ROLLING RIVER TEACHERS' ASSOCIATION

EFFECTIVE PERIOD: 2018/07/01 - 2022/06/30

ARTICLE 7: LEAVE OF ABSENCE

7.01 Association Leave

  1. A teacher being a member of The Manitoba Teachers' Society Executive Committee or any branch thereof or of any special committee or any branch thereof, and being authorized by the Executive Committee of the Society in a matter of society business requiring absence from school, shall have the right to attend such meeting or to act as such representative or delegate shall be excused from school duties on not more than a total of five teaching days in any school year.

A maximum of thirty (30) days in total may be taken for the purposes mentioned in this clause during any one school year by the members of the Association. This maximum shall not be applied to collective bargaining between the parties.

 

  1. A teacher who is serving as president of the local association of the Manitoba Teachers’ Society shall be excused from school duties up to 1/6 time. A substitute teacher satisfactory to the Board shall be provided. The cost of the president’s salary and benefits shall be borne by the Association. The number of teaching days so excused may be extended if the Manitoba Teachers’ Society member makes a request for an extension to the Superintendent. The reasons for the extension shall be included in any such request and any such request shall not be unreasonably denied.  In all cases the teacher shall notify the Superintendent’s office five (5) teaching days prior to taking such leave.  In emergency cases the five (5) days notice may be waived by mutual consent.

7.02 Post Secondary Examination Leave

In the case of a teacher requiring a day from teaching duties for the purpose of writing examinations on subjects required to raise teaching qualifications, such teacher shall provide a substitute teacher, satisfactory to the Board. The substitute's salary shall be deducted from the teacher and the substitute will be paid by the Board.

7.03 General Leave

  1. Short-Term

A teacher may be granted a leave of absence with or without pay for personal reasons with the approval of the Superintendent.

 

  1. Long-Term

A teacher may be granted, upon request, leave of absence without pay, subject to the following conditions:

  1. All applications for such leave shall be submitted to the   Board prior to April 1st of the year in which leave is to be granted.
  2. A teacher granted leave of absence shall be regarded as still on staff and this leave shall not constitute a break in tenure.
  3. Teachers engaged in educational duties during this leave of absence shall accrue increments during that period as outlined in Article 3.01, provided this experience is recognized by Manitoba Education for grant purposes.
  4. A teacher, after leave, shall return to a salary in accordance with the current collective agreement.
  5. The final decision on granting leave of absence shall rest with a committee composed of three (3) members of the School Board and two (2) members of the Teachers' Association.

7.04 Sabbatical Leave

  1. The Board may, upon request, grant Sabbatical Leave to members of the teaching staff.

 

  1. Sabbatical Leave may, upon request, be granted to a maximum of one teacher for every one hundred (100) teaching staff, or fraction thereof.

 

  1. Where all other considerations are very nearly equal, seniority shall be the basis for awarding Sabbatical Leave.

 

  1. All applications must be submitted not later than February 1st of the year in which consideration is asked.

 

  1. Remuneration while on Sabbatical Leave shall be two-thirds (2/3rds) of the basic salary received by the teacher in the year completed before leave is granted.

 

  1. Sabbatical Leave will be granted for further study. The merit of the particular program chosen should be set forth by the teacher applying in a letter to the Board.

 

  1. Sabbatical Leave will be granted or rejected by a joint Committee of the Board and the Manitoba Teachers' Society Association. Such committee will be composed of three (3) Board members appointed by the Board and two (2) Association members appointed by the Association President.

 

  1. Payment of the leave shall be made on a monthly basis in the same manner as it is presently for teachers on staff. Payment of the leave will be made with the provisions that the teacher shall return to the Division. If the teacher desires to seek employment elsewhere, he or she shall repay the amount received as set out below.
  1. If not returning - full payment.
  2. If returning for one year only - 50% repayment.

If a teacher fails to return after sabbatical, full repayment shall be made on or before September 1st of the year that the teacher would normally resume work in the Division.

7.05 Sick Leave

  1. When a teacher is absent from work because of sickness, he/she shall be entitled to sick leave during such absence and to be paid his/her salary during this leave. Subject to subsection (b) of this Article, the leave shall not exceed twenty (20) teaching days in any school year.

 

  1. Where the employment of a teacher is continued for more than one (1) year, the unused portion of the sick leave in any year(s) shall be carried forward and accumulated from year to year to a maximum of one hundred, thirty (130) days.

