AN ACT relating to the use of sick leave by school district personnel.

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AN ACT relating to the use of sick leave by school district personnel. 1
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Kentucky: 2
Section 1. KRS 161.155 is amended to read as follows: 3
(1) As used in this section: 4
(a) "Assault" shall mean an act that intentionally causes injury so significant that 5
the victim is determined to be, by certification of a physici an or surgeon duly 6
qualified under KRS Chapter 342, incapable of performing the duties of his or 7
her job; 8
(b) "Employee" shall mean any person, other than a teacher, employed in the 9
public schools, whether on a full or part-time basis; 10
(c) "Immediate family" shall mean the teacher's or employee's spouse, children 11
including stepchildren and foster children, grandchildren, daughters -in-law 12
and sons -in law, brothers and sisters, parents and spouse's parents, and 13
grandparents and spouse's grandp arents, without reference to the location or 14
residence of said relative, and any other blood relative who resides in the 15
teacher's or employee's home; 16
(d) "Sick leave bank" shall mean an aggregation of sick leave days contributed by 17
teachers or employees f or use by teachers or employees who have exhausted 18
all sick leave and other available paid leave days; and 19
(e) "Teacher" shall mean any person for whom certification is required as a basis 20
of employment in the common schools of the state. 21
(2) Each district board of education shall allow to each teacher and full -time employee 22
in its common school system not less than ten (10) days of sick leave during each 23
school year, without deduction of salary. Sick leave shall be granted to a teacher or 24
employee if he or she presents a personal statement or a certificate of a physician 25
stating that the teacher or employee was ill, that the teacher or employee was absent 26
for the purpose of attending to a member of his or her immediate family who was 27
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ill, or for the purpose of mourning a member of his or her immediate family. 1
Teachers and employees of the school district may also use accumulated sick 2
leave for the observance of religious holidays not otherwise included in the 3
school calendar, provided the teacher or employee submits a personal statement 4
verifying the observance of the religious holiday and provides sufficient advance 5
notice as determined by the school district. The ten (10) days of sick leave granted 6
in this subsection may be taken by a teacher or employee on any ten (10) days of 7
the school year and shall be granted in addition to accumulated sick leave days that 8
have been credited to the teacher or employee under the provisions of subsection 9
(4) of this section. 10
(3) A school district shall coordinate among th e income and benefits from workers' 11
compensation, temporary disability retirement, and district payroll and benefits so 12
that there is no loss of income or benefits to a teacher or employee for work time 13
lost because of an assault while performing the teach er's or employee's assigned 14
duties for a period of up to one (1) year after the assault. In the event a teacher or 15
employee suffers an assault while performing his or her assigned duties that results 16
in injuries that qualify the teacher or employee for wor kers' compensation benefits, 17
the district shall provide leave to the teacher or employee for up to one (1) year 18
after the assault with no loss of income or benefits under the following conditions: 19
(a) The district shall pay the salary of the teacher or emp loyee between the time 20
of the assault and the time the teacher's or employee's workers' compensation 21
income benefits take effect, or the time the teacher or employee is certified to 22
return to work by a physician or surgeon duly qualified under KRS Chapter 23
342, whichever is sooner; 24
(b) The district shall pay, for up to one (1) year from the time of the assault, the 25
difference between the salary of the teacher or employee and any workers' 26
compensation income benefits received by the teacher or employee result ing 27
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from the assault. Payments by the district shall include payments for 1
intermittent work time missed as a result of the assault during the one (1) year 2
period. If the teacher's or employee's workers' compensation income benefits 3
cease during the one (1) year period after the assault, the district shall also 4
cease to make payments under this paragraph; 5
(c) The Commonwealth, through the Kentucky Department of Education, shall 6
make the employer's health insurance contribution during the period that the 7
district makes payments under paragraphs (a) and (b) of this subsection; 8
(d) The Commonwealth, through the Kentucky Department of Education, shall 9
make the employer's contribution to the retirement system in which the 10
teacher or employee is a member during the period that the district makes 11
payments under paragraphs (a) and (b) of this subsection; and 12
(e) Payments to a teacher or employee under paragraphs (a) and (b) of this 13
subsection shall be coordinated with workers' compensation benefits under 14
KRS Chapter 3 42, disability retirement benefits for teachers under KRS 15
161.661 to 161.663, and disability retirement benefits for employees under 16
KRS 61.600 to 61.621 and 78.5522, 78.5524, 78.5526, 78.5528, and 78.5530 17
so that the teacher or employee receives income eq uivalent to his or her full 18
contracted salary, but in no event shall the combined payments exceed one 19
hundred percent (100%) of the teacher's or employee's full contracted salary. 20
