FILE:  GBRIBB

Cf:  GBRIB

SICK LEAVE BANK

The Lincoln 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.

Statement of Intent

The purpose of a Sick Leave Bank is to provide a bridge to long-term disability and provide an employee additional paid sick leave for an employee:

• who personally experiences a major prolonged catastrophic illness, disability or injury, as subject to the terms outlined in this policy, and 
  
  

• who has completely exhausted all accumulated leave time and who is not otherwise receiving related compensation benefits such as disability, workmen’s compensation, or unemployment.

A catastrophic illness, disability or injury is defined as a severe condition or combination of conditions that (a) results in a life-threatening or life function altering condition for the employee; and (b) requires employee to an extended period of absence from work.  Such life functions include, but are not limited to, loss of physical senses, loss of physiological processes or loss of limb.  Pregnancy is not considered a catastrophic illness.  However, complications resulting from pregnancy may be considered catastrophic.  

Donations of sick leave days may be made to the Sick Leave Bank or directly to individual employees. Three (3) separate accounts shall be established within the Sick Leave Bank:  one for teachers, one for bus operators, and one for school employees.  Donations to the Sick Leave Bank shall be credited to the appropriate account depending on the classification of the donor.  Donations made directly to individuals shall only be allowed within the appropriate classification.  All donations shall be made by notarized Acts of Donation, and shall be made in accordance with other provisions of this policy.  Once executed, any donation made shall be irrevocable.

Receipt of sick 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

As defined by Louisiana statutes:

La. Rev. Stat. Ann. §17:1200:   As used in R.S. 17:1201, the words “teacher” or “teaching staff” shall include any person employed by a city, parish, or other local public school board in the state of Louisiana who holds a valid teaching certificate issued by the state Department of Education and any social worker, guidance counselor, or school psychologist employed by a city, parish, or other local public school board in the state who holds, as applicable, a valid professional ancillary certificate in school social work, guidance counseling, or school psychology issued by the state Department of Education. 

La. Rev, Stat. Ann. §17:500:  The term "school bus operator" shall mean any individual who operates a school bus transporting children under the supervision of the public school system of the state of Louisiana.

La. Rev. Stat. Ann. §17:1205:  The term “employee” as used in R.S. 17:1206 through 1206.2 shall be construed to be any person in the employ of any parish or city school board of the state of Louisiana who is not a teacher or whose employment does not require the holding of a teacher’s certificate or who is not employed as a bus operator. 

Applications for receipt of donated sick leave days from the Sick Leave Bank shall be in writing and include a statement from a licensed physician certifying a catastrophic illness, disability, or injury has resulted in a life-threatening or life function altering condition for the employee; and (b) requires employee to be absent from work for an extended period.  The application shall be submitted at least twenty (20) 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.

All requests to draw upon the Sick Leave Bank must be accompanied by documentation from the employee’s treating physician 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 Director of Human Resources shall not honor any physician’s statement unless it is in the format required in the official application.

All records generated in the administration of the Sick Leave Bank and donations to individual employees, 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 sick leave days shall have been actively employed by the School Board for a period of twelve (12) consecutive months as of the date of the intended donation.
   
   

2. Only employees with a balance of more than fifteen (15) sick leave days as of the date of the intended donation shall be permitted to donate to the Sick Leave Bank.  No donation shall be permitted which causes the donor’s sick leave balance to fall below fifteen (15) days.
   
   

3. Employees wishing to donate sick leave shall complete the appropriate Act of Donation Form.  The donation shall irrevocably relinquish all future claims and rights to such donated sick leave.  The days donated shall be permanently deducted from the total number of accumulated sick leave days the employee has on the date the donation is approved.
   
   

4. All donations shall be strictly voluntary.
   
   

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

6. All donations shall be in units of whole days.
   
   

7. An employee may donate sick leave directly to another employee in an amount not to exceed one-half of the donating employee’s accumulated leave as calculated at the beginning of the school year.

Recipient Eligibility

The Sick Leave Bank is not intended to be used for short-term leaves due to routine and non-extraordinary illnesses, nor for time off covered by or related to Worker's Compensation. Rather it is intended to be used for the employee’s 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. This Sick Leave Bank is to be used for the employee and not for employee spouse, children, or immediate family members or their conditions.

1. Recipients shall be actively employed by the School Board at the time that medical necessity is determined for the employee.
   
   

2. Recipients shall have been employed by the School Board for at least thirty-six (36) consecutive months as a full-time employee as of the date of the intended usage and be eligible for sick leave.
   
   

3. Recipients shall have worked at least one full day of the contract year in which leave from the Sick Leave Bank will be used.
   
   

4. Employees who are recipients shall have exhausted all current and accumulated sick leave and any other applicable 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.
   
   

5. The maximum number of sick leave days that may be granted to a recipient in one contract year shall be twenty (20) work days. Of those days granted, any remaining unused at the end of the fiscal year shall be returned to the Sick Leave Bank.
   
   

6. 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.  The separate application requirement may be waived by the Superintendent as circumstances may warrant.
   
   

7. A catastrophic illness may require intermittent usage of the bank.  Each separate application for a grant from the Sick Leave Bank must include a new physician’s statement on the appropriate application.
   
   

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

9. Leave from the Sick Leave Bank shall not be used for a disability that qualifies the employee for Workmen’s Compensation benefits or disability retirement.
   
   

10. Addictions or the abuse of drugs, alcohol or other prohibited substances shall not be covered under the Sick Leave Bank policy.

Miscellaneous Provisions

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

1. All transactions shall become part of the permanent personnel files of the employees.  Act of Donation Forms shall be placed in donor personnel files depicting the actual number of days deducted from accrued sick leave days on file after the donation is made.
   
   

2. The number of days withdrawn from the Sick Leave Bank shall not exceed the number of days available within the appropriate account of the Bank.
   
   

3. The number of days in each Sick Leave Bank shall not exceed one-hundred (100) at any time in one fiscal year.
   
   

4. At least ninety percent (90%) of the leave balance shall be retained in each account of the bank from one school year to the next.

Sick Leave Bank Approval 

Human Resources Administration shall review and determine approval or denial for utilization of Sick Leave Bank days in accordance with the provisions of this policy.  

The Director of Human Resources shall notify the employee of the decision to approve or to deny the request within fifteen (15) days of the receipt of the request.  The decision to approve or to deny requests shall be forwarded to the Superintendent for review and approval.  The Superintendent’s decision shall be final and binding, and such decisions shall not be subject to review by the School Board or subject to the Board’s grievance procedures. 

Forms and Record Keeping

1. The Human Resource Department shall maintain all records regarding operation of the Bank. 

    

2. Copies of all completed forms shall be kept on file by the Human Resources Department. 

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, 10-2-12, 2-7-17, 2-2-21, 9-10-24

Lincoln Parish School Board