A B C D E F G H I J K L

No employee will be disciplined or terminated for absences qualifying for protection under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) or other applicable law (see Board policy GBBDA).

The district may require an employee to provide the district a doctor’s note or other verification of illness before the district applies sick leave or other applicable paid leave to the absence. In accordance with law, the district may require an employee to present a certification of fitness to return to work whenever the employee is absent from work due to the employee's health.

This policy does not apply to temporary or substitute staff members unless otherwise noted.

The following leaves with pay will be provided to full-time professional staff employees. Regular part-time professional staff employees will receive these leaves on a pro rata basis.

1.         Sick Leave – Any absence within the framework of the following provisions may be assigned to sick leave time:

            A.        Illness, injury or incapacity of the employee.

            B.        Illness, injury, incapacity or death in the immediate family. The Board defines immediate family to include:

                        ►          The employee’s spouse.

                        ►          The following relatives of the employee: parents, children, children’s spouses, grandparents, grandchildren, siblings and any other family member residing with the employee.

                        •          Any other person over whom the employee has legal guardianship or for whom the employee has power of attorney and is the primary caregiver.

(Note: “Family” for FMLA purposes is more limited.)

Employees may be excused under sick leave to attend funerals of other acquaintances when such is felt to be a personal responsibility.

Employees under nine-month contract shall be allowed 12 days of sick leave during the contract period. For those whose contract exceeds the normal nine-month school term, one additional day shall be added for each month of contracted service.

During the first year of employment, 12-month employees shall accrue one day of sick leave for each full month of service or major fraction thereof, not to exceed the maximum authorized herein. During the first year of employment, employees who take approved sick leave in excess of accrued totals shall take such leave without compensation. Should the employee successfully complete the first full year of employment with unused and accrued sick days, such days will be credited to the employee for the uncompensated leave previously taken by the employee.

Unused days of sick leave shall be allowed to accumulate to a maximum of 185 days, which may be carried forward to future years. The employee shall be entitled to the current year's sick leave allowance in addition to the days carried forward from former years.

All employees will be reimbursed at the rate of 50 percent of their current daily earnings for each full day of unused sick leave over and above the maximum accumulation allowable (185 days) at the conclusion of any contract year in which this occurs. In case of the death of an employee to whom pay for unused leave is owed pursuant to Board policy, the unused leave will be paid to an individual designated by the employee. If no designation is made, unused leave will not be compensated.

Sick leave time will be charged against accumulated leave in multiples of not less than one-half day.

Staff members who are ill are encouraged to stay home to promote healing and reduce the risk of infecting others, especially during a pandemic or other significant health event. In the event of a pandemic or other significant health event, schools may be closed to all staff and students or just students. If schools are closed only to students, staff members are expected to work regular schedules or use appropriate leave.

Any certificated employee who is a member of a retirement system shall remain a member during any period of leave under sick leave provisions of the district or under Workers' Compensation. The employee shall also receive creditable service credit for such leave time if the employee makes contributions to the system equal to the amount of contributions that he or she would have made had he or she been on active service status.

2.         District Leave

District leave refers to personal matters. Employees may choose to use two days of their annual sick leave allotment as district leave. Teachers who are on at least the sixteenth step of the teacher salary schedule, and all other employees who have been with the district at least 16 years, may choose to use four days of their annual sick leave allotment as district leave. Unused days of district leave will not accumulate as district leave, but will accumulate as sick leave.

Requests for leave are to be made to the employee's building administrator at least 48 hours in advance, unless there is an emergency situation. However, 30 days' notice is required by law if the leave qualifies as FMLA leave and such notice is practical. The reason for requesting district leave need not be given to the building administrator.

Building administrators have the authority to deny requests for district leave where granting such leave adversely affects the education of district students. Specifically, building administrators may deny district leave when, in the administrator's judgment:

            a.         A significant number of staff have already been granted district leave for a specific day(s); or

            b.         Granting district leave will unduly interfere with students' education.

District leave requests will be considered in minimum segments of one-half day.

Absences may be charged against district leave for court appearances, unless applicable law requires no leave be charged to the employee, and for leave connected with duty as a volunteer firefighter, member of Missouri-1 Disaster Medical Assistance Team, Missouri Task Force One, Urban Search and Rescue Team or activation by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in times of national disaster.

