14.1 Teachers are entitled to yearly sick leave at the rate of one (1) day per month of employment with no limit on the accumulation. It is understood that the months of employment are those during which the employee is required to be on duty, normally ten (10) months, except those teachers whose contracts call for eleven (11) or twelve (12) months of service.
14.2 Sick leave need not be accumulated prior to use, except that any teacher who does not complete a year of service may be charged, at the termination of his/her service, for days of sick leave which are in excess of one day per month of service, not covered by previous accumulation.
14.3 Each teacher, except in an emergency, shall attempt to notify the administrator or his/her designee at least twelve (12) hours before that teacher's work day is scheduled to begin if the teacher is unable to perform his/her work except as otherwise instructed in writing by the site administrator or superintendent as appropriate. Leave with pay may be denied if proper notice is repeatedly not given.
14.4 Each teacher is responsible for entering their absence in the district’s online absence reporting system. If the absence notification is after the reporting window has closed, the employee shall notify the district substitute technician as soon as possible and confirm which absence code shall be used. No corrections to absence codes will be made by the employee after 30 calendar days from the date on which the absence code was entered in the district’s online absence reporting system.
14.5 The District reserves the right to request a doctor's certificate for verification of any illness, if abuse of sick leave is suspected. A teacher will be given written notice of the suspected abuse and the next use of sick leave will require verification by a doctor. Where abuse is suspected, the District may require verification from a physician for any absence for which sick leave is claimed after five (5) consecutive days.
14.6 Teachers may use accumulated sick leave or personal necessity leave for routine medical and dental appointments, eye examinations, or similar professional services.
14.7 All days of leave utilized pursuant to this section shall be charged against the employees accrued sick leave.
14.8 No days of this leave may be used for concerted activities of any nature, whether Association related or not.
14.9 This leave shall satisfy the District’s obligation pursuant to Education Code Section 44981.
14.10 It is the teacher’s responsibility to understand the conditions placed on the use of this leave. Misuse of personal necessity leave may result in, at a minimum, a District determination that an unpaid leave has occurred.
SICK LEAVE
14.11 Sick leave is defined as an absence due to illness, injury or other health related causes for the employee or child.
EXTENDED SICK LEAVE
14.12 If a teacher has utilized all accumulated sick leave and is still absent from duties on account of illness or accident for a period of five (5) school months or less, then the amount of salary received in any month shall be the difference between the daily rate of pay, or if no substitute employee was used, the amount which would have been paid to the substitute. The five (5) months or less period during which the above deductions occur shall not begin until all other paid sick leave provisions for which the teacher is eligible have been exhausted. Health and welfare benefits shall be paid by the District.
PERSONAL NECESSITY LEAVE
14.13 Seven (7) sick days may be used annually as personal necessity leave days at the teacher's discretion. No more than three consecutive personal necessity leave days can be used at one time. An employee may be granted up to five consecutive days of personal necessity leave for the purpose of attending a school sponsored event (such as science camp) to accompany or chaperone their K-12 child. The employee shall provide documentation to their immediate supervisor at least two weeks in advance whenever possible.
Personal necessity leave may not be used during Professional Development Days, to extend a holiday, for vacations, or to engage in other employment. The only exception is if the employee shows that the absence is due to one of the following:
Death, illness or injury of a member of his or her immediate family;
Accident, involving his or her person or property, or the person or property of a member of his or her immediate family;
Personal matters which under the circumstances, the teacher cannot reasonably be expected to disregard and which require the attention of the employee during his/her assigned hours of service. In no case shall this leave be used for vacation.
A unit member scheduling two or more consecutive personal necessity days shall make every effort to notify their immediate supervisor in writing, via email, at least seventy-two (72) hours in advance of the use of consecutive personal necessity leave days;
Unit members are not required to complete an absent report form.
BEREAVEMENT LEAVE
14.14 Teachers shall be granted leave, not to exceed five (5) days, or seven (7) days if outside a three hundred (300) air miles one way radius or, on account of death in the immediate family.
14.15 No deduction shall be made from the salary of such employee nor shall such leave be deducted from leave granted or provided by the Governing Board of the District. This shall apply to bereavement that occurs during the school year.
14.16 Members of the family, as used in this section, means the mother, father, grandmother, grandfather, or a grandchild of the staff member, or the spouse of the staff member, and the spouse, domestic partner, son, stepson, son-in-law, daughter, stepdaughter, daughter-in-law, brother, or sister of the teacher, any relative living in the immediate household of the teacher, or any other close relative.
14.17 For any days exceeding this bereavement leave, the teacher may use personal necessity leave that he/she is entitled to.
MATERNITY LEAVE
14.18 Any female employee in the unit shall be entitled to a leave of absence when required to be absent from duty because of pregnancy, miscarriage, childbirth, and recovery there from. The length of the leave of absence, including the date on which the employee shall resume duties, shall be determined by the teacher and the teacher's physician. For extended leave request refer to 14.36 of the contract.
14.19 In addition to the right to utilize sick leave and extended sick leave, as provided in sections 14.1 through 14.7, for compensation during leave of absence required because of pregnancy, miscarriage, childbirth, and recovery there from, a teacher on maternity leave shall be entitled to other leave with pay only when it is necessary to so allow in order that leaves of absence for disabilities caused or contributed to by the pregnancy, miscarriage, childbirth, and recovery therefore be treated in the same fashion as leaves for illness, injury, or disability.
