JCBE/PCLICY FILE: 562.1/652.1
Approved: 5/9/72
Revised: 11/l5/77
Revised: 4/26/84
Revised: 1/28/88
Revised: 4/28/88
SICK LEAVE
Because the Board recognizes that its employees may be absent from job duties due to personal illness or illness in the family, it shall provide sick leave for such absences.
All full- time employees shall be eligible for sick leave. This policy shall be implemented in accordance with state statute (CODE OF ALABAMA, 16-8-25), which allows for accumulation of 180 sick days by certificated employees. Classified employees may accumulate 180 sick days also.
When an employee needs to use sick leave before it is earned, advance leave may be approved by the superintendent. Such leave may be granted up to the number of sick leave days available and remaining in the employee's current contract term.
Sick leave is defined by the State Board of Education as absence from regular duty because of the following:
1. Personal illness
2. Bodily injury which incapacitates the employee
3. Care of any ill member of the family which includes either husband, wife, father, mother, son, daughter, brother, sister, or any person standing in loco-parentis
4. Death in the immediate family including husband, wife, father, mother, son, daughter, brother, sister, mother-in-law, father-in- law, brother-in-law, sister-in-law, nephew, niece, granddaughter, grandson, grandfather, grandmother, uncle or aunt
5. An exception to the general rule is where unusually strong personal ties exist with some relationship other than those listed.
A written statement justifying absence under these circumstances shall be filed with the appropriate department head to be forwarded to the Financial Affairs Department.
Absences from duties because of illness for four successive days or less shall be allowed without a physician's certification. If the absence exceeds four successive days, the absence must be certified by a licensed physician. Persons absent from work due to surgery, contagious disease or illness serious enough for extended physician's care must present a release from their physician upon return to the job.
Health leave which extends beyond available sick leave may be requested and granted at the discretion of the Board (CODE OF ALABAMA, 16-8-25).
Subject to approval by the Board, employees injured on the job may receive pay without sick days deducted for time absent provided:
1. The accidental injury occurred while the employee was performing official duties on behalf of the Board
2. The employee furnishes a written statement from the attending licensed physician stating that the employee cannot perform any work due to a specified injury
3. The employee furnishes a written account of the accident, signed and attested to by the principal or department head
4. This coverage shall not exceed 30 working days per occurrence on a lifetime aggregate
5. Absences due to job-related injuries shall be treated as sick leave for the purpose of claiming reimbursement for substitute teachers
6. The accident in which the employee was injured was not due to the negligence of the employee
7. These provisions are not retroactive.
Bereavement due to death in one's family is a cause for sick leave.
ON-THE-JOB INJURY PROCEDURES
1. When an employee is injured on-the-job and wishes not to be penalized for sick days due to absences from the injury, the employee should write an account of the accident and it should be filed with the office of Systems Management. A copy of the account should be sent to the Maintenance Department.
The employee should request that sick days due to the injury not be deducted from their accumulated sick leave, up to the maximum 30 days which the Board has approved.
The employee's attending physician should submit an accompanying statement that the employee was unable to perform his/her work-related duties due to the specific injury.
4. The principal should sign a statement similar to the following example:
"I have investigated the accident described above and agree that it was not due to the negligence of the claimant and I recommend approval of the request."
___________________________
Principal's Signature