(4) Days of sick leave not taken by an employee or a teacher during any scho ol year 21
shall accumulate without limitation and be credited to that employee or teacher. 22
Accumulated sick leave may be taken in any school year. Any district board of 23
education may, in its discretion, allow employees or teachers in its common school 24
system sick leave in excess of the number of days prescribed in this section and 25
may allow school district employees and teachers to use up to three (3) days' sick 26
leave per school year for emergency leave pursuant to KRS 161.152(3). Any 27
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accumulated sick leave d ays credited to an employee or a teacher shall remain so 1
credited in the event he or she transfers his or her place of employment from one (1) 2
school district to another within the state or to the Kentucky Department of 3
Education or transfers from the Department of Education to a school district. 4
(5) Accumulated days of sick leave shall be granted to a teacher or employee if, prior to 5
the opening day of the school year, a statement or a certificate of a physician is 6
presented to the district board of educat ion, stating that the teacher or employee is 7
unable to commence his or her duties on the opening day of the school year, but 8
will be able to assume his or her duties within a period of time that the board 9
determines to be reasonable. 10
(6) Any school teacher or employee may repurchase previously used sick leave days 11
with the concurrence of the local school board by paying to the district an amount 12
equal to the total of all costs associated with the used sick leave. 13
(7) A district board of education may adopt a plan for a sick leave bank. The plan may 14
include limitations upon the number of days a teacher or employee may annually 15
contribute to the bank and limitations upon the number of days a teacher or 16
employee may annually draw from the bank. Only those teachers or employees who 17
contribute to the bank may draw upon the bank. Days contributed will be deducted 18
from the days available to the contributing teacher or employee. The sick leave 19
bank shall be administered in accordance with a policy adopted by the boar d of 20
education. 21
(8) (a) A district board of education shall establish a sick leave donation program to 22
permit teachers or employees to voluntarily contribute sick leave to teachers 23
or employees in the same school district who are in need of an extended 24
absence from school. A teacher or employee who has accrued more than 25
fifteen (15) days' sick leave may request the board of education to transfer a 26
designated amount of sick leave to another teacher or employee who is 27
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authorized to receive the sick leave dona ted. A teacher or employee may not 1
request an amount of sick leave be donated that reduces his or her sick leave 2
balance to less than fifteen (15) days. 3
(b) A teacher or employee may receive donations of sick leave if: 4
1. a. The teacher or employee or a me mber of his or her immediate 5
family suffers from a medically certified illness, injury, 6
impairment, or physical or mental condition that has caused or is 7
likely to cause the teacher or employee to be absent for at least ten 8
(10) days; or 9
b. The teacher or employee suffers from a catastrophic loss to his or 10
her personal or real property, due to either a natural disaster or fire, 11
that either has caused or will likely cause the employee to be 12
absent for at least ten (10) consecutive working days; 13
2. The teacher's or employee's need for the absence and use of leave are 14
certified by a licensed physician for leave requested under subparagraph 15
1.a. of this paragraph[subsection]; 16
3. The teacher or employee has exhausted his or her accumulated sick 17
leave, personal leave, and any other leave granted by the school district; 18
and 19
4. The teacher or employee has complied with the school district's policies 20
governing the use of sick leave. 21
(c) While a teacher or employee is on sick leave provided by this section, he or 22
she s hall be considered a school district employee, and his or her salary, 23
wages, and other employee benefits shall not be affected. 24
(d) Any sick leave that remains unused, is not needed by a teacher or employee, 25
and will not be needed in the future shall be re turned to the teacher or 26
employee donating the sick leave. 27
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(e) The board of education shall adopt policies and procedures necessary to 1
implement the sick leave donation program. 2
(9) (a) A teacher or employee may use up to thirty (30) days of sick leave following 3
the birth or adoption of a child or children. Additional days may be used when 4
the need is verified by a physician's statement. 5
(b) On or before July 1, 2030, each school district shall establish a policy to 6
provide up to thirty (30) paid maternity leave days for a teacher or employee 7
who gives birth to a child. The maternity leave days shall be used without 8
deduction of salary and shall be used prior to the teacher or employee usi ng 9
any other leave. Any maternity leave days unused by the teacher or employee 10
shall not transfer into sick leave or be converted to any other leave type and 11
shall expire upon return to work. This paragraph shall not limit a school 12
district's authority to establish additional paid maternity benefits or to provide 13
paid parental leave benefits. 14
(10) (a) A district board of education may compensate, at the time of retirement or 15
upon the death of a member in active contributing status at the time of death 16
who was eligible to retire by reason of service, an employee or a teacher, or 17
