Harlingen CISD
031903

COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS:
LEAVES AND ABSENCES




DEC
(LOCAL)

 

 

 

 

DEFINITIONS

 

FAMILY

For the purposes of state sick leave accrued before May 30, 1995, and local sick leave, the term "immediate family" shall include:

  1. Spouse.
  1. Son or daughter, including a biological, adopted, or foster child, a son- or daughter-in-law, a stepchild, a legal ward, or a child for whom the employee stands in loco parentis.
  1. Parent, stepparent, parent-in-law, or other individual who stands in loco parentis to the employee.
  1. Sibling, stepsibling, sibling-in-law.
  1. Grandparent and grandchild.
  1. Any person who may be residing in the employee's household at the time of illness or death.

 

For purposes of the Family and Medical Leave Act, the definition of "family" shall include only items 1, 2, and 3 on the above list, but shall exclude son- or daughter-in-law and parent-in-law.

FAMILY EMERGENCY

The term "family emergency" shall be limited to natural disasters and life-threatening situations involving the employee or a member of the employee's immediate family.

WORKDAY

An "equivalent workday" for purposes of accumulation, use, or recording shall mean the number of hours per day associated with the employee's usual work assignment, whether full-time or part-time.

STATE PERSONAL LEAVE - RATE OF ACCRUAL

 

 

Each employee shall earn state personal leave, in equivalent workdays, at the rate of one-half workday for each 18 workdays of employment, up to the statutory maximum of five workdays annually.

TYPES OF STATE PERSONAL LEAVE

Under authority of Education Code 22.003 and to preserve the employee's leave entitlement while minimizing disruption to the instructional program, the Board requires employees to differentiate between uses of personal leave:

DISCRETIONARY

  1. To be taken at the individual employee's discretion, subject to limitations set out below.

NON- DISCRETIONARY

  1. To be used for the same reasons and in the same manner as state sick leave accumulated prior to May 30, 1995. [See DEC(LEGAL)]

USE OF DISCRETIONARY LEAVE

A notice of request for discretionary personal leave shall be submitted to the principal or designee ten days in advance of the anticipated absence.

DURATION OF LEAVE

Discretionary personal leave may not be taken for more than three consecutive days.

SCHEDULE LIMITATIONS

Discretionary leave shall not be allowed on the day before a school holiday, the day after a school holiday, or days scheduled for state-mandated assessments.

ADDITIONAL LOCAL LEAVE

All employees shall earn an additional five equivalent workdays of local sick leave per school year, concurrently with state leave.

Local sick leave shall accumulate to a maximum of 30 workdays and shall be taken with no loss of pay.

 

Local leave shall be used only for:

  1. Illness of the employee.
  1. Illness of a member of the employee's immediate family.
  1. Family emergency.
  1. Death in the employee's immediate family.

EXTENDED SICK LEAVE

After all leave has been exhausted in the course of a prolonged illness or disability, including pregnancy-related disability for the employee or a member of the immediate family, employees may request up to 15 days of extended sick leave. During extended sick leave, the substitute's daily rate shall be deducted from the pay of professional employees, and half a day's daily rate, not to exceed $50 per day, shall be deducted from the pay of paraprofessional/support personnel. Extended sick leave shall be limited to an illness or disability that is life-threatening or requires at least five days of continued hospitalization. Requests for extended sick leave shall be supported with a statement from a health care provider as defined by the Family and Medical Leave Act.

USE AND RECORDING

For purposes of personal illness, illness in the immediate family, family emergency, or death in the immediate family, available leave shall be used in the following order:

  1. Local sick leave.
  1. State sick leave accumulated prior to the 1995-96 school year.
  1. State personal leave.
  1. Extended local sick leave.

 

Local sick leave shall be subject to the same terms and conditions applicable to sick leave accumulated prior to the 1995-96 school year, except as otherwise provided by this policy.

Local sick leave may also be used for first-year care following the birth or adoption of an employee's son or daughter or the placement of a child with the employee for foster care.

Employees shall be charged leave as used even if a substitute is not employed.

Leave shall be recorded in whole workdays and half workdays only, except in accordance with provisions for intermittent leave in the Family and Medical Leave Act and for biweekly, hourly employees whose leave shall be recorded in hourly increments.

AVAILABILITY

Leave shall not be approved for more workdays than have been accumulated in prior years plus those to be earned during the current year. Leave for the current year shall be available for use at the beginning of the school year. When an employee who has used more leave than he or she had accumulated ceases to be employed by the District, the cost of the unearned leave days shall be deducted from the employee's final paycheck.

NEW EMPLOYEES

Employees new to the District and those with no accumulated sick leave must report for duty before any leave provisions apply.

OTHER ABSENCES

Any other leaves granted or days of absence shall result in a deduction of the daily rate of pay for each day of absence, unless otherwise provided. [See DMD(LOCAL)]

MEDICAL CERTIFICATION

An employee absent five or more consecutive workdays because of personal illness shall submit, upon return to work, a medical certification of illness and of his or her fitness to return to work. An employee absent three or more consecutive workdays because of illness in the immediate family shall present, upon return to work, medical certification of the family member's illness.

HEALTH CARE PROVIDER

Medical certification shall be made by a health care provider as defined by the Family and Medical Leave Act. [See DEC(LEGAL)]

BEREAVEMENT (FUNERAL) LEAVE

Use of state leave and/or local sick leave for death in the immediate family shall not exceed five workdays per occurrence, subject to the approval of the District.

FAMILY AND MEDICAL LEAVE

The 12-month period within which employees shall be eligible for 12 weeks of family and medical leave shall be defined as the fixed 12-month period measured forward from the day an individual employee's first family and medical leave begins.