FMLA regulations govern any “district leave” given for FMLA-qualifying reasons.

In addition, district leave will normally not be granted on the work day before or the workday after scheduled school holidays, and will normally not be granted on days scheduled for semester examinations.

3.         Vacation – Administrators and other certificated personnel employed on a 12-month basis will receive two weeks of vacation per year.

4.         Inclement Weather – It is the policy of the district to remain open during most periods of inclement weather and 12-month employees are expected to work during these periods. However, where extraordinary circumstances warrant, the district reserves the right to close. Regardless of whether the district is open or closed, it is each employee’s decision as to whether to show up for work during such weather. If an employee elects not to work on a given day, the district requests the courtesy of a phone call to the appropriate supervisor, advising him/her as to the employee’s status for the day. The cancellation or late start of the school day does not constitute closure of the district for purposes of this policy.

Twelve-month employees shall receive five additional vacation days that shall be utilized for absences resulting from periods of inclement weather during which the district remains open. If additional days remain after utilization for inclement weather, employees may utilize these additional days for personal absences.

If the district remains open on an adverse weather day, 12-month employees who report to work will receive their normal pay for the day; i.e., exempt staff will receive their regular salary and hourly employees will be paid at their regular hourly rate of pay. If an employee elects not to report to work on a district open day, the employee will be required to use accrued vacation leave or accrued district leave for the missed day. If no leave is available, the employee will not be paid for the day.

5.         Bereavement Leave – A maximum of two days of bereavement leave will be granted if a death occurs in the immediate family of the employee or employee’s spouse. These days will not accumulate. Any additional days used will come from sick leave or district leave. (Immediate family" is previously defined in this section, #1.B. – Sick Leave.)

Unless otherwise provided, the following leaves will be provided to full-time and part-time professional employees.

1.         Holidays – District-paid holidays for professional staff include the following: Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, New Year's Day, Martin Luther King, Jr. Birthday (designated day), Presidents' Day, Good Friday, Memorial Day and Independence Day. When any such holidays, including Independence Day, fall upon Sunday, the Monday next following shall be considered the holiday; or if the holiday falls on Saturday, the Friday prior to the Saturday shall be considered the holiday.

Holidays may be modified or eliminated as needed when the academic calendar is changed due to inclement weather or for other reasons. Holidays may change from year to year.

2.         Professional Leave – Teachers may be excused for professional experiences when permission for such absence has been previously granted by the Superintendent of Schools. These absences may not exceed three days in any one school year, and such absences are not charged against sick leave time, nor are they payroll-deductible.

If need for absence under the category of professional leave is in excess of the number of days permitted under this privilege, the teacher may explain the need in writing to the Superintendent of Schools, whereupon the superintendent may extend time for additional days under this category of leave, provided that the additional days of leave bear directly upon the school’s program and the teacher's responsibility to it. Attendance at a funeral as a delegated representative of the school will be classified as professional leave.

3.         Military Leave – The Board shall grant military leave as required by law. Members of the National Guard or any reserve component of the U.S. Armed Forces who are engaged in the performance of duty or training will be entitled to a leave of absence of 120 hours in any federal fiscal year (October 1 – September 30) without impairment of efficiency rating or loss of time, pay, regular leave or any other rights or benefits. Employees shall provide the district an official order verifying that they are required to report to duty.

4.         Election Leave – Any employee who is appointed as an election judge pursuant to state law may be absent on any election day for the period of time required by the election authority. The employee must notify the district at least seven days prior to any election in which the employee will serve as an election judge. No employee will be terminated, disciplined, threatened or otherwise subjected to adverse action based on the employee's service as an election judge.

5.         Leave to Vote – Employees who do not have three successive hours free from work while the polls are open will be granted a leave period of up to three hours to permit the employees three successive hours while the polls are open for the purpose of voting. Requests for such leave must be made prior to election day, and the employee's supervisors will designate when during the workday the leave should be taken. Any employee who properly requests leave to vote and uses the leave for that purpose will not be subject to discipline, termination or loss of wages or salary.

6.         Jury Duty Leave – An employee will be granted paid leave for time spent responding to a summons for jury duty, time spent participating in the jury selection process or time spent actually serving on a jury. An employee will not be terminated, disciplined, threatened or otherwise subjected to adverse action because of the employee's receipt of or response to a jury summons.

