Open enrollment for Sick Bank- 2016-2017 School Year

August - September 30, 2016 and again in January - February (1/5/17-2/27/17)

Hernando Sick Leave Bank

1.         Membership – The Bank shall have two enrollment periods yearly, during the first 30 calendar days of the first and second semesters.  Any full-time employee, having been employed by the Board for at least one school year and having at least two (2) days or 15 ½ hours unused sick leave, may enroll in the Sick Leave Bank by voluntarily contributing two (2) sick leave days or fifteen and one half (15 ½) hours to the Bank during an enrollment period.  A full-time employee is defined as a person employed for five days a week in an established position and who qualifies for full sick leave benefits.

a.         All participating employees shall contribute two (2) sick leave days or 15 ½ hours at the time of enrollment and additional days or hours as set forth in (3) below.  A duty day is defined as the number of hours of work per day shown in the employee’s salary statement.  Enrollment or denial must be made on the prescribed from (see attached form).

b.         Any sick leave days or hours contributed pursuant to this section shall be removed from the personally accumulated sick leave balance of that employee and shall not be returned.

c.         Membership in the Sick Leave Bank shall be continuous from initial enrollment until an individual member has withdrawn from the plan or has drawn maximum number of days from the Bank  (see (6).

2.         Replenishment Contributions – Following establishment of the Sick Leave Bank, all participating members shall contribute one additional sick leave day of 7-3/4 hours, in order to continue membership, if the balance in the Bank is diminished to less than 200 days.  Assessment shall be automatic and each member shall be sent a notice of such.  If a member is unable to contribute an assessed day, assessment will occur as soon as a sick leave day is earned unless a member is receiving benefits from the Bank. 

3.         Administration and Governance

a.         The Sick Leave Bank Overview Committee (5 committee members and 2 alternates) will administer the Sick Leave Bank and will determine the validity of claims against the Bank.  Any claim filed must be approved by a majority of the committee members. 

b.         The Finance Department will make available an annual report of usage of the Bank to the School Board and to participating members.

 c.         A Sick Leave Bank Overview Committee of no less than five (5) people (or any vacancy) will be appointed by the HCTA President for the purpose of reviewing any claims against the Bank.  The Committee shall be appointed for staggered two (2) year terms.  The Sick Leave Bank Committee shall be the final authority on all disputes involving eligibility for benefits.  The Committee shall meet at least twice yearly. 

d.         There will be no other scheduled meetings of the Sick Leave Bank Committee, but meetings may be called by any Committee member.

e.         Minutes will be kept of all meetings held by the Sick Leave Bank Committee, and within two (2) weeks after said meeting, copies of the minutes will be forwarded to the School Superintendent, Chairman of the Committee members and the Hernando County School Board.  Necessary amendments will be made only at renewal time or as agreed by the Board and the Committee.

a.         No applications will be considered for the purposes of cosmetic or other surgical procedures that could be postponed, without danger to the patient, to a time when school is not in session.

b.         The applicant may apply to the Sick Leave Bank at any time but all accumulated sick, annual and compensatory leave of the employee must first be expended, followed by an unpaid leave of ten (10) continuous workdays before days can be granted.  The applicant may be granted retroactive pay for the ten (10) unpaid continuous workdays. 

c.         If a teacher is incapacitated for at least ten (10) working days in any one (1) year and there is a further incapacitation which appears to be a recurrence of the same illness or accident and the same doctor who handled the case originally verifies by written statement that such incapacitation is a recurrence, then the ten (10) days’ eligibility requirement could be waived at the discretion of the Sick Leave Bank Committee. 

d.         Applications must be made to the Sick Leave Committee, submitting statements from two (2) doctors attesting to the member’s catastrophic extended illness, accident, or injury.  The statement must certify.

            1.         The nature of the illness, accident, or injury, and

            2.         The probable date the member would be able to return to work.

e.         All medical records submitted by the applicant and/or physician shall be confidential, and upon completion of each individual case, such documents will be sealed and may be used only in the event of subsequent legal action or further related absence(s).  These records will be kept by the Superintendent of schools, in a “Sick Leave Bank File”.

f.          A participating member shall not be eligible to use sick leave from the bank if the employee is on worker’s compensation, illness in the line of duty, or other approved leave.

g.         In the event a member draws from the Sick Leave Bank, that individual’s membership shall be suspended after drawing all days or hours authorized from the Bank.  Such individuals my reinstate memberships by meeting qualifications in Section (1) above. 

5.         Benefits – All benefits and liabilities of participation in the Sick Leave Bank shall be consistent with the provisions of this Article as herein provided.  Upon approval of application by the Sick Leave Bank Committee, a member will be allowed a single draw from the Bank up to a maximum of 100 paid sick leave days or 775 hours subject to the following provisions:

a.         Illness or conditions, which were known to exist before an employee became a bank member, shall not be covered for the first 12 months of membership. 

b.         During the first forty-five (45) days of membership, an employee may only be approved for usage for sudden or unexpected illness or injury.

c.         Drawing of sick leave days or hours based on availability of sick leave days or hours in the Bank.

d.         All cases will be reviewed by the Sick Leave Bank Committee when the 20th continuous day or 150^th hour of benefits has been reached.  At this time, the committee shall request additional medical certification.  In addition, at this time, any sick leave, which may have been accrued by the participant, must then be used before resumption of drawing from the Sick Leave Bank.

e.         The employee shall not have to pay back in any manner the number of days used from the Sick Leave Bank except as outlined in Section (6).

f.          Any sick leave drawn from the Bank by a participating employee must be used for said employee’s personal illness, accident or injury.

6.         Participating Abuse – Alleged abuse of the Sick Leave Bank shall be investigated by the Sick Leave Bank Committee.  If an employee is found to have abused the use of the Sick Leave Bank, the employee shall repay all sick leave credit drawn from the Sick Leave Bank and be subject to such other disciplinary action as determined by the School Board.

7.         Withdrawal from Participation – An employee who wishes to withdraw from participation in the Sick Leave Bank may do so during any enrollment period, by submitting a withdrawal form to the Personnel Department before the end of the enrollment period.  Withdrawal will be effective immediately upon receipt by the Personnel Department.  The participating employee who chooses to withdraw from participation shall forfeit all rights and privileges of the Bank and shall not be eligible to withdraw any sick leave already contributed to the Bank. 

8.       End of Year or End of Bank - Days or hours left in the Sick Leave Bank at the end of the school year will be carried over to the Sick Leave Bank the following year.  In the event that future negotiations preclude the operation of a Sick Leave Bank, days or hours in the Sick Leave Bank shall be available to members until such time as the sick days or hours balance is depleted.

Sick Bank Application

Aug 19, 2016

Download: Sick Bank App (1).pdf