State Code Concerning Without Cause and Personal Leave

*Without Cause and Personal Leave" (State Code)

§18A-4-10. Personal leave for illness and other causes; leave banks; substitutes. (a) Personal Leave.

(1) At the beginning of the employment term, any full-time employee of a county board is entitled annually to at least one and one-half days personal leave for each employment month or major fraction thereof in the employee's employment term. Unused leave shall be accumulative without limitation and is transferable within the state. A change in job assignment during the school year does not affect the employee's rights or benefits.

(2) A regular full-time employee who is absent from assigned duties due to accident, sickness, death in the immediate family, or life threatening illness of the employee's spouse, parents or child, or other cause authorized or approved by the board, shall be paid the full salary from his or her regular budgeted salary appropriation during the period which the employee is absent, but not to exceed the total amount of leave to which the employee is entitled.

(3) Each employee is permitted to use three days of leave annually without regard to the cause for the absence. Personal leave without cause may not be used on consecutive work days unless authorized or approved by the employee's principal or immediate supervisor, as appropriate. The employee shall give notice of leave without cause to the principal or immediate supervisor at least twenty-four hours in advance, except that in the case of sudden and unexpected circumstances, notice shall be given as soon as reasonably practicable. The principal or immediate supervisor may deny use of the day if, at the time notice is given, either fifteen percent of the employees or three employees, whichever is greater, under the supervision of the principal or immediate supervisor, have previously given notice of their intention to use that day for leave. Personal leave may not be used in connection with a concerted work stoppage or strike. Where the cause for leave originated prior to the beginning of the employment term, the employee shall be paid for time lost after the start of the employment term. If an employee uses personal leave which the employee has not yet accumulated on a monthly basis and subsequently leaves the employment, the employee is required to reimburse the board for the salary or wages paid for the unaccumulated leave.

(4) The State Board shall maintain a rule to restrict the payment of personal leave benefits and the charging of personal leave time used to an employee receiving a workers' compensation benefit from a claim filed against and billed to the county board by which the person is employed. If an employee is awarded this benefit, the employee shall receive personal leave compensation only to the extent the compensation is required, when added to the workers' compensation benefit, to equal the amount of compensation regularly paid the employee. If personal leave compensation equal to the employee's regular pay is paid prior to the award of the workers' compensation benefit, the amount which, when added to the benefit, is in excess of the employee's regular pay shall be deducted from the employee's subsequent pay. The employee's accrued personal leave days shall be charged only for such days as equal the amount of personal leave compensation required to compensate the employee at the employee's regular rate of pay.

(5) The county board may establish reasonable rules for reporting and verification of absences for cause. If any error in reporting absences occurs, the county board may make necessary salary adjustments:

(A) In the next pay after the employee has returned to duty; or

(B) In the final pay if the absence occurs during the last month of the employment term.

(b) Leave Banks.

(1) Each county board shall establish a personal leave bank that is available to all school personnel. The board may establish joint or separate banks for professional personnel and school service personnel. Each employee may contribute up to two days of personal leave per school year. An employee may not be coerced or compelled to contribute to a personal leave bank.

(2) The personal leave bank shall be established and operated pursuant to a rule adopted by the county board. The rule:

(A) May limit the maximum number of days used by an employee;

(B) Shall limit the use of leave bank days to an active employee with fewer than five days accumulated personal leave who is absent from work due to accident or illness of the employee; and

(i) Qualify for or add to service for any retirement system administered by the state; or

(ii) Extend insurance coverage pursuant to section thirteen, article sixteen, chapter five of this code.

(D) Shall require that each personal leave day contributed:

(i) Is deducted from the number of personal leave days to which the donor employee is entitled by this section;

(ii) Is not deducted from the personal leave days without cause to which a donor employee is entitled if sufficient general personal leave days are otherwise available to the donor employee;

(iii) Is credited to the receiving employee as one full personal leave day;

(iv) May not be credited for more or less than a full day by calculating the value of the leave according to the hourly wage of each employee; and

(v) May be used only for an absence due to the purpose for which the leave was transferred. Any transferred days remaining when the catastrophic medical emergency ends revert back to the leave bank.