CONCURRENT USE OF LEAVE

The District shall require employees to use family and medical leave concurrently with paid leave and with temporary disability leave if applicable.

COMBINED LEAVE FOR SPOUSES

If both spouses are employed by the District, family and medical leave for the birth, adoption, or placement of a child, or to care for a parent with a serious health condition may be limited to a combined total of 12 weeks as determined by the needs of the District.

INTERMITTENT LEAVE FOR CHILD CARE

Use of intermittent family and medical leave shall be permitted for the care of a newborn child or upon the adoption or placement of a child with the employee.

CERTIFICATION OF ILLNESS

Upon request for family and medical leave for the employee's serious health condition or that of a spouse, parent, or child, the employee shall provide medical certification of the illness or disability.

MEDICAL RELEASE

The employee's request for reinstatement shall be accompanied by medical certification of the employee's ability to perform essential job functions.

TEACHER REINSTATEMENT

A teacher desiring to return to work at or near the conclusion of a semester shall be reinstated in accordance with the END-OF-TERM LEAVE section in DEC(LEGAL).

RESIGNATION

If, at the expiration of the family and medical leave, the employee is able to return to work but chooses not to do so, the District shall require reimbursement of the employee benefits contribution made by the District during the period in which such leave was taken as unpaid leave.

TEMPORARY DISABILITY LEAVE

The maximum length of temporary disability leave for educators shall be 180 calendar days.

COURT APPEARANCES

Absences for court appearances related to an employee's personal business shall be deducted from the employee's personal leave or shall be taken by the employee as leave without pay.

WORKERS' COMPENSATION

An employee absent because of a job-related injury or illness shall be assigned to family and medical leave, if applicable.

 

An employee eligible for workers' compensation wage benefits and not on assault leave shall indicate whether he or she chooses to:

  1. Receive workers' compensation wage benefits; or
  1. Use available paid leave. Workers' compensation wage benefits shall begin when:
    1. Paid leave is exhausted;
    1. The employee elects to discontinue use of paid leave; or
    1. Leave payments are less than the employee's pre-injury average weekly wage.

BUYBACK AT RETIREMENT

Upon retirement, personnel employed by the District at least ten years may receive up to 30 days of compensation at $100 per day for professional employees and $50 per day for nonprofessional employees. Unused local leave days may be bought back by the District. The District may compensate eligible employees prospectively for up to 30 days of local leave.

TEACHER ATTENDANCE INCENTIVE PROGRAM

Beginning with the 2003-04 school year, the District shall pay classroom teachers who are certified and teach at least four hours or 60 percent of the school day (as defined by SBOE rules) an award of $300 for no absences during the semester under the attendance incentive program. Classroom teachers eligible to receive this award shall receive $300 in their February paycheck and $300 in their July paycheck.

Jury duty, compliance with a subpoena, leave to conduct school business, staff development, and family and medical leave (FML) shall not be counted as absences for purposes of the attendance incentive program.

SICK LEAVE BANK

The purpose of the sick leave bank (the bank) is to provide additional paid sick leave to employees who are members of the bank. A member shall be granted such leave only in the event of a catastrophic illness or injury that results in the member's inability to perform basic job functions.

MEMBERSHIP

All full-time employees of the District may join the bank by contributing three days of available local sick leave.

A contribution of three available local sick leave days shall be required during the enrollment period between August 1 and September 30. All donated local sick leave days shall become the property of the bank. Eligible employees who elect not to join the bank during the enrollment period shall be required to wait until the following year's enrollment period.

ADMINISTRATION

The bank shall be administered by a nine-member sick leave bank committee (the committee). The committee shall be composed of the following:

  1. Four teachers;
  1. One representative from among the secretarial, clerical, or paraprofessional personnel;
  1. Two representatives from operation personnel;
  1. One representative from noninstructional professional personnel; and
  1. One representative from the administration.

 

The Board shall review sick leave implementation on an annual basis and approve the continuation of the sick leave bank. Following the annual sick leave bank enrollment period from August 1 to September 30 of each year, an election shall be held on the third Monday of October according to the guidelines found in the sick leave bank handbook approved by the Board.

The members of the committee shall be elected from among the members of the bank, by the members of the bank.

 

The committee shall meet only as the need arises. The committee shall be responsible for the following:

  1. Receiving requests for use of the bank;
  1. Verifying the validity of requests;
  1. Recommending approval or denial of requests; and
  1. Communicating the committee's decision to the applicant and the executive officer defined in the sick leave bank handbook.

 

An approved applicant shall be compensated at the employee's regular rate of pay. Individual members shall not be compensated in excess of 40 working days annually with a calendar year that runs from September 1 to August 31. Members shall not be compensated if the bank has been depleted.

REQUEST FOR USE

A member may request leave from the bank only when his or her accumulated state leave, local leave, vacation days, extended sick leave, or any other accumulated leave has been exhausted. To qualify for leave from the bank, the member making the request shall provide all the information required by the sick leave bank handbook approved by the Board. All information provided to the committee shall be kept confidential.

GUIDELINES

Catastrophic illness or injury shall be defined as one requiring continued treatment by a physician and hospital admittance. In order for an employee to qualify for benefits from the bank, a catastrophic illness or injury shall result in temporary or permanent incapacity to perform job functions for an extended period of time.

The bank shall be administered according to the guidelines found in the sick leave bank handbook approved by the Board.

 

 

DATE ISSUED: 10/16/2006
LDU-42-06
DEC(LOCAL)-X

 

This online presentation of your district's policy is an electronic representation of TASB's record of the district's currently adopted policy manual. It does not reflect updating activities in progress. The official, authoritative manual is available for inspection in the office of the Superintendent. [See BF (LOCAL) for further information.]