File: GBGG - Staff Leave File: GBGG - Staff LeaveThe Board recognizes that there may be times when an employee is unable to fulfill the duties of their position due to illness or personal matters. Therefore, paid leave is provided for full-time employees in accordance with this policy.
EMPLOYEE GROUPS FOR DETERMINING LEAVE BENEFITS | |
Level 1 | Instructional (certified and classified staff) hired for the school year including: |
Level 2 | Building level administrative assistants staff hired for the school year including: |
Level 3 | Building level administration staff hired for the school year including: |
Level 4 | 12 month district level administration including: |
Accrual and Use: Daily equivalent based on "working hours per day" for instructional and support staff. 12 month classified staff day equivalent is based on 8 hours.
1. Level 1 employees shall be allowed seven days of paid leave per year.
2. Level 2 employees shall be allowed seven and one-half days of paid leave per year.
3. Level 3 employees shall be allowed eight days of paid leave per year.
4. Level 4 employees shall be allowed eight and one half days of paid leave per year.
Leave may be taken for the following reasons:
• personal mental or physical illness, injury, or health condition or the need to obtain medical care;
• the necessary care and attendance for the employee's family member who has a mental or physical illness, injury, or health condition or the need to obtain medical care;
• seeking medical attention or related services if the employee or a member of the employee's family has been the victim of domestic abuse, sexual assault, or harassment;
• the district has been ordered to close by a public official due to a public health emergency, or
• the school or childcare provider for the employee's child has been ordered to close by a public official due to a public health emergency and the employee needs to be absent from work to care for their child.
• Other personal business, activities or appointments-Leave for personal reasons may be denied if appropriate coverage for work responsibilities is not obtained.
For sick leave purposes, the term "family member" means a member of the employee's immediate family (a person who is related by blood, marriage, civil union, or adoption), a child to whom the employee stands in loco parentis or a person who stood in loco parentis to the employee when the employee was a minor, or a person for whom the employee is responsible for providing or arranging health-or safety-related care. Exception may be made by the superintendent.
Documentation may be required for approval of taking four or more consecutive paid leave days. Any health or safety information relating to an employee or employee's family member will be maintained on a separate form and in a separate file from other personnel information, treated as confidential medical records, and will not be disclosed except to the affected employee or with the express permission of the affected employee.
Reinstatement upon rehiring
If an employee separates from employment with the district and is rehired by the district within 6 months after the separation, the district must reinstate any paid leave that the employee had accrued but not used during the employee's previous employment if that accrued paid leave had not been paid out at the time of the separation.
Additional leave during a public health emergency
In addition to the paid leave generally accrued, on the date a public health emergency is declared the district will supplement each employee's accrued paid leave as necessary to ensure that full-time employees who work 40 hours or more in a week may take at least 80 hours of paid sick leave and that employees who work fewer than 40 hours in a week may take at least the greater of the number of hours the employee is scheduled to work in a 14-day period. The district may count an employee's unused accrued paid leave toward the supplemental paid sick leave.
An employee may use the supplemental paid sick leave until 4 weeks after the official termination or suspension of the public health emergency. Leave under this provision may be taken for the following reasons:
• self-isolation or seeking medical care or treatment due to a diagnosis or symptoms of a communicable illness that is the cause of a public health emergency;
• caring for a family member who is self-isolating or seeking medical care after being diagnosed or is experiencing symptoms of a communicable illness that is the cause of a public health emergency;
• a determination from a local, state, or federal public official or health authority that an employee or a member of the employee's family that the employee cares poses a risk to the health of others;
• caring for a family member when the individual's school or place of care has been physically closed due to a public health emergency, or
• an employee's inability to work because of a health condition that may increase susceptibility to or risk of a communicable illness that is the cause of a public health emergency.
Documentation is not required to take paid sick leave during a public health emergency.
Nondiscrimination
The Board, the superintendent, other administrators and district employees will not unlawfully discriminate, take adverse action, or retaliate against any employee who takes, attempts to take, or supports taking paid leave in accordance with this policy, files a complaint or informs any person about an alleged violation of the Healthy Families and Workplaces Act, or participates in an investigation, hearing, or proceeding related to such matter.
Notice
To reduce unlawful discrimination and to ensure a healthy workplace environment, the administration is responsible for providing notice of this policy and the poster created by the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment to all district schools and departments. The policy must be referenced in employee handbooks and otherwise be made available to all staff through electronic or hard-copy distribution.
Professional staff
Professional staff shall be allowed to accumulate leave without limit.
If an employee sustains a long illness and uses up all accumulated paid leave or does not have enough accumulated paid leave, the employee will not be paid for any additional days of leave approved and taken unless the employee qualifies for days from the sick leave bank or another paid leave.
Employees hired after the school year begins and part-time employees (those who work less than four hours per day) will be granted leave on a prorated basis. Each employee earns at least 1 hour of paid leave for every 30 hours worked, up to a maximum of 48 hours (6 days).
Employees who have completed 3 consecutive years of employment who leave the district shall be paid for up to 20 days of unused leave at the current substitute's daily rate of pay. An employee who is terminating employment and requesting pay for unused leave shall be given leave credit for the current contract on a prorated basis determined by the ratio of the number of days worked to the total number of days in his or her work year.
Support staff
New employees shall be granted paid leave after three months of employment. At that time, leave shall be granted on a prorated basis. Following the first year of employment, leave shall be granted at the beginning of the year.
Days taken as leave shall not apply to the 40 hours per week necessary before overtime pay is received.
Part-time classified employees who work 20 hours or more per week on a regular basis shall be granted a partial allowance of the leave days each year allowed to full-time classified staff. The actual number of paid leave days shall be based on the fractional part of full-time employment worked by the employee.
Upon separation from employment, employees who have completed 3 consecutive years of employment shall be paid for unused leave up to 20 days at the employee's per diem rate or at a rate not to exceed $42.50 per day, whichever is less. An employee who is terminating employment and requesting pay for unused sick leave shall be given leave credit for the current year on a prorated basis determined by the ratio of the number of days worked to the total number of days in his or her work year.
Adopted: April 24, 1975
Revised: March 23, 1979
Revised: March 11, 1982
Revised: July 8, 1982
Revised: June 11, 1987
Revised: October 14, 2002
Revised: July 07, 2008
Revised and recoded: October 30, 2017
Revised: June 11, 2018
Revised: September 20, 2021
Revised: July 25, 2022
LEGAL REFS.: C.R.S. 2-4-401 (definition of immediate family)
C.R.S. 8-13.3-401 et seq. (Healthy Families and Workplaces Act)
CROSS REF.: GBGF, Federally-Mandated Family and Medical Leave
GBGH, Sick Leave Bank
GBGL, Staff Victim Leave
GBJ, Personnel Records and Files