the estate of an employee or teacher, for each unused sick leave day. The rate 18
of compensation for each unused sick leave day shall be based on a 19
percentage of the daily salary rate c alculated from the employee's or teacher's 20
last annual salary, not to exceed thirty percent (30%). 21
(b) Except as provided in paragraph (c) of this subsection, payment for unused 22
sick leave days under this subsection shall be incorporated into the annual 23
salary of the final year of service for inclusion in the calculation of the 24
employee's or teacher's retirement allowance only at the time of his or her 25
initial retirement, provided that the member makes the regular retirement 26
contribution for members on the sick leave payment. The accumulation of 27
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these days includes unused sick leave days held by the employee or teacher at 1
the time of implementation of the program. 2
(c) For a teacher or employee who becomes a nonuniversity member of the 3
Teachers' Retirement System on or after January 1, 2022, as provided by KRS 4
161.220, payment for unused sick leave days under this subsection shall not 5
be incorporated into the annual compensation used to calculate the teacher's or 6
employee's retirement allowance in the foundati onal benefit component as 7
described by KRS 161.633 but may be deposited into the nonuniversity 8
member's supplemental benefit component as provided by KRS 161.635. 9
(d) For a teacher or employee who begins employment with a local school district 10
on or after July 1, 2008, the maximum amount of unused sick leave days a 11
district board of education may recognize in calculating the payment of 12
compensation to the teacher or employee under this subsection shall not 13
exceed three hundred (300) days. 14
(e) 1. Actuarial costs to the Teachers' Retirement System for the inclusion of 15
payment for unused sick leave days that are eligible for compensation 16
under paragraph (b) of this subsection shall be funded in accordance 17
with this paragraph. 18
2. The state shall pay the actuaria l costs for the compensation attributable 19
to the actual unused sick leave accrued as of June 30, 2025, plus annual 20
adjustments to the sick leave balance each fiscal year thereafter, based 21
upon the sick leave accrued or used by the teacher or employee, not to 22
exceed thirteen (13) additional days per year. Unused sick leave payable 23
by the state shall not include any annual leave described by KRS 24
161.540(1)(f) or the cost of unused sick days for employees retiring 25
from agencies listed in KRS 161.220(4)(d) and (f). 26
3. The last employer who is compensating the unused sick day as provided 27
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in paragraph (a) of this subsection shall pay the actuarial costs of 1
compensation for unused sick leave days not paid by the state under 2
subparagraph 2. of this paragraph. Upon t he teacher's or employee's 3
retirement, the Teachers' Retirement System shall bill the last employer 4
for the cost of the unused sick days, and the employer shall pay the costs 5
within fifteen (15) days after receiving notification of the cost from the 6
system. 7
4. The actuarial costs of the unused sick days shall be the amount payable 8
for unused sick days after the fixed statutory employee and employer 9
contributions have been paid as provided in KRS 161.540 and 10
161.550(1) and that is necessary to fund the benefit. 11
(f) For the fiscal year ending June 30, 2025, and each fiscal year thereafter, each 12
school district shall annually report to the Teachers' Retirement System the 13
sick leave balances for each teacher and employee who is a member of the 14
Teachers' Retireme nt System. The report shall include for each teacher or 15
employee: 16
1. The sick leave days accrued at the beginning of the fiscal year; 17
2. The sick leave days accrued during the fiscal year; 18
3. Any other days of leave added to the sick leave balance during t he fiscal 19
year by rollover, conversion, or any other method; 20
4. The sick leave days used during the fiscal year; and 21
5. The sick leave balance at the end of the fiscal year. 22
(g) Each school district shall file with the Teachers' Retirement System 23
information regarding their sick leave policies and provisions that are 24
applicable to members of the system, including: 25
1. The number of sick leave days accrued annually under the sick leave 26
program established pursuant to subsection (2) of this section; 27
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2. Any other types of leave and the amount of leave by type that may, prior 1
to retirement or at the time of retirement, be included by rollover, 2
conversion, or any other method, in an employee's sick leave balance 3
pursuant to any district policy or any contract ente red into by the 4
district; and 5
3. Any other information required by the system. 6
The reporting required by this paragraph shall include a description of 7
whether the policies or contracts governing sick leave policies apply to all 8
employees, a class of employees, or a specific employee of the district. 9
(11) Any statute to the contrary notwithstanding, employees and teachers who 10
transferred from the Department of Education to a school district, from a school 11
district to the Department of Education, or from one (1) school district to another 12
school district after July 15, 1981, shall receive credit for any unused sick leave to 13
which the employee or teacher was entitled on the date of transfer. This credit shall 14
be for the purposes set forth in subsection (10) of this section. 15
(12) The death benefit provided in subsection (10) of this section may be cited as the 16
Baughn Benefit. 17