LEAVES OF ABSENCE

LEAVES OF ABSENCE

po3430Adopted June 10, 2019

3430 - LEAVES OF ABSENCE

All professional staff members not otherwise covered by the terms of a negotiated, collectively-bargained agreement of this District shall be entitled to the leave benefits which are not less than those provided in the master agreement with the Lakeshore Excellence Foundation.

All requests for unpaid leaves of absence by professional staff members shall be presented to the Board of Education for approval.

Any professional staff member granted a leave of absence by the Board shall be considered to have terminated all work with the School District until the completion of the leave. Exceptions may be made by the Superintendent in cases where the best interest of the District might be served.

Paid Medical Leave (PML)

This policy provision applies to all District employees who are eligible to accrue paid medical leave under the Paid Medical Leave Act (PMLA). "Paid Leave" includes, but is not limited to, paid vacation days, paid personal days, and paid time off (i.e. PTO).

The District will frontload forty (40) hours of Paid Medical Leave to eligible employees on March 29, 2019, which will be prorated for the first year if the benefit year tracks the calendar year. No carryover of paid medical leave is permitted. In subsequent benefit years, the District will provide an eligible employee with forty (40) hours of paid medical leave on July 1. An employee cannot carry over unused paid medical leave to the next benefit year.

A benefit year is the consecutive twelve (12) month period indicated above used by the District to calculate an eligible employee’s benefits.

  1. An employee or employee’s family member’s mental or physical illness, injury, health condition and medical diagnosis, care, or treatment, preventative medical care.
  2. If the employee or the eligible employee’s family member is a victim of domestic violence or sexual assault:
     
    1. for medical, psychological or other counseling for physical or psychological injury or disability;
    2. to obtain services from a victim services organization;
    3. to relocate due to domestic violence or sexual assault;
    4. to obtain legal services; and/or
    5. to participate in any civil or criminal proceedings related to or resulting from the domestic violence or sexual assault.
  3. Closure of the employee’s primary workplace due to a public health emergency or to provide care for a child whose school or place of care has been closed due to a public health emergency.
  4. If health authorities or a health care provider have determined that the employee or employee’s family member would jeopardize the health of others because of their exposure to a communicable disease regardless of whether employee or family member has actually contracted the communicable disease.

Definitions

A "family member" includes:

  1. a biological, adopted or foster child, stepchild or legal ward, or a child to whom the employee stands in loco parentis;
  2. a biological parent, foster parent, stepparent, or adoptive parent or a legal guardian of an employee or the employee’s spouse, or an individual who stood in loco parentis when the employee was a minor child;
  3. an individual to whom the employee is "legally married under the laws of any state; "
  4. a grandparent or grandchild; and
  5. a biological, foster, or adopted sibling.

PMLA leave must be used in half-day or full-day increments.

An eligible employee who is using Paid Medical Leave because of domestic violence or sexual assault may be required to provide documentation that the Paid Medical Leave has been used for that purpose.

Employees must follow the District’s usual practice or procedure for requesting, although the District will give employees three (3) days to acquire the proper documentation if the time off is used for paid medical leave, for the reasons set forth above.

Employees will be paid at a rate equal to the greater of either the normal hourly or base wage rate for that employee or the minimum wage rate, at the time of absence. PMLA pay will not include overtime pay, holiday pay, bonuses, commissions, supplemental pay, piece-rate pay, or gratuities.

Employee will be paid for unused, accrued PMLA leave time at the end of the benefit year or upon separation, voluntary or involuntary.

To the extent that any current collective bargaining agreements already provide all of the requirements of the PMLA, those are sufficient to address the District’s obligations to that set of employees and will control the employees covered under the collective bargaining agreement instead of this policy.

© Neola 2019