(3) The administration, subject to county board approval, may use its discretion as to the need for a substitute where limited absence may prevail, when an allowable absence does not:

(i) Directly affect the instruction of the students; or

(ii) Require a substitute employee because of the nature of the work and the duration of the cause for the absence.

(4) If funds in any fiscal year, including transfers, are insufficient to pay the full cost of substitutes for meeting the provisions of this section, the remainder shall be paid on or before the thirty-first day of August from the budget of the next fiscal year.

(5) A county board may supplement the leave provisions in any manner it considers advisable in accordance with applicable rules of the State Board and the provisions of this chapter and chapter eighteen of this code.

§18A-4-10a. Bonus for unused days of personal leave.

County boards of education are authorized to pay to their employees or to defined groups thereof, for the purpose of reducing absenteeism, a bonus at the end of an employment term for each unused day of personal leave accumulated by the employee during that employment term.

§18A-4-10b.

Repealed.

Acts, 2014 Reg. Sess., Ch. 47. §18A-4-10c. Personal leave banks for care givers. (a) For the purposes of this section:

(1) "Care giver" means any employee of a county board who:

(A) Is a spouse, child or parent of any employee who meets the following qualifications:

(i) He or she is an employee of the same county board of education as the care giver; and

(ii) He or she currently is eligible to receive benefits from the personal leave bank established in section ten of this article; or

(B) Is a parent of a dependent child who is suffering from a catastrophic illness or injury;

(2) "Catastrophic illness or injury" means a medical or physical condition that incapacitates a family member of the care giver and results in the care giver being required to take time off from work as defined by the rules of the board to care for the family member.

(b) A county board of education may establish a personal leave bank for care givers which is separate from any personal leave bank as defined in section ten of this article. The personal leave bank shall be operated pursuant to rules adopted by the county board which shall include, but not be limited to, the following:

(1) An employee may contribute no more than two days of personal leave per school year;

(2) The bank shall be established either jointly or separately for both professional personnel and school service personnel and shall be available to all school personnel;

(3) The rules may limit the maximum number of days used by a care giver;

(4) Where the care giver is caring for an absent employee as defined in paragraph (A), subdivision (1), subsection (a) of this section, the rules shall require that leave bank days be used only by a care giver who is absent from work during the same time period as the absent employee for whom care is being provided; and

(5) The rules shall require that the care giver is an active employee with less than five days accumulated personal leave.

(c) The use of these days by the care giver for the extension of insurance coverage pursuant to section twelve, article sixteen, chapter five of this code is prohibited.

(d) Contributions shall reduce, to the extent of the contribution, the number of personal leave days to which a contributing employee is entitled by section ten of this article: Provided, That the employee's contribution may not reduce the number of entitled personal leave days without cause.

(e) No employee may be compelled to contribute to a personal leave bank.

§18A-4-10d. Use of personal leave days by surviving spouse in certain circumstances. (a) For the purposes of this section, the following terms have the following meanings:

(1) "Surviving spouse" means an employee of a county board whose spouse was also employed by the same county board at the time of his or her death; and

(2) "Deceased spouse" means a person who, at the time of his or her death, was employed by the same board of education as his or her spouse.

(b) Beginning the first day of January, one thousand nine hundred ninety-nine, a county board of education may credit a surviving spouse with any or all personal leave days to which the deceased spouse was entitled at the time of the death of the deceased spouse.

(1) Both spouses were employed by the same county board of education at the time of the death of the deceased spouse;

(2) The deceased spouse had unused personal leave days which he or she was entitled to use;

(3) The surviving spouse is an active employee with less than five days accumulated personal leave;

(4) The death of the deceased spouse was by accident;

(5) It is determined by the county board, on evidence provided by a licensed physician, that the surviving spouse is physically disabled to work at the position held by the surviving spouse; and

(6) It is determined by the county board that the cause of the disability to the surviving spouse arose from the same accident that resulted in the death of the deceased spouse.

