This Policy contains the guidelines governing the District’s Emergency Leave Bank (“the Bank”). Upon application and approval, leave in the Bank is available to participating eligible employees who have exhausted all other leave available, as outlined in this Policy.  

Crediting the Bank: Participants will donate one sick day at the beginning of each contract period. When the Bank has accumulated 250 days, no assessment will be made. When the bank is reduced to 200 days, there will be one automatic assessment of one day per participant. The assessment will occur at the beginning of that school year. Employees will only be assessed one time per year. Upon separation from employment, participants forfeit any credited sick days and will not receive reimbursement for those days.  

Participation: Employees must declare membership by completing the letter of intent form within 10 calendar days of the first day of school. Any person hired after the beginning of the school year has the option to complete the letter of intent form within 10 calendar days of the first day of work. Participation in the emergency leave bank is not a contracted benefit. Participation is voluntary. The District will comply at all times with the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) as they may relate to the provision of leave. 

Eligibility: In order to be eligible for use of the Bank, an employee must have a “qualifying reason for leave” as defined in the District’s FMLA policies and regulations, but must not necessarily meet other FMLA eligibility requirements. In order to be eligible for participation in the Bank, an employee must be considered full-time personnel, as defined by the District and/or the District’s insurer for purposes of group insurance benefits (see Board Policy and Regulation 4540). 

Amounts of leave available to eligible employees will be based on the years of participating by an employee in the Bank, as follows:

First year of participation: up to 10 days

Second year of participation: up to 30 days

Third year or more of participation: up to 60 days

Application for Leave:

1. Prior to approval of an application, participants must exhaust all paid leave available to them and must be absent for an additional five working days without pay. For ongoing conditions that require intermittent absences, such as chemotherapy treatments, employees need only meet this five day requirement once during each applicable school year.
2. In order to apply for emergency leave benefits, a participant must submit a letter requesting benefits to the Superintendent or designee as soon as the need for emergency leave is foreseeable.
3. All participants may apply for leave to cover up to 75% of their regular pay.
4. In addition to the letter requesting emergency leave benefits, participants will be required to submit information from a physician stating the nature of the qualifying reason for leave.
5. Participants cannot receive Workers’ Compensation wage benefits for the same days an application is made for emergency leave. If Workers’ Compensation benefits are ultimately awarded, a participant is responsible for assigning back the District any benefits received equal to the amounts received from the emergency leave pool.

Review and Approval of Application by the Review Committee: Applications received will be reviewed according to the following procedures:

1. A review committee, appointed by the Community Teacher Association (CTA) will be forwarded a copy of any applications received by the Superintendent or designee.
   • The review committee will be a five-person committee with three certified members and two non-certified members. One Board Member will serve on the review committee. At the time of appointment, members will be appointed to serve one- or two- year terms with either two or three members appointed each year.
   • The building principals will be ex-officio and non-voting members of the committee, except in the case of a committee member requesting benefits in which case a building principal will be a voting member. The building principals will submit an annual audit report to the Board of Education.
2. All committee members must be present for business to be conducted.
3. Four out of five votes in favor of approval of an application is required.
4. The committee’s proposal for approval will be sent to the Superintendent, who will either approve/disapprove the application.
5. If the Superintendent approves an application, the application will be sent to the Board of Education for final approval.

Board of Education Review: An annual review and audit of the Emergency Leave Bank will be made by the Board of Education each year. 

When an application is ultimately approved and sent to the Board of Education for final approval, the building principals, in conjunction with the review committee, may provide medical documentation to the Board of Education for review. This medical documentation will be maintained confidentially in accordance with District Policy and separately from the regular personnel file. 

Dissolving the Bank: The Board reserves the right to dissolve the Emergency Leave Bank at any time. If the Board dissolves the Emergency Leave Bank, and all days are used, this Policy is no longer valid.