14.20 The teacher shall notify the Superintendent in writing of the projected date on which the leave is expected to commence and the probable date on which the teacher shall resume duties, such notice to be given not less than thirty (30) days prior to the expected commencement date of such leave. The Superintendent shall waive such notice upon receipt of a request from the teacher's physician stating that such leave must commence for medical reasons less than thirty (30) days from the date of notice.
14.21 A teacher in the unit not intending to return to employment in the District after childbirth shall submit a resignation.
PARENTAL LEAVE
14.22 Parental leave may be granted to teachers who are either natural or adoptive parents.
14.23 Upon written request, a teacher will be granted up to thirty (30) days of parental leave during which time the teacher shall be paid the difference between his/her salary and the salary paid to the substitute.
14.24 Additional parental leave is unpaid and may, upon thirty (30) days prior notification and request, be granted by the District; such leave would not exceed one (1) year, although an exception may be granted in case of personal emergency.
14.25 Under parental leave the parent may retain all fringe benefits provided that the insurance carriers, upon request, find such extension of benefits not to be disallowed under the District's master contract with such carriers.
JURY DUTY
14.26 Under current California law, teachers are not exempt from jury duty.
14.27 When called for jury duty or for attendance in a court of civil or criminal proceeding when the teacher is not a party litigant, the employee will be granted a leave of absence with pay.
14.28 Teachers receiving compensation for jury or court duty shall submit to the District their jury warrant(s), excluding mileage and meals.
14.29 Compensation from jury or court duty not requiring leave from regular assigned hours shall not be paid to the District.
INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENT & ILLNESS LEAVE
14.30 A teacher who is absent from duty because of an illness or injury defined as an industrial accident or industrial illness under provisions of the Worker's Compensation Insurance Law shall be granted paid Industrial Accident and Illness Leave for each such accident or illness. This paid leave applies while the teacher is receiving temporary disability benefits from Worker's Compensation. The provisions of the paid Industrial Accident and Illness Leave are described below.
14.31 When an industrial accident or illness occurs at a time when the full sixty (60) days will overlap into the next fiscal year, the teachers shall be entitled to only that amount remaining at the end of the fiscal year in which the injury or illness occurred for the same illness or injury; the allowable leave shall not be accumulative from year-to-year.
14.32 Industrial Accident or Illness Leave will commence on the first day of absence.
14.33 Payment for wages lost on any day shall not exceed the normal wage for the day, when added to an award granted the staff member under the Worker's Compensation laws of this State.
14.34 Industrial Accident Leave will be reduced by one (1) day for each day of authorized absence regardless of a compensation award made under Worker's Compensation.
14.35 When entitlement to Industrial Accident or Illness leave has been exhausted, entitlement to other sick leave will then be used, but if any teacher is receiving Worker's Compensation, the teacher shall be entitled to use only so much of the teacher's accumulated or available sick leave, accumulated compensating time, vacation, or available leave which, when added to the Worker's Compensation award, provide for a full day's wage or salary.
14.36 The Board may, by rule or regulation, provide for such additional leave of absence, paid or unpaid, as it deems appropriate; and during such leave the teacher may return to the teacher's position without suffering any loss of status or benefits.
14.37 During all paid leaves of absence, whether Industrial Accident Leave as provided in this section, Sick Leave, Vacation, compensated time-off or other available leave provided by law or the action of the Board, the teacher shall endorse to the District wage loss benefit checks received under the Worker's Compensation Laws of the State. The District, in turn, shall issue the teacher appropriate warrants for payment of wages or salary and shall deduct normal retirement and other authorized contributions.
14.38 When all available leaves of absence, paid or unpaid, have been exhausted and if the teacher is not medically able to resume the duties of the teacher's position, the teacher shall, if not placed in another position, be placed on a reemployment list for a period of thirty-nine (39) months. Where available, during the thirty-nine (39) month period, the teacher shall be employed in a vacant position in the class of the teacher's previous assignment over all other available candidates except for a re-employment list established because of a lack of work or funds, in which case the teacher shall be listed in accordance with appropriate seniority regulations.
14.39 Any teacher receiving benefits as a result of this Section shall, during the period of injury or illness, remain within the State of California unless the Board authorizes travel outside the state.
14.40 A teacher who has been placed on a re-employment list as provided herein, who has been medically released for return to duty and who fails to accept any appropriate assignment shall be deemed to have resigned.
OTHER LEAVES
14.41 The Board, upon a written request stating in full the teacher's reasons, may grant paid or unpaid leaves. These leaves may include but would not be limited to those involving study, temporary leave without pay for up to one (1) year, and for in-service.
14.42 The teacher's request must be filed at least thirty (30) days prior to the commencement of the desired leave; this provision could be waived in case of personal emergency.
14.43 The Board may grant, providing the District's insurance carrier(s) have no restrictions, a continuation of benefits to the teacher at his/her cost. If the leave granted is paid, the teacher shall not suffer a break in service. Neither shall he/she lose annual increment credit if he/she has worked seventy-five percent (75%) of the year or more.