1
MACS Guide When Considering
A Leave of Absence
9-27-16 edition
1. Before submitting an official written request for a leave of absence for any purpose, employees of Mount Airy City Schools should take time to review State Board of Education policies and regulations. This information can be found online at by using the search box to locate theBenefits and Employment Policy Manual.
Local MACSpolicies can be found at by clickingBoard of Educationand then Policies. Employees should refer to the 7000 Series, Personnel, to review related policies, especially 7510Leave, 7520Family and Medical Leave, but also policies 7530, 7540, 7542, and/or 7550.
The information included in this document serves merely as a user-friendly reference guide, which employees of MACS should consider after becoming familiar with the information specified above. Any discrepancies between this guide and state or MACS policies must defer to the policies themselves.
2. After studying the documents described above, employees should contactAmy Sawyers, payroll department,to discuss their options. Mrs. Sawyers can be reached by phone at (336) 786-8355 or via email at .
Types of Leave an Employee Can Request
Leave isavailable only to permanent employees working at least 6 full, consecutive months, whether part-time (at least 20 hours per week) or full-time (at least 30 hours per week).
Holidays
The State designates the following holidays: New Year’s Day, Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday, Good Friday, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Veteran’s Day (which must be observed as a holiday for students and staff), Thanksgiving (2 days), and Christmas (2 or 3 days). These days are built in to the employee calendar annually.
Annual Vacation Leave
Instructional personnel who require substitutes may use annual leave only on days when students are not in regular attendance.
Within any given year, instructional personnel who do not require a substitute may be granted a maximum of 5 vacation days when students are in attendance.
Sick Leave
Earned at the rate of one day per month, sick leave may be used for the following:
1---the employee’s disability (illness or injury)
2---medical appointments
3---illness in the family
4---death in the family
A doctor’s note may be requested to verify each illness or injury, and sick leave can be advanced before it has actually been earned.
*Teachers who are considering taking sick leave when absent, due to the birth of a child, should discuss their financial situation with their spouses to decide if they wish to use none, some, or all of their earned sick leave. In some cases, teachers decide to save some of their sick leave so that, when they return to work, and the child becomes ill, the teacher may choose to stay home with the child by using any available earned sick leave.
Extended Sick Leave
Teachers may take as many as 20 additional days of extended sick leave provided they have exhausted their earned sick leave and that the cost of the substitute is deducted for each day taken in this category.
Personal Leave
Personal leave is earned by classroom teachers and media coordinators who require a substitute at the rate of .20 days per month with a maximum of 5 days total. This type of leave cannot be taken on
1--- the first day the teacher is required to report for the school year
2---on a required teacher workday
3--- on State testing days
4---the day before or after a holiday or scheduled vacation day (unless the principal approves)
If the request is made at least five days in advance, Personal leave shall be granted automatically subject to the availability of a substitute, and the teacher does not need to reveal the reason for said leave. Teachers using Personal leave receive full salary less the required substitute deduction unless the day is a teacher workday.
Educational Leave
Permanent employees assigned to participate in in-service or staff development activities including workshops offered at the NC Center for Advancement of Teaching (NCCAT) retain full salary for such absences.
Professional Leave
Employees who attend meetings of professional associations may be approved by the superintendent for up to 3 successive days for in-state meetings and 5 days for out-of-state meetings, but not more than 10 days total during any single year. Such absences are granted so long as the employee’s salary accounts for the pay for any substitute required.
Employees attending meetings on days when there is no salary deduction include serving as a member of the following:
1---the State Board of Education
2---the State Textbook Commission
3---the Board of Governors of the Governor’s Schools
4---or required attendance at a case manager’s hearing
5---a commission or committee appointed by the Governor, the State Superintendent, the State Board of Education, or the General Assembly
6---If the local Board of Education approves, and if the local professional organization pays the full salary and benefits for the employee, employees elected as an officer for said organization may take this type of leave.
Civil Responsibility Leave
- Community Responsibility
With approval of the employee’s supervisor, employees may be absent to represent the school or district at community functions such as the funeral of a school child or parent.
- Jury Duty
Employees retain full salary when absent to serve on a jury, and they are entitled to payment from the county for jury duty.
- Court Attendance
When employees are absent due to court attendance related to their official duty or subpoenaed to go to court (unless they are appearing as plaintiffs, defendants, or witnesses for personal, non-school related matters) they receive full salary. If the employee is responding to a subpoena for civic responsibility, such as a witness to a crime, the employee is eligible for paid court attendance leave.
- Elected Officials
Employees serving as elected government officials may, with their supervisor’s approval, choose to use appropriate earned leave to perform their elected duties.
