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R 4323 Sick Leave Pool: Certificated Staff/Support Staff

Purpose

The Sick Leave Pool is a voluntary benefit, which seeks to furnish a continuing income for all employees who are provided sick leave days by the school and because of a serious health condition have exhausted all of their accumulated sick leave, comp time, vacation days, and personal days. This pool is NOT designed for brief illnesses, uncomplicated pregnancy, illness of a family member, family death, or personal business.

Membership

Because membership in the pool is voluntary, all eligible employees must declare membership in the pool within ten (10) working days of their first day of employment. Eligible employees will contribute one (1)day of their sick leave in the initial year of membership in the pool. A contribution of one additional day in subsequentyears may be required if the committee determines that a sufficient number of days have not been accumulated for a year's operation. The committee may also request one (1)one-day midyear contribution of the members if the number of days remaining in the pool is not adequate to meet the requests.

If a member does not have any days to contribute at that time then a day must be donated as soon as the member has been awarded sick days in order to stay eligible in the pool. Any member choosing not to donate in the middle of the year is not eligible to draw from the pool during the balance of that year and is permanently ineligible to participate in the pool.

If and when all sick days in the Sick Leave Pool are depleted in any contract year, the School Board will not contribute additional funding tothe pool. Regardless of the number of days in the pool, no more than 350 days will be distributed during any fiscal year. If the pool is dissolved, any days in the pool are forfeited. The District may, as its option, discontinue this program at any time.

Eligibility

Under this policy, the term "serious health condition" shall be defined as follows: The employee must have a physical or mental illness or condition (1) that requires either inpatient or other continuing treatment by a health care provider, and (2) that renders the employee unable to perform some or all of his/her essential job functions for three or more days.

  1. Employees seeking to take advantage of the Sick Leave Pool must have used all accumulated sick leave, comp time, vacation days, and personal days and must go without pay for five (5) days before being eligible to draw from the pool.
  2. The provisions of this Sick Leave Pool do not cover periods of leave for which employees are paid by workman's compensation.
  3. Employees shall submit a written application to the Superintendent's office requesting withdrawal of days from the pool. Applications may be picked up in the Superintendent's office. The Superintendent will either grant or deny the request within five (5) business days.
  4. Employees will be required to submit a written, signed, and dated letter from a licensed physician, i.e., a letter of confirmation, setting forth the following: (1) confirmation that the employee has a serious health condition as defined in this policy; (2) the nature of the condition; (3) the beginning date of the serious health condition; and (4) the projected ending date of the serious health condition, i.e., when the employee will return to work.

    Once the employee submits a Sick Leave Pool Application, the Superintendent of the District may exercise the right - without obtaining further consent from the employee - to contact the physician with follow-up questions regarding the employee's application or to confirm the authenticity of the information or documentation provided by the employee.

    Nothing in this policy shall prevent the District from fulfilling its obligations under, or acting in accordance with, the Family and Medical Leave Act, which is the subject of a separate Board Policy.

  5. Sick Leave Pool days will run concurrently with Family and Medical Leave Act days.
  6. Employees who have met all the requirements may draw days from the pool as follows:

    1st and 2nd years of Membership in the pool ... Fifteen (15) Days*
    3rd and 4th years of Membership in the pool ... Thirty (30) Days*
    5th year of Membership in the pool ... Forty (40) Days*

    *These provisions apply during the first five years of implementation (beginning with the 2003-2004 school year and ending with the 2007-2008 school year). They will be combined with the "Days Accumulated" provision to determine the "Maximum" number of days that can be used from the pool. After five years have elapsed (beginning in 2008-2009 school year), the " Sick Leave Days Accumulated at the beginning of fiscal school year including current year's days" will determine the "Maximum" number of "days allowed."

    Sick Leave Days accumulated at beginning of fiscal school year including current year's days Maximum days Sick Leave Pool members allowed to draw if application to pool granted
    1 - 12 15
    13 - 29 30
    30 - 49 40
    50 - 69 50
    70 - 89 60
    90+ 70
  7. Once an employee is eligible to use days from pool, the days may be used intermittently if justified by the qualifying condition.
  8. Employees using five or more days from the pool in a calendar year must donate two days back into the pool from their next year's sick leave in order to maintain membership in the Sick Leave Pool. These two days would be in addition to a one-day donation by the entire group if the pool were determined by the committee not to have a sufficient number of days to meet possible needs.
Committee Membership

The Benefits Committee will review the Sick Leave Pool Policy and function in an advisory capacity on an as-needed basis. The Benefits Committee will consist of seven (7) members from the following areas:

Committee Guidelines
  1. The building administrators shall appoint committee members. The initial committee will have 2 members serving a 1-year term, 2 members serving a 2-year term, and 3 members serving a 3-year term. All new members after the first year shall serve 3-year terms. At their first meeting the committee shall decide who will serve one, two and three-year terms. The committee members may be reappointed to serve additional terms.
  2. The committee will meet at the close of the school year to review that year's activity and present the review to the Board of Education.
  3. At the beginning of each school year, the committee shall inform members of the number of days used during the preceding year, the number of days remaining in the pool, and whether members shall be required to contribute to maintain membership in the pool.
  4. The committee will not have access to confidential medical information and knowledge of who applies to use days from the pool.

View Policy


Board Approved Date: May 21, 2003
Last Updated: May 2003