FILE:  GBRIBB

Cf:  GBRIB

 

SICK LEAVE BANK

 

 

The Plaquemines Parish School Board recognizes that major illnesses and catastrophic injuries may warrant the need for additional sick leave by an employee.  The School Board shall create and maintain a Sick Leave Bank which provides an opportunity for employees to donate sick leave days, which in turn may be used by employees in emergency situations when their own sick leave days have been exhausted.

 

Donations of sick leave days shall be made to the Sick Leave Bank and not directly to individual employees.  This act of donation shall be made in accordance with other provisions of this policy.  Once executed, any donation made shall be irrevocable.

 

Receipt of sick leave/annual leave days (henceforth referred to as “leave days”) from the Sick Leave Bank shall be based on a written application submitted by an employee to the Superintendent and/or his/her designee.  Assessment and any decisions regarding the granting of days from the Sick Leave Bank shall be the responsibility of the Superintendent. His/her decisions shall be final, and such decisions shall not be subject to review by the School Board or subject to the School Board's grievance procedures.

 

ADMINISTRATION OF SICK LEAVE BANK

 

Donations of leave days shall be made directly to the Sick Leave Bank.

 

Applications for receipt of donated leave days from the Sick Leave Bank shall be in writing and include a statement from a licensed physician certifying a medical necessity for the employee to be absent from work.  The application shall be submitted at least thirty (30) work days prior to the anticipated beginning date of leave.  In cases of extenuating circumstances, the Superintendent may waive or alter the application deadline.  Upon review of the applications, if questions about the validity or accuracy of the certification arise, the Superintendent may require additional medical certification as outlined under Extended Sick Leave in policy GBRIB, Sick Leave.

 

Medical necessity shall be the result of a catastrophic illness or injury, which means a life-threatening, chronic, or incapacitating condition of the employee or a member of his/her immediate family.  Immediate family member shall mean a spouse, parent, or child of the employee.

 

All records generated in the administration of the Sick Leave Bank, as well as the confidentiality of applicable records, shall be properly maintained by the Superintendent and staff in accordance with statutory provisions.

 

Donor Eligibility

 

  1. Employees who wish to donate accrued leave days shall have been actively employed by the Plaquemines Parish School Board and shall have completed one (1) full year of employment as of the date of the intended donation.

  2. Only employees with a balance of at least fifteen (15) leave days as of the date of the intended donation shall be permitted to donate to the Sick Leave Bank.  Employees may donate one (1) day of accrued leave each fiscal year.  An individual may make only one (1) donation in a fiscal year.  All donations shall be in units of whole days and no fractional days may be donated.

  3. To become a member of the Sick Leave Bank, an employee must complete a Sick Leave Bank Membership Enrollment Form and contribute one (1) day from his/her accumulated leave for the current school year during the Annual Open Enrollment Period (current year is by October 15, 2012; subsequent years will be last work day in August).  Employees wishing to donate leave shall complete the appropriate Sick Leave Bank Membership Application Form.   The donation shall irrevocably relinquish all future claims and rights to such donated sick leave.  The form must be witnessed by the employee's immediate supervisor and approved by the Director of Human Resources of the Plaquemines Parish School Board prior to the transfer taking place.  The days donated shall be permanently deducted from the total number of accumulated leave days the employee has on the date the donation is approved.

  4. All donations shall be strictly voluntary without coercion, and must be so noted on the Sick Leave Bank Membership Enrollment Form.

  5. No transfer shall become valid until all forms, verifications and signatures have been completed and signed by the Superintendent.

 

Recipient Eligibility

 

  1. Only contributors to the Bank will be eligible to apply for benefits to use the Sick Leave Bank for payment for qualifying extended illness during regularly scheduled work days, and beyond other available leave options (sick leave, personal leave, annual leave and extended medical leave).

  2. Recipients shall be actively employed as a full-time employee by the School Board at the time that medical necessity is determined and shall have been employed by the School Board for at least one (1) year as of the date of the intended usage.

  3. The maximum number of sick leave days that may be granted to a recipient in any one fiscal year shall be ten (10) days or the remaining number of workdays an employee is scheduled to work, whichever is less.

  4. Any illness or injury does not qualify for coverage through the Sick Leave Bank unless it will require the employee to be absent for a minimum of five (5) consecutive working days.  Donated sick leave shall not be used on an intermittent daily basis.

  5. The Sick Leave Bank may only be used for the contributor’s own personal catastrophic illness.  Illnesses of members of the employee’s immediate family (i.e., spouse, son, daughter, parent) do not qualify.

    Employees who are recipients shall have exhausted all current and accumulated sick leave and have used all days of extended sick leave to which the employee may be entitled.  In addition, those employees who receive annual leave shall have exhausted all annual leave time before becoming eligible to receive sick leave days from the Sick Leave Bank.  Employees requesting sick leave days due to medical necessity shall also be subject to Family and Medical Leave Act provisions.

