5.010 Sick Leave
Policy 5.010. Sick Leave
Administrators
Each full-time Administrator shall be entitled to sick leave with full pay of fifteen (15) days in each year. Unused sick leave may be accumulated from year to year to a maximum of one hundred and eighty (180) days.
Non-certified Employees
Each non-certified employee shall earn sick leave at the rate of one and a quarter (1.25) days per month that they work. The annual sick leave accrual will be made available to each non- certified employee in two installments; (6.25) days at the start of each fiscal year or at time of hire; and (6.25) days as of January 1 of each year even though it has not yet been accrued by the employee. Sick leave days may be accumulated to a maximum of one hundred and fifty (150) days.
Sick Leave Generally
The employee's immediate supervisor and/or Division Director may require medical certifications from a physician or health care provider in the same types and under the same procedures as those applicable to FMLA leave after the first 40 hours of sick time is used by an employee in a fiscal year.
Part-time employees working 16 hours or more hours per week are eligible for sick leave on a prorated basis.
Part-time employees accrue one (1) hour of sick leave for every forty (40) hours of work (up to an accumulation of forty (40) hours per calendar year) in accordance with Public Act 24-8, Connecticut’s new paid sick leave law.
According to state law, a part-time employee cannot use more than 40 hours of sick leave in a calendar year.
Employees may use paid sick leave for his or her own:
● illness, injury, or health condition;
● the medical diagnosis, care or treatment of his or her mental illness or physical illness, injury or health condition;
● preventative medical care; or
● mental health wellness day.
An employee may use paid sick leave for a family member’s:
● illness, injury, or health condition;
● the medical diagnosis, care or treatment of his or her mental illness or physical illness, injury or health condition;
● preventative medical care
An employee may use paid sick leave when either:
● the employers place of business or a family members school or place of care closes by order of a public official due to a public health emergency; or
● a health authority, the employer of the employee or the employee’s family member, or a health care provider determines that the employee or the employee’s family member poses a risk to the health of others because of exposure to a communicable disease.
An employee may use paid sick leave if the employee or the employees family member is a victim of family violence or sexual assault:
● for medical care or psychological or counseling for physical or psychological injury or disability;
● to obtain services from a victim services organization;
● to relocate due to such family violence or sexual assault;
● to participate in any civil or criminal proceedings related to or resulting from such family violence or sexual assault.
Family member is defined as a spouse, sibling, child, grandparent, grandchild, or parent of an employee, or an individual who is related to the employee by blood or by an affinity whose close association with the employee shows to be equivalent to those family relationships.
Paid Sick Leave and FMLA
If paid sick leave is being taken for an FMLA-qualifying reason, the paid sick leave would run concurrently with the FMLA Leave. Additionally, if the employee’s absence(s) are due to a qualifying reason for FMLA under applicable state or federal law, then C.E.S. may require medical certification prior to the use of 40 hours of sick time.
Discipline and Paid Sick Leave
C.E.S. may not discipline employees for using paid sick leave. However, if an employee uses more than 40 hours of paid sick leave, C.E.S. may take corrective action for the absences after the first 40 hours. C.E.S. may take disciplinary action against employees who use paid sick leave for purposes other than those authorized by the law. Retaliation for using paid sick leave is prohibited.
Sick Leave Donation
Sick leave donation is to aid employees who are suffering a prolonged or serious illness as attested to in writing by the physician treating the employee for the illness and have exhausted his/her own leave days.
When an employee has exhausted all leave days, he/she may apply for sick leave donation. When a certified employee applies for sick leave donation, the CESEA President or his/her designee and the Executive Director or his/her designee shall meet as a committee and decide whether or not to approve the employee’s request. If a non-certified employee applies for sick leave donation, then the executive director or his/her designee will decide whether or not to approve the employee’s request.
If approved, the employee requesting the donation shall be consulted as to how notice goes out for the donation. Individual employees may donate up to five (5) days of sick leave per request. No employee may donate sick leave if the donation leaves them with fewer 90.0 hours (12 days). The employee requesting donation may receive a total of up to sixty (60) sick leave days.
Donated days shall be distributed to the requesting employee one (1) day at a time from the donating employee(s) on a rotating basis.
Sick leave days shall be removed from a donor's account only as they are used. Donors may be anonymous or not, at their discretion. Denial of requests for sick leave donation shall be made in writing and shall not be grievable. Employees receiving Workers Compensation benefits are ineligible for sick donation.
Definitions
“Prolonged illness” means illness involving stay in a hospital/clinic as an in-patient and any period thereafter or illness necessitating ongoing treatments such as cancer.
“Serious illness” means an accident, injury, illness, disease, or physical or mental condition that poses an imminent danger of death; requires inpatient care in a hospital, hospice, or residential medical facility; or requires continuing in-home care under the direction of a physician or health care provider.
ADOPTED: October 22, 1986
REVISED: April 25, 1991
REVISED: June 18, 1992
REVISED: June 1, 2000
REVISED: February 1, 2007
REVISED: May 6, 2010
REVISED: January 12, 2012
REVISED: November 1, 2018
REVISED: May 7, 2020
REVISED: November 3, 2022
REVISED: April 3, 2025