R D

Sick Leave Explainer

11/14/2023

Sick Leave Rights for Union Members 101 

As SDEA members, we have protections beyond just having access to regular sick leave. This brief summary will help us understand our rights so that we can take care of ourselves when we are unable to work. 

As union members, we are entitled to sick leave for personal illness, exposure to contagious disease, or temporary disability. 

We have three basic types of sick leave that we have access to as union members. These three types are: 

1. Full-salary sick leave. 
2. Half-pay sick leave (also known as differential leave or differential pay). 
3. Catastrophic leave. 

More information on these leaves can be found in Sections 10.2 and 10.22 in the union contract.  

Full Salary Sick Leave 

Full time educators earn 8 hours of sick leave for each month of work. Part-time educators earn sick leave proportional to their assignment (50% FTE earn 4 hours a month, etc.). Educators on 10 month contracts (even if you get paid over 12, but only work 10 months) get up to 10 sick days per work year (11 or 12 days if you are on an 11- or 12-month employment contract). Our union contract ensures that newly hired educators are able to receive advanced credit for sick leave that hasn’t yet been earned. Your days are granted to you up front, in advance of them being accrued. This means that you can use all 10 sick leave days from the first day of work in a work year, without having to wait a month or more to accrue the days. If you do so, you will see a negative balance in your bank, as the days are accrued, one per month of work, for the rest of the year, bringing you back to “0” in your account by the last month of work.  

Half-Pay Sick Leave 

In the event that we use all of our earned sick leave, we are then entitled up to 100 days of additional sick leave, paid at half our daily rate of pay, often referred to as “half-pay” sick leave (known as “Differential Pay” in the contract). We can access this leave once our full pay sick leave is exhausted. When combined with full pay sick leave, an educator can use no more than 110 days of combined full pay and half pay sick leave in a school year. For example, if you only have 10 days of full pay sick leave, you get 100 days of half pay sick leave. If you have 20 days of full pay sick leave (say you carried over 10 from a prior year), you can use 90 days of half pay, if you carried over 30 days of full pay sick leave, you can use 80 days of half pay sick leave, and so on.  

While half-pay sick leave is an important right that was fought for and won by union power, it may leave us in a situation where we are struggling to make ends meet. This is why union-sponsored disability insurance is so important! Disability insurance replaces lost wages when we are on half-pay or unpaid leave, due to our own illness or injury. Educators are exempt from the state disability insurance (SDI) program, so we have to acquire this protection on our own. CTA has vetted a disability insurance provider, called “The Standard,” and there is an open enrollment period happening right now, which allows us to enroll without any prior health screening. This program replaces 80% of your salary while you are ailing or recovering from illness or injury (including disability related to pregnancy and childbirth!), for up to 2 years. If you are a dues-paying union member, sign up today!! If not, join SDEA now and then enroll.  

Catastrophic Leave 

Catastrophic leave is another contractual protection that allows us to access up to 40 days of full-salary leave, once a member runs out of full pay sick leave. See the overview of this leave in the last SDEA Union Notes. 

by R D

Catastrophic Leave Bank Explainer

10/31/2023

In year’s past, SDEA union members had the foresight to win the right to a Catastrophic Leave Bank (CLB) in our contract. The purpose of the CLB is to create a bank of donated sick and vacation leave days which may be used by unit members suffering from a catastrophic illness or injury. Catastrophic illness or injury is defined to mean a severe, incapacitating illness or injury which is expected to continue for an extended period of time which prevents the unit member from performing their duties. SDEA members donate one sick day or vacation day (ECE employees get vacation days since they are year-round employees) in order to become members of the bank, and are eligible to use up to 40 sick leave days to extend their paid sick leave period. Once a member of the CLB, the district then deducts one sick day automatically from each participating  CLB’s members’ bank of accrued sick leave once every three years. You can donate days and become members of the CLB at any time, but in order to stop deductions, you must notify HR during the district’s health benefits open enrollment period, which happens in late fall of each school year. 

To donate sick leave or vacation leave, the unit member must have a sick leave accrual equal to at least the minimum number of hours they wish to donate to the CLB. The union member acknowledges that the donation is irrevocable. The union member acknowledges that a donation to the CLB will be a general donation and may not be designated for the use of any specific participant.

In order to be able to withdraw from the CLB, the union member must have exhausted all fully paid leave (full pay sick leave or vacation leave), have donated one day during the last donation period, and have been a member of the bank for at least 90 calendar days prior to the request for leave. The withdrawal process requires the employee to submit a form (found here on the SDUSD HR web page) to HR along with a doctor’s note from a physician licensed to practice in CA, and the request must be approved by HR. Applications are processed on a first come, first served basis, and approval is given in up to 20 work day chunks. Once 20 days are over, the member can request an additional 20 days, for a total of 40 days per illness or injury within a school year. Anyone who has gotten catastrophic leave in any year will not be approved for additional catastrophic leave in a subsequent school year until all pending applications have been processed for that school year. Days granted, but not used, are returned to the bank. Anyone getting Workers’ Compensation will not be given catastrophic leave until Workers’ Compensation leave benefits are first exhausted. 

A union member whose application for paid catastrophic sick leave is denied, may request that the decision be reviewed by the Contract Administration Committee (CAC), which is a joint SDEA and SDUSD committee, established by the contract to review certain contract language and procedures. It meets on a monthly basis. The CAC shall ensure that all information contained in the review remains confidential and that the provisions of the contract were appropriately applied in evaluating the unit member’s application. The CAC’s decision shall be final and binding. Denials of CLB requests by HR or CAC are not subject to the grievance procedure. More information can be found in Section 10.22 of the union contract.  

by R D