 

  1. Should the Division become eligible for a reduction in premium under the Unemployment Insurance Act, the teachers' five-twelfth (5/12) share of the premium reduction will be remitted twice yearly, at the conclusion of the Spring and Fall Terms, to the Treasurer of the Association.

 

  1. A teacher may be required to furnish a medical certificate when requested by the division.

 

  1. Up to five (5) days of accumulated sick leave per school year may be used to attend to the illness or injury a teacher’s spouse or common law partner, child, or parent.

7:06 Personal Leave

Teachers shall be granted two (2) days personal leave per school year at no cost to the teacher.  This leave is contingent on the Division providing a replacement teacher.  Prior notification must be submitted in writing to the teacher’s principal for Personal Leave except in emergency situations where the written notification may be submitted after the use of Personal Leave.

 

Said leave is on a first come first served basis and each day must be taken in its entirety.

 

No more than two teachers per school shall be granted said leave at the same time on a staff of ten or more teachers. A staff having less than ten teachers shall only be entitled to one personal leave at the same time.

 

This leave shall not be used on scheduled in-service, administration days, parent teacher days, pupil evaluation days nor to extend Christmas or summer break unless the Division has expressly given consent to do so by the Superintendent.  Personal Leave cannot be accumulated from year to year.

7:07 Jury Duty

A teacher who is required to serve on a jury shall receive regular pay during that period. The teacher shall refund to the School Division any payment received for jury duty.

7:08 Parenting Leave

Maternity or Parental Leaves shall be in accordance with the Employment Standards Code of the Province of Manitoba.        

Top-Up Benefits

  1. Effective January 1, 2017 a teacher taking Maternity Leave and/or Parental Leave pursuant to this article shall be entitled to receive pay equivalent to ninety percent (90%) of the teacher’s gross salary (gross salary means the teacher’s gross salary at the time the leave commenced plus any subsequently negotiated salary adjustments) for up to one hundred and thirty-five (135) teaching days, which pay will include any Employment Insurance benefits received in accordance with this article.

 

  1. Effective January 1, 2017 the Division shall pay a teacher on Maternity Leave and/or Parental Leave:
  1. if the teacher’s one (1) week or five (5) day waiting period falls entirely on teaching days, ninety percent (90%) of the teacher’s gross salary plus up to eighty (80) teaching days of Maternity Leave Top-Up calculated at the difference between the teacher’s Employment Insurance benefit and ninety percent (90%) of the teacher’s gross salary provided the teacher remains on either maternity or Parental Leave and continues to receive Employment Insurance benefits;
  2. if the teacher’s one (1) week or five (5) day waiting period falls partially or entirely within a non-teaching period, ninety percent (90%) of the teacher’s gross salary for any teaching days and up to eighty-five (85) teaching days of Maternity Leave top-up calculated at the difference between the teacher’s Employment Insurance benefit and ninety percent (90%) of the teacher’s gross salary provided the teacher remains on either Maternity or Parental Leave and continues to receive Employment Insurance benefits;
  3. up to fifty (50) teaching days of Parental Leave top-up calculated at the difference between the teacher’s Employment Insurance benefit and ninety percent (90%) of the teacher’s gross salary provided the teacher remains on Parental Leave and continues to receive Employment Insurance benefits.

For greater certainty, a teacher who is receiving Employment Insurance benefits shall be entitled to:

  1. one hundred and thirty-five (135) teaching days of pay and/or top-up benefits if the teacher takes both Maternity Leave and Parental Leave;
  2. eighty-five (85) teaching days of pay and/or top-up benefits if the teacher only takes Maternity Leave;
  3. fifty (50) teaching days of pay and/or top-up benefits if the teacher only takes Parental Leave;

unless the teacher takes a shorter period of Maternity Leave or Parental Leave in which case, the pay and/or top-up will be pro-rated to reflect the actual number of teaching days taken. The parties acknowledge that the top-up payments made by the Division for Maternity Leave may extend into the period of time that the teacher is on Parental Leave but the payment is intended to be a top-up of Maternity Leave benefits.

  1. Non-Application

This article shall not apply to any teacher who is employed on a term contract during the teacher’s first year of Employment. All other teachers shall be eligible to receive the top-up benefits once they have been employed for a period of seven (7) months by the Division.