LEAVE PAY

A. Members will be allotted 12 days eight (8) sick days and four (4) personal days at the beginning of each school year.  Educators wanting to use personal time must submit a written request at least twenty-four (24) hours in advance (except in an emergency situation), to their immediate supervisor. Every new educator to the district will donate one sick day to the sick bank. Use of personal days around a holiday will still require administrator approval, in addition to working four events prior to use of those personal days.  Worked events can carry forward one (1) year. Days must be used in one-hour increments.

An educator qualifies to use personal days attached to a holiday if the educator participates in four (4) or more events outside of the regular school day.  The parameters for those events and the use of the time shall be as follows:

1. The faculty advisory council in each building shall determine a building list of events that shall qualify toward the minimum of four (4) events in which an educator must participate.
2. The principal shall determine the number of staff members necessary to fulfill the work requirements of the event with input from the faculty advisory council.
3. Events must be at least two (2) hours in length to qualify for the use of the personal day.
4. In any one (1) year a maximum of two (2) personal days may be used attached to the beginning of the holiday or at the end of the holiday recess. Educators may only attach personal days to the start or the end of the holiday recess.
5. A maximum of fourteen (14) educators may use personal days attached to the beginning or end of a holiday period on a first come first serve basis.
6. Application for use of personal days attached to a holiday may only be made after the completion of the required events.
7. Working four (4) or more events in any one year earns the educator the right to use a personal day attached to a holiday one (1) time during the year in which the events occurred or the entitlement can be carried over into the following year
8. Members may use this benefit once per school year.
9. The deadline is the first Monday in October at 4:00 p.m.  A lottery will be held if there are more requests than allowed per Holiday. If a lottery is not necessary, applicants will be approved up to the limit on a first come first served after the October date.

B. When an employee does not report within the first two weeks of the school year, the leave credited will be prorated by the hour for time not worked.

Employees who have unpaid leaves during the year and/or whose employment terminates prior to the end of the school year will have any leave accrual for that year prorated by the hour for time not paid.  Accruals will not be prorated when an employee is on an approved FMLA leave.

C. Educators using two (2) or less sick days will earn the right to convert one (1) sick day to a personal day for the following year.

D. Unused personal days will be carried over as sick days into the following school year.

E. Sick days may be used for the following:

Personal illness or disability. The educator may use all or any portion of sick and personal days accumulated to recover from illness or disability which shall include childbirth and complications of pregnancy.

a. If the Board has reason to suspect abuse of sick days, an educator may be asked to provide verification of illness or disability. The phrase “reason to suspect abuse” shall mean a specific instance that creates reasonable suspicion on the part of the administrator of abuse. In that situation, the administrator must then notify the member of that suspicion and may request verification of further absences. This request can last no longer than one (1) year from date of notification. Failure to provide verified documentation will result in a deduct day.

b. Should time and/or circumstances not allow the administrator to make written notification and enough peripheral evidence exists to create reasonable suspicion of abuse, the administrator shall notify the association president and discuss the suspicions and reasons for suspected abuse. After this discussion, if the administrator still has suspicions, then the administrator may contact the member verbally, notify the member of suspected abuse and request verification prior to the days being taken. This request shall be followed by written confirmation, not to be placed in personnel files, outlining reasons for suspicions, with a copy sent to the association president.

c. When abuse is suspected, “verification” shall mean an “appointment card,” note signed by a physician or other such proof. Verification must include the time period for which the employee is/was unable to work and why the employee is/was unable to work. If the initial verification provided is not sufficient to alleviate suspicion of abuse, then the administrator may request an evaluation by a physician of the district’s choice at the school district’s expense.

d. For a continuing illness or disability of five (5) or more days, the educator may be asked to supply verification upon request.

2. Illness of an immediate family member. For serious illness or medical care of the spouse, son or daughter, parents, siblings, in?laws, close friend living in the home or other dependent, which requires the presence of the educator in order to provide the necessary care; or critical illness of the spouse, child, siblings, parents or in?laws.

3. Death in the family. For the educator’s use in case of death in the immediate family: The immediate family will include residents of the employee’s household, dependents, parents, parents?in?law, children, siblings, grandparents, grandchildren, and any person who has acted in loco parentis for the employee or vice?versa.

4. Court apperances not delineated in Article VI F 2.

5. Travel. A reasonable length of time for travel is included in all above allowances.

6. Death of close friends or relatives outside the immediate family. No more than three (3) days including travel time to attend the funeral of a close friend or relative outside the immediate family. In extenuating circumstances, additional travel time may be approved by the Office of Human Resources.

