Sick Leave Abuse When the Employer suspects sick leave abuse, the employee will be provided the opportunity to explain the circumstances surrounding their sick leave use prior to disciplining the employee, or making reference to sick leave use in the employee’s performance evaluation. The Employer may not adopt or enforce any policy that counts the use of paid sick leave time as an absence that may lead to or result in disciplinary action for an authorized purpose. The Employer may not discriminate or retaliate against an employee for the use of paid sick leave for an authorized purpose.
Approved Leave of Absence With Pay During Vacation When an employee is qualified for bereavement leave, sick leave or any other approved leave with pay during her vacation period, there shall be no deduction from the vacation credits for such leave. In the case of sick leave, this section shall only apply when the period of illness or injury is in excess of two (2) days and a note from a physician may be required. The period of vacation so displaced shall be taken at a mutually agreed time. An employee intending to claim displaced vacation leave must advise the Employer and provide necessary documentation within seven (7) days of returning to work.
Volunteer Firefighting Leave Leave without pay will be granted when an employee who is a volunteer firefighter is called to duty to respond to a fire, natural disaster or medical emergency.
SICK LEAVE WITH PAY Sick leave with pay for employees shall be determined in the following manner:
Accrual of Sick Leave a. A full-time employee shall accrue four (4) hours of sick leave for each biweekly pay period, or the number of hours that are directly proportionate to the number of days worked during less than a full-pay period, without limitation as to the total number of hours that may be accrued.
b. A part-time employee shall accrue sick leave at a rate directly proportionate to the percent of time employed.
c. An employee appointed under Other Personal Services (OPS) shall not accrue sick leave.
Vacation; Sick Leave During the Employment Term, the Executive shall be entitled to not less than four (4) weeks of vacation during each calendar year and sick leave in accordance with the Company’s policies and practices with respect to its executives.
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
Portability of Sick Leave 1. The employer will accept up to sixty (60) accumulated sick leave days from other school districts in British Columbia, for employees hired to or on exchange in the district.
2. An employee hired to or on exchange in the district shall accumulate and utilize sick leave credit according to the provisions of the Collective Agreement as it applies in that district.
Sick Leave Without Pay Sick leave without pay shall be granted to an employee who does not qualify for sick leave with pay or who is unable to return to work at the termination of the period for which sick leave with pay is granted by mutual agreement of the parties hereto.
Unpaid Leave - Affecting Seniority and Benefits Any employee granted unpaid leave of absence totalling up to twenty (20) working days in any year shall continue to accumulate seniority and all benefits and shall return to her/his former job and increment step. If an unpaid leave of absence or an accumulation of unpaid leaves of absence exceeds twenty (20) working days in any year, the employee shall not accumulate benefits from the twenty-first (21st) day of the unpaid leave to the last day of the unpaid leave but shall accumulate benefits and receive credit for previously earned benefits upon expiration of the unpaid leave.
