Family Leave:
- Family Leave may be applied for and utilized in accordance with State and Federal regulations. During the period of disability referred to in Section 2 below accrued sick leave may be utilized prior to the commencement of unpaid leave.
- Requests for medical leave shall include the date of commencement and the expected date that the disability is anticipated to conclude. In cases of pregnancy, the period of disability is presumed to commence thirty (30) calendar days before the projected birth date and is presumed to end thirty (30) calendar days after the termination of the pregnancy. Any deviation from the foregoing requires the submission of a physician’s certification.
- An employee may request, in conjunction with the above or by itself, an unpaid leave of absence in connection with child rearing of a new born or newly adopted child. Such request for leave will be submitted a minimum of ninety (90) days prior to the anticipated due date or the date the leave is to commence.
- Child rearing leave may be for a period of up to one (1) year immediately following the birth or adoption of the child, but at the Board's option it may be extended to the beginning of the next school year or semester following its anticipated expiration date.
- In addition to the continuation of education provisions of the Family Leave Laws, when an unpaid maternity leave is requested by a staff member to commence during the first month of the school year, such leave shall commence at the start of that school year.
- The term teacher shall mean all employees.
- An employee's return date to employment may be extended for a reasonable period of time, not to exceed two (2) years from its original expiration date, at her request, for reasons associated with the birth, adoption or other related causes. However, the leave of absence granted a non-tenured employee hereunder may not be extended beyond the end of the next succeeding school year after which leave is obtained. Such leave shall not serve to provide tenure to a non-tenured employee.
- Except as provided above, no employee shall be barred from returning to duty after the birth of her child solely on the grounds that there has not been a specified time lapse between the birth and her desired date of return.
- No employee shall be removed from her position during pregnancy and placed on maternity leave except upon one of the following:
(a) The Board has found that she is unable or unwilling to perform all normal duties associated with her position, including her normal co-curricular and extra-curricular duties normally assigned to her.
(b) The pregnant employee is found to be medically unable to continue in her position by her own physician and the Board's physician, or where these physicians disagree, by a physician jointly selected by the Board and employee. The opinion of the selected physician on medical capacity shall be final and binding.