F. Leave with pay, not chargeable against the educator’s sick and personal days shall be granted for the following reasons:

1. Jury Duty – Absence when an educator is called to jury duty.

a. The educator is to report to the principal when called for jury duty.

b. If the educator serves, any remuneration paid for jury duty shall be returned to the school district upon receipt, excluding expenses.

c. When an educator is released from jury duty prior to the end of their workday, it is the educator’s responsibility to report back to their work assignment. When there is less than two hours left in the educator’s workday, the educator need not report back to work.

2. Court appearances as a witness in any case connected with the educator’s employment, or the school.  If subpoenaed in a case involving the public interest the educator shall be granted leave pay.

a. Any remuneration shall be returned to the school district upon receipt, excluding travel expenses.

b. This paragraph (VI D 2) shall not apply in cases where the employee and/or the Association is the plaintiff, or where the interests of either the employee and/or the Association are not the same as the employer.  At the sole discretion of the employer, exceptions to this language (VI D 2 b) can be made.

3. Administration approved visitation to another school or approved educational conference or convention.

4. Time necessary to submit to selective service physical examinations.

5. An educator called to active military duty, shall be granted the difference between military pay and current contractual salary, including fringe benefits for a maximum of thirty (30) workdays per contract year.

G. If the Board has reason to believe that the educator is unable to satisfactorily perform their professional duties when assigned to a position, or requesting to return to a position, then the Board may require the educator to submit to a medical examination by a physician of the Board’s choice at the Board’s expense. An educator may submit a report of examination by their own physician, which shall be considered in conjunction with the Board’s report, in any decision regarding the educator.

H. Sick Leave Bank Policy

1. The Association will operate a sick leave bank on a mandatory basis. The Association will establish a committee to administer the sick leave bank and to provide the information to the Business Office which will keep the records. A representative from the Office of Human Resources will serve in the capacity of an advisor to the committee. The Association shall make the sick bank guidelines available to each educator and apprise educators in a timely fashion of guideline changes.

2. Members shall donate additional days (in half day increments) to replenish the sick bank to three (3) times the current bargaining unit membership.

3. Additions will be made to the bank at the beginning of each fiscal year according to the above limitations.

4. A person will not be able to withdraw the contributed days.

5. The first twenty-one (21) consecutive workdays of illness or disability will not be covered by the bank, but must be covered by the member’sown accumulated sick and personaltime. Upon exhaustion of accumulated sick and personal time, subject to the limitations of VI F 6 a, the employee will automatically be placed on an unpaid leave of absence. This leave shall not exceed twenty-one (21)days.

6 a. A person credited with less than fifty (50) sick and personal days at the beginning of the school year will not be able to use days from the bank until his or her sick and personaldays are depleted to three (3) days.

b.A person credited with fifty (50) or more sick and personal days at the beginning of the school year will not be able to withdraw days from the sick bank until his or her sick and personaldays are depleted to fourteen (14) days.

c. Members drawing from the sick bank will be paid at 85% of the bargaining unit member’s salary at the time of the leave.

d. Follow-up medical appointments will be covered by sick bank only during the same school year as the initial leave.

7. An individual may withdraw the number of days from the bank necessary to result in no loss of wages for one year, subject to number 6 above.

8. Persons withdrawing days from the bank will not have to replace these days except as a regular contributing member of the bank.

9. Any educator who leaves the employ of the Carman?Ainsworth Community Schools shall donate one third of the educators unused sick and personal days to the sick bank.

10. Should the Association require an employee to be evaluated by a physician of the Association’s choice prior to determining their eligibility or continuing eligibility, the results of such an evaluation will be shared with the Administration.

I. The Board agrees to make every effort to maintain an adequate list of substitute educators. Educators shall be informed by the first day of school of the procedure they are to follow to report unavailability for work. Educators will not be penalized if, in cases of emergency, they are not able to follow the procedure. Once an educator has reported unavailability, it shall be the responsibility of the administration to arrange for a substitute educator.

J. Absence due to injury or illness incurred in the course of the educator’s employment shall be charged against the educator’s sickdays on a prorated basis, and the Board, on this basis, may pay the difference between the educator’s daily rate and the benefits received under the Michigan Workers’ Compensation Act for the duration of such absence. The total amount received from sick days and Workers’ Compensation shall not exceed the employee’s regular pay.

K. Any period of leave under this contract will run concurrently with any leave that is eligible to be taken pursuant to the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA).