Sick Leave Explainer

11/14/2023

Sick Leave Rights for Union Members 101 

As SDEA members, we have protections beyond just having access to regular sick leave. This brief summary will help us understand our rights so that we can take care of ourselves when we are unable to work. 

As union members, we are entitled to sick leave for personal illness, exposure to contagious disease, or temporary disability. 

We have three basic types of sick leave that we have access to as union members. These three types are: 

1. Full-salary sick leave. 
2. Half-pay sick leave (also known as differential leave or differential pay). 
3. Catastrophic leave. 

More information on these leaves can be found in Sections 10.2 and 10.22 in the union contract.  

Full Salary Sick Leave 

Full time educators earn 8 hours of sick leave for each month of work. Part-time educators earn sick leave proportional to their assignment (50% FTE earn 4 hours a month, etc.). Educators on 10 month contracts (even if you get paid over 12, but only work 10 months) get up to 10 sick days per work year (11 or 12 days if you are on an 11- or 12-month employment contract). Our union contract ensures that newly hired educators are able to receive advanced credit for sick leave that hasn’t yet been earned. Your days are granted to you up front, in advance of them being accrued. This means that you can use all 10 sick leave days from the first day of work in a work year, without having to wait a month or more to accrue the days. If you do so, you will see a negative balance in your bank, as the days are accrued, one per month of work, for the rest of the year, bringing you back to “0” in your account by the last month of work.  

Half-Pay Sick Leave 

In the event that we use all of our earned sick leave, we are then entitled up to 100 days of additional sick leave, paid at half our daily rate of pay, often referred to as “half-pay” sick leave (known as “Differential Pay” in the contract). We can access this leave once our full pay sick leave is exhausted. When combined with full pay sick leave, an educator can use no more than 110 days of combined full pay and half pay sick leave in a school year. For example, if you only have 10 days of full pay sick leave, you get 100 days of half pay sick leave. If you have 20 days of full pay sick leave (say you carried over 10 from a prior year), you can use 90 days of half pay, if you carried over 30 days of full pay sick leave, you can use 80 days of half pay sick leave, and so on.  

While half-pay sick leave is an important right that was fought for and won by union power, it may leave us in a situation where we are struggling to make ends meet. This is why union-sponsored disability insurance is so important! Disability insurance replaces lost wages when we are on half-pay or unpaid leave, due to our own illness or injury. Educators are exempt from the state disability insurance (SDI) program, so we have to acquire this protection on our own. CTA has vetted a disability insurance provider, called “The Standard,” and there is an open enrollment period happening right now, which allows us to enroll without any prior health screening. This program replaces 80% of your salary while you are ailing or recovering from illness or injury (including disability related to pregnancy and childbirth!), for up to 2 years. If you are a dues-paying union member, sign up today!! If not, join SDEA now and then enroll.  

Catastrophic Leave 

Catastrophic leave is another contractual protection that allows us to access up to 40 days of full-salary leave, once a member runs out of full pay sick leave. See the overview of this leave in the last SDEA Union Notes.