5.11.15 Time Off for School Staff
Paid holidays and vacation are determined by each elementary school and parish high school subject to the pastor's approval; the
Department of Catholic Schools establishes the paid holidays and vacation for high schools. All other kinds of time off are subject to the archdiocesan policies and procedures as set forth in
Time Off.
The principal is required to inform all staff members at the beginning of their employment what the school's time off policies and practices are, and provide the information to the archdiocesan Payroll Department. The staff must also be informed of any change to the school's time-off policy before the change is implemented.
Schools must include these paid absences in their annual budget as liabilities to address the need to hire substitutes.
Holidays
Schools recognize certain designated national holidays and holy days throughout the year as paid holidays. For high schools, these paid holidays are determined each year by the Department of Catholic Schools. In elementary schools and parish high schools, paid holidays are determined each year by the principal with the approval of the pastor.
If a non-exempt employee is assigned to work on a designated holiday, that employee will be entitled to be paid for the holiday in addition to regular pay for time worked.
Vacation
Schools are not required by law to provide paid vacation. Paid vacations may be provided to certain employees for the purpose of rest and renewal as determined by each school. For those
employees with written employment agreements, vacation is determined by the terms of their agreement.
If a school provides paid vacation, the time off should ordinarily be taken during a period when students are not in attendance, unless the person in charge determines otherwise. Requests for vacation time must be submitted for approval to the person in charge as far in advance as possible.
Those employees who are eligible for paid vacation are encouraged to take their full allotment of vacation leave each year. Schools may not have a "use it or lose it" policy. Vacation accrual may be capped. Employees whose employment ends must be paid out their accrued, unused vacation promptly.
Sick Time
Elementary schools shall, at a minimum, comply with local and state laws pertaining to paid sick time off. High school employees are entitled to 10 days of sick time with pay during each school year. Sick time is paid only for days on which the employee would otherwise have worked a regular schedule, and not for absences on Saturday, Sunday, or school holidays.
Sick time may be provided to an employee as a "bank" up front at the beginning of the school year, which the employee draws down when using sick time. Or sick time can be provided on an accrual basis, which the employee earns each pay period. For additional information, see Time Off Guidelines.
Schools may opt to allow unused sick time to carry over to a maximum of 30 days. If such a carryover plan is adopted, at most 20 days of unused sick time may be carried over from previous years, plus an additional 10 days of unused sick time for the current school year. When an employee has reached the maximum sick time accrual, the employee will no longer accrue any sick time until the balance goes below the limit.
To obtain payment for sick time, the employee must be absent because of a bona fide illness or injury. For absences of 3 days or more, the employee must present proof of illness or injury on returning to work. Any false claim for or fraudulent use of sick time can be cause for discipline, including
termination.
Upon termination, employees will not be paid for any accrued but unused sick time.
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