  6. Normal pregnancy with normal delivery will not be covered under this Sick Leave Bank policy.  Any absences associated with complicated pregnancies will only be eligible for Sick Leave Bank consideration according to the following guidelines:

 

    1. Any days absent prior to the birth with a doctor’s statement verifying the complicating condition and the need to be off work; and/or

    2. Any days beyond six-weeks after the birth with a doctor’s statement verifying the complicating condition and the need to be off work.

 

  1. Addictions or the abuse of drugs, alcohol or other prohibited substances will not be covered under the Sick Leave bank policy.

  2. Any unused days granted that remain at the end of the fiscal year shall be returned to the Sick Leave Bank.

  3. A separate application shall be submitted for each occasion that an employee may request receipt of sick leave days from the Sick Leave Bank.  Each application shall include necessary documentation attesting to medical necessity. The physician’s certification must address circumstances relative to each separate request.

 

Miscellaneous Provisions

 

  1. Donated sick leave shall become the property of the Sick Leave Bank.

  2. The Superintendent shall be authorized to make determinations and clarifications of these provisions.  All determinations and clarifications made by the Superintendent shall be final.

  3. All transactions shall become part of the permanent personnel files of the employees.  Sick Leave Bank Membership Enrollment Forms shall be placed in donor personnel files depicting the actual number of days deducted from accrued leave days on file after the donation is made.

  4. The Sick Leave Bank is intended to be used for prolonged catastrophic illnesses, injury, or disability such as a medically necessary surgery, illness or disability which requires hospitalization and/or convalescence or recuperation in an extended care facility or at home while under the care of a licensed physician.

  5. The Sick Leave Bank cannot be used for an injury/illness covered by or related to Worker’s Compensation.

  6. Use of the Sick Leave Bank will be limited to the number of days (or value) in the bank calculated and totaled after the established contribution deadline of each year.  The monetary value of the days withdrawn shall consist of the number of days withdrawn, by employee, times the daily rate of pay for each particular employee making a withdrawal.

  7. Pre-existing conditions known to exist by the employee on or before the date of joining the Sick Leave Bank will not be covered until one year from the date of the employee’s initial enrollment.

  8. A member requesting use of the Sick Leave Bank will be required to sign a statement attesting to the fact that the condition, which necessitated the request for days from the Bank, was unknown to the employee at the time he/she became a member of the Bank.  A doctor’s verification will also be required. In case a contributor’s incapacity is of such a nature that he/she cannot personally apply for the grant, his/her application may be submitted to the Committee by his/her agent or member of his/her immediate family.  Requests can be submitted before the employee runs out of accumulated leave.

  9. All requests to draw upon the Sick Leave Bank must be made on a Sick Leave Bank Request for Days Form and submitted to the Human Resources Director within thirty (30) calendar days of the date first eligible.

  10. All requests to draw upon the Sick Leave Bank must be accompanied by the Physician’s Statement Form confirming the cause of the catastrophic illness or confinement and certifying the existence of a disability to perform assigned duties.  The employee’s physician must personally sign the form.  The Committee will not honor any physician’s statement unless it is on the official Physician’s Statement Form or if it is signed with a stamp or facsimile signature.

  11. The Committee reserves the right to ask the applicant to undergo a medical review by a second opinion physician.  This physician’s report is to be sent directly to the Human Resource Director’s office, who will then submit it to members of the Committee for action.

  12. A member of the Sick Leave Bank will lose the right to apply and be eligible for benefits by:

 

    1. Termination of employment;

    2. Suspension with or without pay during the period of suspension;

    3. Being on approved leave of absence;

    4. A member’s voluntary cancellation of his/her membership;

    5. An abuse or misuse of the rules of the Sick Leave Bank.

 

  1. Continued participation in subsequent fiscal years is required annually.  Eligible employees must complete a Sick Leave Bank Membership Application Form and contribute one (1) day from his/her accumulated leave days.  No member shall be required or permitted to contribute more than one (1) leave day per fiscal year and no fractional days may be donated.

 

SICK LEAVE BANK COMMITTEE

 

The Committee will consist of five (5) members: the Director of Human Resources, who will act as Chair, the Director of Finance, the Head Start Director, the Special Education Director, and the Human Resources Attendance Analyst.  The Committee will review and determine approval or denial for utilization of Sick Leave Bank days in accordance with provisions of this policy.

 

A majority vote of the member of the Sick Leave Bank Committee is necessary to approve a member’s request.  A decision on a member’s request may be made by a quorum of the Committee in the event that a member is not available to participate in the review.  The Committee shall notify the employee of its decision to approve or deny the request within fifteen (15) days of the receipt of the request.  The decision of the Sick Leave Bank Committee to approve or to deny requests shall be forwarded to the Superintendent for review and final approval.

 

If the applicant is a member of the Sick Leave Committee, the Superintendent will appoint an alternate to serve on the Committee for that particular request.

 

Adopted:  August 20, 2012

 

 

Ref:    La. Rev. Stat. Ann. §§17:81, 17:500.2, 17:1202, 17:1205, 17:1206.2

La. Civil Code, Art. 1541, Art. 1542, Art. 1833

Board minutes, 8-20-12

 

Plaquemines Parish School Board