- Precinct Election Officials
Provided they have given proper notice (at least 30 days), Precinct Election Officials may, with their supervisor’s approval, use appropriate earned leave in order to serve.
Child-School Involvement Leave
All employees may take up to 4 hours of unpaid leave per year to be involved with their child at the child’s school.
Petty Leave
Petty leave (absence from work that is generally less than one hour) is awarded to employees who work at least 5 days a week for at least 7 ½ hours per day.
Compensatory Leave
Employees whose work is governed by the Fair Labor Standards Act (classified employees paid on an hourly basis, not teachers, counselors, administrators, or other licensed employees) may earn compensatory (comp) time at a rate of 1 ½ hours for every hour worked beyond the standard 40 hours per workweek, which runs from 12:00 A.M. Saturday until 11:59 P.M. Friday. Classified employees must get approval from their supervisors before taking comp time, and those supervisors must arrange, if possible, for classified employees to take comp time within one pay period after it was earned.
Parental Leave Without Pay
Employees may take a leave of absence without pay for up to one calendar year from the date of birth or adoption to care for a newborn child or a recently adopted child. For educational continuity the unpaid leave of absence may be extended for the remainder of the school year.
Spouses who are both employed in the school district are limited to a combined total of 12 months of parental leave during a given year.
Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA)
Employees who have been employed by the district for at least 12 months and worked at least 1250 hours during the previous 12 months may take 12 workweeks of unpaid, job-protected leave for the following:
1---the employee’s serious medical condition (which is defined as periods of incapacity of as few as 3 consecutive calendar days and any subsequent treatment)
2---the serious medical condition of an immediate family member (parent, spouse, or child)
3---the birth of a child
4---the placement of a child through adoption or foster care
5---the medical treatment of a covered military service member who is a spouse, son, daughter, or parent of the employee
6---the deployment or notice of impending deployment of a spouse, son, daughter, or parent who will soon be assigned to a foreign country as a member of the regular Armed Services or National Guard
Military Leave
Employees may take up to 15 workdays of paid military leave during the federal fiscal year (October 1 through September 30) for:
1---active duty training
2---required physical examinations
3---regularly scheduled unit assemblies or drills
Bona Fide Religious Holidays
With prior approval from the superintendent employees may be absent with pay for observing bona fide religious holidays up to 2 days within any school year so long as these days are not already scheduled as vacation or holidays in the school calendar.
After coming to an agreement with her/his supervisor the employee must make up the time missed for this type of leave.
Voluntary Shared Leave
After a permanent employee has exhausted all available paid leave (sick leave, annual vacation leave, and bonus leave, if applicable) he/she is eligible to receive donated or shared leave. Neither personal leave nor the 20 days of extended sick leave need be exhausted for this purpose.
An employee may apply for donated leave due to a serious medical condition of self or her/his immediate family by providing the following:
1---a doctor’s statement
2---an authorization for release of medical information
Family members may donate vacation/bonus or sick leave to an immediate family member in any school system, state agency, or community college. Furthermore, employees may donate to a non-family member vacation or bonus leave; and up to 5 days of sick leave per year; and the combined total of sick leave donated to a recipient from nonfamily memberdonors shall not exceed 20 days per year.
Proper timing for making requests for leave
For short-term leave such as personal leave (available only to teachers and media specialists whose jobs require hiring a substitute when they are absent) requests need to be submitted to the principal five days in advance.
For long-term leave such as a year of maternity or paternity leave, employees need to submit the written request to Jason Dorsett, Chief Operations Officer,30 days in advance of the desired date to allow time for the Human Resources office to submit the request to the Board of Education for approval before the leave begins.
Intermittent or Reduced Schedule Leave
An employee who requests intermittent or reduced leave time for medical treatment of a serious health condition may be required to give the reasons for the intermittent or reduced leave schedule and the schedule for treatment. It is possible that the district may require an employee to take an alternative position with equal pay and benefits, but not necessarily equivalent duties during this type of leave. This type of leave may be taken in increments of one hour.
If an instructional employee requests this type of leave for more than 20 percent of the workdays during a given period, the district may require the employee to take continuous leave for the duration; or to transfer to an alternate position. This transfer option is not open to instructional personnel.
Under certain situations, for the sake of instructional continuity the district may require instructional personnel to continue leave through the end of the school semester.
Employees who request this type of leave must provide a doctor’s certification of fitness for duty as well as a notice to return to duty, if applicable.
Notification of approval
Jason Dorsett, Chief Operations Officer, will send the employee written notification of any long-term leaves approved by the Board of Education.
Requirements for returning from leave
For long-term leaves the employee needs to submit a written statement of intent 30 days before their scheduled return to work indicating either that they will indeed return to work; or that they wish to resign.