7.         Leave for Court Subpoena – If the subpoena is directly related to the employee's school duties, the employee will be released for court appearance without loss of leave. Other court appearances will be deducted from district leave.

8.         Firefighter Leave – Employees will be allowed to use district, vacation and/or unpaid leave for any time taken to respond to an emergency in the course of performing duties as a volunteer firefighter. For the purposes of this section, "volunteer firefighter" includes members of Missouri-1 Disaster Medical Assistance Team, Missouri Task Force One, Urban Search and Rescue Team or those activated by FEMA in times of national disaster. Employees covered under this section shall not be terminated from employment for joining a volunteer fire department or for being absent from or late to work in order to respond to an emergency. Employees shall make every reasonable effort to notify the principal or supervisor if the employee may be absent from or late to work under this section. Employees are required to provide their supervisors with a written statement from the supervisor or acting supervisor of the volunteer fire department stating that the employee responded to an emergency along with the time and date of the emergency.

9.         Crime Victim Leave – Any employee who is a crime victim, who witnesses a crime or who has an immediate family member who is a crime victim will not be required to use vacation, district or sick leave in order to honor a subpoena to testify in a criminal proceeding, attend a criminal proceeding or participate in the preparation of the criminal proceeding.

10.       Civil Air Patrol Leave – Any employee who is a member of Civil Air Patrol and has qualified for a Civil Air Patrol emergency service specialty or who is certified to fly counternarcotics missions shall be granted unpaid leave to perform Civil Air Patrol emergency service duty or counternarcotics missions without loss of time, regular leave or any other rights or benefits in accordance with law. The leave is limited to 15 working days in any calendar year, but is unlimited when responding to a state- or nationally declared emergency in Missouri. The district may request that the employee be exempted from responding to a specific mission.

Pregnancy, Childbirth and Adoption Leave

This section creates no rights extending beyond the contracted period of employment. FMLA certification and recertification procedures apply to FMLA-eligible employees. An employee must notify the district of the need for and anticipated duration of the leave at least 30 days before leave is to begin, if foreseeable. If 30 days' notice is not practical, the employee must give as much notice as possible. A pregnant employee shall continue in the performance of her duties as long as she is able to do so and as long as her ability to perform her duties is not impaired, based on medical opinion.

Employees eligible for FMLA leave for the birth, first-year care, adoption or foster care of a child will have such leave applied in accordance with the FMLA. The district shall only apply up to six weeks of accrued paid leave to such absences.

Employees who are ineligible for FMLA leave may take up to six weeks of leave for the birth, first-year care, adoption or foster care of a child and may use any combination of accrued sick leave, district leave, vacation leave or unpaid leave.

Pregnant employees who need more than six weeks of paid or unpaid leave for a pregnancy-related incapacity must provide certification of the medical necessity for such leave.

* * * * * * *

In the event of a discrepancy between an administrative procedure and a Board policy, the Board policy will take precedence.

Adopted:         09/10/1990

Revised:          11/13/2000; 06/14/2004; 11/14/2005; 02/13/2006; 09/11/2007; 07/20/2009; 06/12/2012; 01/11/2013

Cross Refs:     DLB, Salary Deductions

HA, Negotiations with Employee Representatives

HPA, Employee Walkouts, Strikes and Other Disruptions

Legal Refs:     §§ 41.1000, 105.270 - .271, 115.102, .639, 168.122, 169.595, 320.200, .330 - .339, 494.460, 595.036, .209, RSMo.

Fair Labor Standards Act, 29 U.S.C. §§ 201 - 219

Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, 29 U.S.C. §§ 2611 - 2619

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 as amended by the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e(k)

29 C.F.R. § 1604.10

Willis v. School Dist. of Kansas City, 606 S.W.2d 189 (Mo. Ct. App. 1980)

Stewart v. Board of Educ. of Ritenour, 574 S.W.2d 471 (Mo. Ct. App. 1978)

Aubuchon v. Gasconade County R-1 Sch. Dist., 541 S.W.2d 322 (Mo. Ct. App. 1976)

Jefferson City School District, Jefferson City, Missouri

Top of Page