Sick Leave Bank

  • The sick leave bank is a benefit to assist employees in dealing with prolonged, severe, or life-threatening conditions that force them to exhaust paid leave and would otherwise result in a loss of income. The sick leave bank is a collective deposit of Local Sick Leave days received from enrolling employees and subsequent contributions from members. All days deposited in the bank become the property of the sick leave bank and are no longer available for use by the individual employee as accrued leave.

    If the sick leave bank days drop to 30 available days or less, the District will solicit employees to voluntarily contribute leave days. Any one employee may donate no more than one day per solicitation. If the sick leave bank reaches a balance of zero available days, the sick leave bank will close until the next open enrollment period. The Benefits & Wellness Coordinator will administer the sick leave bank and is responsible for receiving and granting requests for sick leave bank days. Four district employees, the Superintendent, The Chief Financial Officer, the Benefits & Wellness Coordinator and the District Head Nurse, will serve on the sick leave bank committee to evaluate all requests of days from the sick leave bank. They will meet on an as needed basis to review requests for days. 

    Eligibility and Enrollment. Participation in the sick leave bank is available on a voluntary basis for all employees who work at least 20 hours per week, receive leave, and are eligible for BISD insurance benefits. Employees may join during the open enrollment period at the beginning of each school year. Only employees who contribute and join are eligible to use the sick leave bank. 

    An employee may request days from the sick leave bank for the following family members:

    • Employee
    • Parent of employee
    • Spouse of employee
    • Son, stepson, daughter, or stepdaughter of employee
    • Child for whom the employee is legal guardian.

     

    Membership requires a contribution of one local leave day, per year. An employee's "day" is equivalent to the number of hours in that employee's typical day. Any leave days contributed remain in the bank and will not return to the employee, even upon cancellation of the membership.

    Eligible employees wishing to join the sick leave bank must complete the online enrollment option available at the beginning of each school year during open enrollment. The District will deduct a local leave day from the employee's local leave balance no later than October 31st of each year. Employees who do not join the sick leave bank during open enrollment period are ineligible to join until the next school year's open enrollment period.

    Qualifying to withdraw leave. For the purposes of the sick leave bank, a catastrophic injury or illness is defined as a condition or combination of conditions that meets the following criteria:

    • Life-threatening; and/or
    • Requires 5 or more days of hospitalization or major medical treatment such as surgery, chemotherapy, radiation and the like; and
    • Has totally incapacitated the individual from work; and
    • Requires the services of an M.D. or D.O. throughout the period of the catastrophic leave, as certified by a medical professional.
    • The condition of pregnancy shall not be covered by sick leave bank. However, medical complications that arise from childbirth shall be considered.
    • Routine illnesses and general surgeries do not qualify as catastrophic, in general.

     

    Requesting leave. A member who requests days from the sick leave bank must submit to the sick leave bank administrator prior to an extended medical leave or within 30 days after returning to duty. The employee may access the forms for requesting days by submitting the Sick Leave Bank request form and physician certification form that can be found on the Bastrop ISD website Benefits page.

    Benefits from the sick leave bank will be available only after the member has exhausted all accumulated state and local leave days and any extended compensatory time.

    If a sick leave bank member does not use all of the days granted from the sick leave bank, the unused days will be returned to the District. In no case will sick leave bank benefits allow an employee to receive more than his/her expected salary. An employee is ineligible for sick leave bank membership if they have received sick leave bank benefits five of the last eight years.

    Each qualifying employee may receive a lifetime maximum of 50 extended leave days. Based on years of service with the District as of the first date of leave, the following schedule shows the number of extended leave days available to an employee:

     

    Years of Service with the District

    Maximum Days per School Year

    1-5

    10 days

    6-10

    15 days

    11-15

    20 days

    16-20

    25 days

    21 or more

    30 days

     

    Appeal procedure. An employee may appeal the sick leave bank committee's decision within 10 working days of the notification of the decision. The employee must supply new, additional medical records for the appeal.

    An employee will lose the right to use the benefits of the sick leave bank by:

    • Termination or suspension of employment in the District,
    • Abuse or misuse of the sick leave bank privileges , and/or
    • Cancellation of membership by the employee during open enrollment.

     

     

Forms