligations specified in section (B), or having become disabled as defined in the Public Service Superannuation Act, he or she will be indebted to the Employer for an amount determined as follows: (allowance received) X (remaining period to be worked following his/her return to work) [total period to be worked as specified in (B)] however, an employee whose specified period of employment expired and who is rehired by OSFI within a period of thirty (30) days or less is not indebted for the amount if his or her new period of employment is sufficient to meet the obligations specified in section (B).
(b) For the purpose of sections (a)(iii)(B), and (C), periods of leave with pay shall count as time worked. Periods of leave without pay during the employee's return to work will not be counted as time worked but shall interrupt the period referred to in section (a)(iii)(B), without activating the recovery provisions described in section (a)(iii)(C).
(c) Parental Allowance payments made in accordance with the SUB Plan will consist of the following:
(i) where an employee is subject to a waiting period of two (2) weeks before receiving Employment Insurance parental benefits, ninety-three per cent (93%) of his/her weekly rate of pay for each week of the waiting period, less any other monies earned during this period;
(ii) for each week the employee receives parental, adoption or paternity benefit under the Employment Insurance or the Québec Parental Insurance Plan, he/she is eligible to receive the difference between ninety-three per cent (93%) of his or her weekly rate and the parental, adoption or paternity benefit, less any other monies earned during this period which may result in a decrease in his/her parental, adoption or paternity benefit to which he/she would have been eligible if no extra monies had been earned during this period.
(iii) where an employee becomes entitled to an extension of parental benefits pursuant to the Employment Insurance Act, the parental allowance payable under the SUB Plan described in subparagraph (ii) will be extended by the number of weeks of extended benefits which the employee receives under the EI Act.
(d) At the employee's request, the payment referred to in subparagraph 17.05(c)(i) will be estimated and advanced to the employee. Adjustments will be made once the employee provides proof of receipt of EI or QPIP parental benefits.
(e) The parental allowance to which an employee is entitled is limited to that provided in paragraph (c) and an employee will not be reimbursed for any amount that he or she is required to repay pursuant to the Employment Insurance Act or the Parental Insurance Act in Quebec.
(f) The weekly rate of pay referred to in paragraph (c) shall be:
(i) for a full-time employee, the employee's weekly rate of pay on the day immediately preceding the commencement of maternity or parental leave without pay;
(ii) for an employee who has been employed on a part-time or on a combined full-time and part-time basis during the six (6) month period preceding the commencement of maternity or parental leave without pay, the rate obtained by multiplying the weekly rate of pay in subparagraph (i) by the fraction obtained by dividing the employee's straight time earnings by the straight time earnings the employee would have earned working full-time during such period.
(g) The weekly rate of pay referred to in paragraph (f) shall be the rate to which the employee is entitled for the substantive level to which she or he is appointed.
(h) Notwithstanding paragraph (g), and subject to subparagraph (f)(ii), if on the day immediately preceding the commencement of parental leave without pay an employee is performing an acting assignment for at least four (4) months, the weekly rate shall be the rate the employee was being paid on that day.
(i) Where an employee becomes eligible for a pay increment or pay revision while in receipt of parental allowance, the allowance shall be adjusted accordingly.
(j) Parental allowance payments made under the SUB Plan will neither reduce nor increase an employee's deferred remuneration or severance pay.
(k) The maximum combined maternity and parental allowances payable under this collective agreement shall not exceed fifty-two (52) weeks.
Sick Leave Usage 1. Sick leave may be used by an employee when sick, injured, or quarantined. Also sick leave may be used on the occasion of an illness in the employee's family, where a need can be shown.
2. In computing compensation payable for sick leave, the compensation paid shall be the amount the employee would earn during the sick leave period if working at their current rate of pay and work schedule without the inclusion of overtime earnings.
Sick Leave Separation Cash Out At the time of retirement from state service or at death, an eligible employee or the employee’s estate will receive cash for their compensable sick leave balance on a one (1) hour for four (4) hours basis. For the purposes of this Section, retirement will not include “vested out of service” employees who leave funds on deposit with the retirement system.