(d) The county board periodically shall review the status of the surviving spouse and, upon a determination of the county board that the surviving spouse is able to work at his or her assigned position, any personal leave days credited to the surviving spouse pursuant to the terms of this section shall be extinguished.

(e) Personal leave days credited to the surviving spouse pursuant to this section may be used only for the purposes of this section and may not be used for any other purpose, including, but not limited to, the enhancement of retirement or health insurance benefits.

§18A-4-10f. Leave donation program. (a) Definitions.

For the purposes of this section and section ten of this article, the following words have the meanings specified unless the context clearly indicates a different meaning:

(1) "Catastrophic medical emergency" means a medical or physical condition that:

(A) Incapacitates an employee or an immediate family member for whom the employee will provide care;

(B) Is likely to require the prolonged absence of the employee from duty; and

(i) Has exhausted all accrued personal leave; and

(ii) Is not eligible to receive personal leave or has exhausted personal leave available from a leave bank established pursuant to this article;

(2) "Employee" means a professional educator or school service person who is employed by a county board and entitled to accrue personal leave as a benefit of employment;

(3) "Donor employee" means a professional educator or school service person employed by a county board who voluntarily contributes personal leave to another designated employee; and

(4) "Receiving employee" means a professional educator or school service person employed by a county board who receives donated personal leave from another employee.

(b) Leave donation program.

(1) In addition to any personal leave bank established pursuant to this article, a county board shall establish a leave donation program pursuant to which a donor employee may transfer accrued personal leave to the personal leave account of another designated employee.

(2) A county board:

(A) May not limit the number of personal leave days a donor employee may transfer to a receiving employee who is his or her spouse;

(B) May not limit the total number of personal leave days a receiving employee receives; and

(1) The county board shall adopt a rule to implement the program.

(2) The rule shall set forth at least the following conditions:

(A) The donor employee voluntarily agrees to the leave transfer;

(B) The donor employee selects the employee designated to receive the personal leave transferred; and

(D) The donated leave may not be used to:

(i) Qualify for or add to service for any retirement system administered by the state; or

(ii) Extend insurance coverage pursuant to section thirteen, article sixteen, chapter five of this code;

(E) Each personal leave day contributed:

(i) Shall be deducted from the number of personal leave days to which the donor employee is entitled by section ten of this article;

(ii) Shall not be deducted from the number of personal leave days without cause to which the donor employee is entitled if sufficient general personal leave days are otherwise available to the donor employee;

(iii) Shall be credited to the receiving employee as one full personal leave day;

(iv) May not be credited for more or less than a full day by calculating the value of the leave according to the hourly wage of each employee; and

(v) May be used only for an absence due to the purpose for which the leave was transferred. Any transferred days remaining when the catastrophic medical emergency ends revert back to the donor employee; and

(F) An employee may not be coerced or compelled to contribute to a leave donation program.

§18A-4-11. Group insurance. Whenever a majority of the full-time instructional and administrative employees of a county or state board of education, or a majority of the full-time nonteaching employees of such board shall indicate in writing to the board of education that it has adopted a group plan or plans of insurance for life, health and accident, hospitalization or surgery insurance, or death benefit plan on a group basis, and such majority has selected a licensed insurance company or companies duly licensed to do business in this state to write or provide for any one or more of such group insurance, or death benefit coverages, the board shall make proper periodical premium deductions from the regular salary of any such employee as specified in a written assignment furnished it by each such employee subscribing thereto, and pay the aggregate of such salary deductions over to the insurance company or companies or voluntary association so selected. Only those companies whose plan or plans receive the majority vote shall have the privilege of such deductions.

§18A-4-12. Tax deferred investments for teachers and other employees. For the purpose of this section, when an employee shall have attained the age of eighteen years the said employee may be eligible to participate in the defined group plans.

