RIVER EAST TRANSCONA TEACHERS' ASSOCIATION

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

ARTICLE 10: LEAVES OF ABSENCE

10.01 Executive Duties

A teacher, being a member of the Manitoba Teachers’ Society Executive Committee or of the Executive Committee of any branch thereof, or any special committee of the Society, or being appointed an official representative or delegate of the Society, or any branch thereof, and being authorized by the executive committee of the Society to attend a meeting of the committee of which he or she is a member, or to act as a representative or delegate of the Society, or any branch of the Society, in a matter of Society business requiring absence from school, shall have the right to attend such meetings, or to act as such representative or delegate, and shall be excused from school duties for either purpose or both purposes on not more than a total of five (5) teaching days in any school year provided that a satisfactory substitute can be secured and provided that substitute rate is paid to the Division by the Society or the Association. A maximum of one hundred forty (140) days in total may be taken for the foregoing purpose during a school year by members of the Association.

No additional leave of absence in a school year shall be taken for the purposes mentioned above, except with the consent and approval of the Board and provided that a satisfactory substitute can be secured, and provided that the per diem rate of the teacher’s salary is reimbursed to the Division by the Society or the Association.

Five teaching days’ notice shall be given to the Division by the teacher requiring the leave, provided that in the event less notice is given the Division shall not unreasonably withhold its consent for leave.

10.02 Leave for Executive Positions with the Association or The Manitoba Teachers' Society

  1. The Association President and one additional officer each shall be permitted leave from teaching duties either full time or half time.   The amount of leave shall be determined by the Association prior to the beginning of the school year.  The Association shall reimburse the Division for the salary paid to the President and the additional officer for that portion of time they are released for Association duties.  Upon completion of term they will be guaranteed the same or similar employment position. The Association will also reimburse for the appropriate percentage of allowance, where applicable, benefits (such as E.I., C.P.P., and Group Life Insurance premiums, etc.) and other costs related to the leave of the President or additional officer.  Except in the case of a part-time President or officer, the right granted herein shall be in place of and not in addition to the rights granted by Leave of Absence for Executive Duties article of this Agreement.  Upon the return of the teacher to the Division, the teacher shall be reinstated in a position no less favourable than the one held by the teacher prior to the leave.
  1. Any person covered by this agreement, who, being elected to The Manitoba Teachers’ Society as President or Vice-President shall upon reasonable notice be granted leave for that term of office, and upon the return of that teacher to the Division, shall be reinstated in a position no less favourable than the one held by the teacher prior to the leave.

10.03 Examinations and Convocations

A teacher may be absent from school without loss of salary for a total of two (2) days in any school year to write examinations in an accredited course in which he/she has been enrolled to improve his/her professional standing and to attend his/her own convocation.

10.04 Major Religious Holidays

  1. A teacher under contract shall be given leave of absence up to a maximum of three (3) days per school year without loss of pay for major religious holy days observed by the teacher and designated as a day of obligation by the teacher’s religion.
  1. Teachers shall not absent themselves from duty for reasons of religious holy days without first notifying the Superintendent or designate.
  1. The following notification period shall apply:
    1. teachers on staff requiring religious holy leaves during the school year shall provide notice in writing on the prescribed form as soon as possible after the start of the school year, however, not later than September 30th;
    2. in instances where religious holy leave is required prior to September 30th in the school year notice shall be given within ten (10) working days after the start of the school year, unless the holy day falls within the first ten (10) working days of the school year where the notice shall not be less than five (5) working days;
    3. where the appropriate notice has not been given religious holy days’ leave will be provided and the teacher’s regular salary will be deducted the substitute teacher rate in the teacher’s salary classification;
    4. teachers employed after September 30th shall give notice within ten (10) working days of commencement of employment.
  1. The parties agree that this article constitutes reasonable accommodation for religious holy leave.

10.05 Other Additional Leave

A teacher may be absent from school for personal reasons under the following conditions:

  1. The length of time must be mutually agreeable to the teacher and the Superintendent.
  1. A suitable substitute can be provided.
  1. At the discretion of the Superintendent the teacher shall:
    1. receive full pay, or
    2. be deducted the per diem of his/her regular pay, or
    3. be deducted salary equal to cost of substitute.

10.06 Jury Duty Service or Witness Duty

A teacher who is called upon to serve on a jury panel or as a witness, shall be paid his/her regular salary.  The teacher shall be available for duty at his/her school during regular school hours when his/her attendance may not be required at Court and will present proof of jury service or witness duty.  Any fee or payment, excluding expenses, received by reason of service as a juror or witness for school days declared by Manitoba Education, shall be forwarded to the Division.

The foregoing is not applicable to the private affairs of the teacher such as private business or marital matters.

