Employee Relations Department

Kathleen C. Wright Administration Building 600 Southeast 3rd Avenue Fort Lauderdale, FL 33312 Office: 754-321-2140 - Fax: 754-321-2141


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Sick Leave Bank Guidelines

 

The School Board of Broward County, Florida and the Federation of Public Employees have created a Maintenance Sick Leave Bank, as provided in Article 14(D) of the contract.  The purpose of the Bank is to provide continuing salary for seriously ill employees who have exhausted their sick leave.  In the event of a catastrophic illness or injury of the employee, the employee may withdraw a maximum of 50 days for one illness or injury.

 

If you choose to enroll, one day of your sick time will be deducted from your sick leave balance.  Those hours will be converted into a dollar amount, which will be transferred to the existing Sick Leave Bank.  These funds are then available for withdrawal by eligible members.

 

Please note:

A sick day is not taken from you on a yearly basis.  You give up one sick day in order to join the Sick Bank.  Thereafter, if the Sick Leave Bank is depleted to a point where only $5,000 or less remains, all members of the Sick Bank will automatically have another day subtracted from their personal accumulated total.

 

Once you enroll as a member in the Sick Leave Bank, you remain a member.  It is not necessary to join each year.  Your membership is only withdrawn if you give 60 days written notice to the Employee Relations Department.

 

According to Article 14 (D) of the collective bargaining agreement, the Bank shall be governed by the following procedures: 

 

SICK LEAVE BANK REGULATIONS

 

1.   Member Prerequisites

 

(a) You must be a full-time employee to participate in the Sick Leave Bank.

 

(b) You must have worked for the School Board one (1) full year prior to enrollment.

 

(c) Participating employees must have ten (10) days of sick leave accrual at the time of enrollment in the Bank.  In other words, after you donate one (1) day to the Bank, you must still have a minimum of ten (10) days of sick leave.

 

2.   General

 

(a) At the time of the employee's contribution to the Sick Leave Bank, the sick leave day shall be converted to a monetary sum by multiplying the day donated times the donor's daily base rate of pay when contributed.  If the Sick Leave Bank is depleted to a point where only $5,000 or less remains, all members of the Sick Leave Bank shall automatically have another day of sick leave subtracted from their personal accumulated total and transferred to the Sick Leave Bank.

 

(b) Membership in the Bank is voluntary and revocable upon sixty (60) days written notice to the School Board's Employee Relations Department.  Days deposited however, shall remain in the Sick Leave Bank even if an employee decides to cease participation in the Sick Leave Bank.

 

3.   Sick Leave Bank Committee

 

The Committee, comprised of seven (7) bargaining unit employees, shall be appointed by the FOPE for the purpose of administering the Sick Leave Bank.  The Committee shall:

 

(a) Maintain adequate records relative to all functions of the Bank.

 

(b) Operate the Bank in accordance with Sick Leave Bank administrative rules.

 

(c) Approve/Disapprove all requests for withdrawal from the Sick Leave Bank.

 

(d) Establish procedures for record keeping.

 

(e) Coordinate and authorize the open enrollment each year.

 

(f)  Not grant more sick leave days than are available in the Bank.

 

4.   Withdrawal

 

In the event of catastrophic illness or injury of a participating member necessitating the employee's absence from work over an extended period of time, a participating member may receive paid leave under the following conditions:

 

(a) A withdrawal may be approved only upon the total depletion of the respective employee’s accumulated sick leave and vacation leave.  In addition, the affected employee must have exhausted or be ineligible for any type of leave granted by the Board related to accident, illness or injury.

 

(b) The maximum withdrawal for any employee for one (1) illness or injury or complications thereof shall be fifty (50) days.

 

(c) Withdrawals shall be in full day units and must be for a minimum of five (5) consecutive days.  This may be waived by the Superintendent.

 

(d) An employee may apply to the Committee for withdrawal in advance of the depletion of such employee's accumulated sick leave and vacation leave, to be granted, if needed, upon such depletion.

 

(e) All applications for withdrawal shall be in writing and shall be verified by the Committee.  All applications shall be accompanied with a certificate of illness from a licensed physician or from the county health officer.

 

(f) The salary of an employee participating in the Bank will be reduced by any benefits drawn from Workers' Compensation or disability income.

 

(g) When days are awarded from the Bank, they will be withdrawn at the affected employee's daily base rate of pay.

 

(h) The Sick Leave Bank shall not be used for the purposes of cosmetic surgery.

 

(i) The Sick Leave Bank shall be used only for the personal illness or injury of the participating member.

 

(j) The Sick Leave Bank shall not be used for purposes of elective surgery when such procedures could be safely performed during non-working times.

 

(k) The Sick Leave Bank may request a second medical opinion at the applicant's expense.

 

(l) Those applicants with an undetermined recovery period may be asked to provide the Sick Leave Bank committee with intermittent verification of illness.

 

(m) The Sick Leave Bank may be used for complications during pregnancy/delivery, but shall not be used for maternity leave.  Applicants may be asked to provide additional information to the Sick Leave Bank committee.

 

(n) Applications will only be approved for an illness or injury which occurred during that fiscal year (July 1st - June 30th).

 

(o) Applications for withdrawal can be obtained from the Employee Relations Department by calling 754-321-2140.

 

For a withdrawal form, click here.

 

5.   Maintenance of the Bank

 

(a) Once the Bank is established, there shall be no requirement for an employee to add additional days to the Bank.  However, if the Bank is depleted to a point where only five thousand dollars ($5,000) remain, all members of the Bank shall contribute one (1) day each time the Bank is depleted to this level.  The Superintendent may waive or modify this requirement in unusual circumstances.

 

(b) A participating employee who chooses to no longer participate in the Sick Leave Bank shall not be allowed to withdraw any such leave already contributed to the Sick Leave Bank.

 

6.   Indemnification

 

All employees who participate in the Sick Leave Bank shall indemnify and hold the School Board and all administrators harmless against any and all claims, demands, suits, or other forms of liability and all court costs arising out of the application of the provisions of this section.