A county board of education, the teachers retirement board, the West Virginia board of education and the board of regents of West Virginia and their agencies may provide by written agreement between any such board or agency and any teacher or other employee to reduce the cash salary payable to such teacher or other employee, and, in consideration thereof, to pay an amount equal to the amount of such reduction as premiums on an annuity contract or payments on a custodial account or other investment owned by such teacher or other employee, which annuity contract, custodial account or other investment is in such form and upon such terms as will qualify the payments thereon for tax deferment under the United States Internal Revenue Code. The amount of such reduction shall not exceed the amount excludable from income under section 403(b) of the United States Internal Revenue Code, and amendments and successor provisions thereto, and shall be considered a part of the teacher's or employee's salary for all purposes other than federal and state income tax.

The purchase of such tax deferred investment for a teacher or other employee by a board of education, the teachers retirement board, the West Virginia board of education and the board of regents of West Virginia and their agencies shall impose no liability nor responsibility whatsoever on said boards or members thereof except to show that the payments have been remitted for the purposes for which deducted.

§18A-4-13. Compliance with this article. Any board failing to comply with the provisions of this article may be compelled to do so by mandamus.

§18A-4-14. Duty-free lunch and daily planning period for certain employees.

(a) Notwithstanding the provisions of section seven, article two of this chapter, every teacher who is employed for a period of time more than one half the class periods of the regular school day and every service person whose employment is for a period of more than three and one-half hours per day and whose pay is at least the amount indicated in the state minimum pay scale as set forth in section eight-a of this article shall be provided a daily lunch recess of not less than thirty consecutive minutes, and the employee shall not be assigned any responsibilities during this recess. The recess shall be included in the number of hours worked, and no county shall increase the number of hours to be worked by an employee as a result of the employee being granted a recess under the provisions of this section.

(b) Every teacher who is regularly employed for a period of time more than one half the class periods of the regular school day shall be provided at least one planning period within each school instructional day to be used to complete necessary preparations for the instruction of pupils. No teacher may be assigned any responsibilities during this period, and no county shall increase the number of hours to be worked by a teacher as a result of such teacher being granted a planning period subsequent to the adoption of this section (March 13, 1982).

The duration of the planning period shall be in accordance with the following:

(1) For grades where the majority of the student instruction is delivered by only one teacher, the planning period shall be no less than forty minutes; and

(2) For grades where students take separate courses during at least four separate periods of instruction, most usually delivered by different teachers for each subject, the planning period shall be the length of the usual class period taught by the teacher, but no less than forty minutes. Principals, and assistant principals, where applicable, shall cooperate in carrying out the provisions of this subsection, including, but not limited to, assuming control of the class period or supervision of students during the time the teacher is engaged in the planning period. Substitute teachers may also be utilized to assist with classroom responsibilities under this subsection: Provided, That any substitute teacher who is employed to teach a minimum of two consecutive days in the same position shall be granted a planning period pursuant to this section.

(c) Nothing in this section prevents any teacher from exchanging his or her lunch recess or a planning period or any service person from exchanging his or her lunch recess for any compensation or benefit mutually agreed upon by the employee and the county superintendent or his or her agent: Provided, That a teacher and the superintendent or his or her agent may not agree to terms which are different from those available to any other teacher granted rights under this section within the individual school or to terms which in any way discriminate among those teachers within the individual school, and a service person granted rights under this section and the superintendent or his or her agent may not agree to terms which are different from those available to any other service personnel within the same classification category granted rights under this section within the individual school or to terms which in any way discriminate among those service personnel within the same classification category within the individual school.

(d) The state board shall conduct a study on planning periods. The study shall include, but not be limited to, the appropriate length for planning periods at the various grade levels and for the different types of class schedules. The board shall report its findings and recommendations to the Legislative Oversight Commission on Education Accountability no later than December 31,

2013.

Without Cause & Personal Leave (State Code): Text