10.07 Maternity and Parental Leave

Effective the date of ratification,

  1. Every female teacher shall be entitled to maternity leave and every teacher shall be entitled to parental leave in accordance with this article.
  1. Every teacher shall be entitled to unpaid parental leave.
  1. Except as otherwise provided herein the Manitoba Employment Standards Code will apply.
  1. The teacher and the Division may mutually agree to extend the length of leave if the teacher so desires. Any such arrangement shall be confirmed in writing by the Division
  1. A teacher taking maternity leave pursuant of this article shall be entitled to receive pay for the period of leave up to seventeen (17) weeks in the amount of ninety percent (90%) of the salary being received at the time leave was taken, this pay to include any benefits received from Human Resources Development Canada to a Supplemental Employment Benefits (SEB) Plan. The implementation of this clause is subject to the successful arrangement of a Supplemental Employment Benefits Plan with Human Resources Development Canada.
  1. In respect to the period of maternity leave, payments made according to the SEB Plan will consist of the following:
  1. For the first two weeks, payment equivalent to 90% of her gross salary, and
  2. Up to fifteen (15) additional weeks payment equivalent to the difference between the Employment Insurance benefit the employee is eligible to receive and 90% of her gross salary.
  1. A teacher taking parental leave shall receive pay for the period of leave up to ten (10) weeks of payment equivalent to the difference between the payment from HRDC and 90% of his/her salary. The ten weeks includes any waiting period required for employment insurance benefits.
  1. Effective July 1, 2015 a teacher taking Maternity Leave and/or Parental/Adoptive Leave pursuant to this Article shall be entitled to receive pay equivalent to ninety percent (90%) of 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.

Effective July 1, 2015, the Division shall pay a teacher on Maternity Leave and/or Parental leave:

      1. if the teacher’s two (2) week or ten (10) day waiting period falls entirely on teaching days, ninety percent (90%) of the teacher’s gross salary plus up to seventy-five (75) 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 two (2) week or ten (10) 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;
      1. 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.
  1. 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 take 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. 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.

10.08 Sick Leave

  1. Sick leave shall be granted to provide lost income when a teacher is unable to be at work and perform regular duties due to illness or injury.
  1. Effective the fall term 2015, a full-time teacher who is under contract to the Division as of the first (1st) day of the fall term shall be credited with twenty (20) days sick leave (subject to a maximum accumulation of 130 days) on that date except that the employee must actually teach for at least one day before any sick leave days are credited to this teacher.  A full-time teacher coming under contract at a later date in the school year shall be credited with a pro-rata share of twenty (20) days, calculated to the closest whole day.  A regular part-time teacher is entitled to a pro-rata share of twenty (20) days sick leave per year and the principle of accumulation, and the total to be accumulated applies as to a full-time teacher.

The provisions of twenty (20) days sick leave shall be pro-rated where an employee returns from a leave at a time other than the commencement of the fall term.

Teachers employed on a part-time basis who have a Form 2, Teacher General, or Limited Term Teacher-General contact with the Division shall be granted sick leave with pay pro-rated based on full time equivalence.

  1. Where a teacher is absent from school because of sickness, the Division may require the teacher to submit to the Division a medical certificate from a duly qualified medical practitioner, certifying that the teacher was sick during the period of absence.

10.09 Bereavement Leave

A teacher shall be granted bereavement leave up to five (5) days without loss of pay in the case of the death of a parent, spouse, common-law spouse, child, brother, sister, mother-in-law, father-in-law, grandchild or grandparents

A teacher shall be granted up to one (1) day bereavement leave without loss of pay in the case of death of a daughter-in-law, son-in-law, brother-in-law, or sister-in-law. Brother-in-law and sister-in-law shall be defined as the brother or sister of the employee’s spouse or the spouse of the employee’s sibling.

A teacher shall be granted bereavement leave up to one (1) day without loss of pay in order to attend a funeral as a pallbearer.

The Division at its discretion may grant additional time to an employee to attend the funeral service where long distance travel is required.

10.10 Family Medical Leave

A teacher shall be entitled to use up to four (4) days of accumulated sick leave per year for emergent medical issues or appointments that require the teacher’s attention and that pertain to his/her spouse, children and/or parents. Such leave is non-cumulative from one school year to the next school year.

10.11 Personal Leave

Each teacher, with the approval of the Superintendent or designate and subject to the availability of a suitable substitute, shall be entitled to  two (2) days leave of absence for personal reasons at no cost to the teacher.

The Division shall not require teachers to provide reasons for their requests for personal leave.

Teachers employed on a part-time basis who have a Form 2, Teacher General, or Limited Term Teacher-General contract with the Division shall be entitled to two (2) days leave of absence for personal reasons pro-rated based on full time equivalence.

Unless there are extenuating circumstances, request for leave is on a first come, first served basis.  No more than two teachers per school shall be granted leave on the same day.

The personal leave day shall be used in its entirety.  .One unused day may be carried over for one year entitling a teacher to up to three (3) days leave of absence for personal reasons at no cost to the teacher.  No more than two (2) personal leave days may be used consecutively without the approval of the Superintendent or designate.

The provision of two (2) personal leave days shall be pro-rated where a teacher returns from a leave of absence at a time other than the start of the Fall term.  

Teachers shall not be granted leave for the following days, except as may be approved by the Superintendent:

    1. on any in-service day, parent-teacher day, administration day designated by the Division or school;
    2. to extend the time off for Spring, Summer or Christmas breaks.