Policy: Employee Leave

• Sick leave for employees in Board-approved positions is earned at the rate of 1.25 days per month times the number of months worked. The maximum number of sick leave days Board-approved employees may accumulate is 150 days. After a full-time employee has accumulated 150 days of sick leave, no additional sick leave can be earned unless part of this balance is used. (For example, an employee with 150 days of sick leave must use at least one hour of sick leave in order to be eligible to earn the one hour back to his or her balance.) An employee must be at work or on paid
  leave 13 working days within a month to earn sick leave. Employees working 20 or more hours per week but less than 40 hours per week will earn a pro-rated share of sick leave.
• O.C.G.A. § 20-2-850 provides guidelines for the transfer of unused sick leave up to a maximum of 45 days. Verification from the previous employer is required.
• Upon the approval of the principal or program manager, an employee may utilize sick leave for the following reasons:
  1. Illness, injury or childbirth. Employees may use sick leave during the first six calendar weeks of adoption leave and sick leave can be used for paternity leave for six calendar weeks immediately following the birth of a child. Certification from the adoption agency or the attorney who arranges the adoption is required.
  2. Exposure to contagious disease necessitated to protect the health of others who might be endangered by his or her attendance.
  3. Illness or death in the employee's immediate family. Immediate family includes employee's spouse, children, grandchildren, parent, brothers, sisters, grandparents, in-law equivalent of the above, any relative residing in the employee's home or any dependent as shown in the employee's most recent tax return. This definition also covers in loco parentis relationships.
• Employees absent for other than approved reasons, or absent after sick leave has been exhausted, shall have their rate of pay adjusted accordingly.
• Compensation for Accumulated Sick Leave for Retiring Employees:
  • When an employee terminates employment with Gwinnett County Public Schools and immediately retires from the district, he/she will be compensated for unused sick leave hours up to the maximum of 1,000 hours, as noted in the GCPS Personnel Handbook.
• O.C.G.A. § 20-2-850 states that an employee under specific circumstances, can donate up to a total of 10 sick leave days to his or her spouse if the spouse is also an employee of the district. Donation cannot exceed 10 days throughout the term of employment. The donation of sick leave to a spouse may require proper documentation confirming the marriage in the form of a marriage certificate. Both employees must be members of the GCPS Sick Leave Bank in order to donate sick leave to a spouse. Donated sick leave may be used for maternity leave, illness, illness of a family member, or death of a family member, as defined in section 3 of this policy.

An employee may use up to a maximum of three days of accumulated sick leave for personal or professional reasons each fiscal year. Prior approval of absence must be given by the principal or program manager. The absence must not be in conflict with the leave days not permissible that is published annually. Approval for an absence permitted under this section shall not be conditioned upon disclosure of the specific purpose for which such absence is sought, nor shall any such grant of approval be withheld or denied because of the failure or refusal of the employee to disclose the specific purpose for which an absence is sought.

Benefit-eligible 12-month employees accumulate vacation leave on a monthly basis. An employee must be at work or on paid leave 13 working days within a month in order to earn vacation leave. Employees working 20 or more hours per week but less than 40 hours per week will earn a pro-rated share of vacation leave.

For vacation purposes, the length of employment will be determined on the anniversary date of continuous employment as indicated below:

• Vacation leave may be accumulated to a maximum of what a 12-month employee would earn in a 25-month period. When the maximum is reached, additional vacation accumulation is not permissible.
• All vacation leave is subject to approval by the principal or program manager.
• At the time of termination, employees will receive pay for earned vacation up to 48 days.
• Benefit-elegible 12-month employees who accumulate vacation leave will follow the holiday schedule as indicated below:
  • Holidays
    • New Year's Day (1)
    • Martin Luther King Jr. Day (1)
    • Spring Holiday (1)
    • Memorial Day (1)
    • Juneteenth (1)
    • Independence Day (1)
    • Labor Day (1)
    • Thanksgiving (2)
    • Winter Holidays (Minimum of 7 days, may vary year to year.)

All district employees shall be allowed time off without loss of pay for the purposes of attending jury duty, a judicial proceeding in response to a work-related subpoena or other court order, or a process arising out of the employee's duties.

Employees who serve as jurors shall not have leave deducted from accrued leave. No employee serving on jury duty shall be required to pay the cost of employing a substitute to serve in his or her absence. Employees who serve as jurors may retain juror compensation.

Employees called up on active military duty for more than 10 consecutive working days will be placed on a leave of absence for the duration of their service. All district employees will be paid for a maximum period of 18 working days for ordered military duty, per federal fiscal year (October 1 - September 30). Applicable federal and state laws will be followed. Employees who are on leave due to military service may use accrued vacation, personal leave, and/or compensatory time following the 18-day period.

Employees in a Board-approved position may be eligible for up to 15 30 days of paid parental leave following a qualifying life event. A qualifying life event includes: 1) the birth of a child of an employee; 2) the placement of a minor child for adoption with an eligible employee; or 3) the placement of a minor child for foster care with an eligible employee. An employee must have been employed six continuous months and worked a minimum of 700 hours within the preceding six months of the requested leave. Parental Leave may be taken in a block of time or used in increments of less than eight hours.

Paid Parental Leave does not carry over for future use, nor does it exceed 15 30 days (120 240 hours) in a 12-month period. The maximum amount of paid parental leave that may be taken by an eligible employee during a 12-month period is 120 240 hours, regardless of the number of qualifying life events that occur during such period. The 12-month period begins on the date of birth, adoption or placement of a foster child. Documentation is required for leave usage, and runs concurrent with any leave under federal law. Unused paid parental leave shall have no cash value.

Leave for religious holidays may be granted to employees in Board-approved positions. Leave for religious holidays may not exceed three days per fiscal year. The leave should be made up by the employee at a time mutually agreed upon by the employee and the principal or program manager.

Requests for religious leave must be submitted 20 days prior to the requested leave date. There are times when religious observances occur close to the beginning of the school year making it impossible for employees to give 20 days notice. Whenever this situation exists, less than 20 days notice is acceptable. Notice should be provided at the beginning of the school year.