1. DEFINITION AND PROCEDURE
1.1. Employees desiring to use leave shall complete a Leave Request Form and submit it to their supervisor/principal at least three (3) days prior to the desired date of use for approval. In the case of an emergency absence, it is the employee’s responsibility to notify their supervisor as soon as possible. Leave to be granted the day before or after a holiday will be subject to the approval of the supervisor. Holidays shall be defined as those days in the adopted school calendar or otherwise defined by District policy.
1.2. Definitions
1.2.1. “Birth parent” means: (a) the biological mother of a child, (b) a man whose paternity of a child is established, (c) a man who has been identified as the father of a child by the child’s birth mother who has not denied paternity, or (d) an unmarried biological father.
Utah Code § 78B-6-103(10), (11) (2024)
1.2.2. “Paid leave hours” means leave hours the District provides to an employee who accrues paid leave benefits in accordance with District policies, including annual, vacation, sick, paid time off, or any other type of leave that may be taken while still receiving compensation. It includes but is not limited to paid parental leave or paid postpartum recovery leave. Utah Code § 53G-11-209(1)(a) (2024)
1.2.3. “Parental leave” means leave hours provided to a parental leave eligible employee. Utah Code § 53G-11-209(1)(b) (2024)
1.2.4. “Parental leave eligible employee” means an employee who accrues paid leave in accordance with District leave policies who is (a) a birth parent, (b) legally adopting a minor child (except when the employee’s spouse is the child’s pre-existing parent), (c) the intended parent of a child born under a validated gestational agreement under Utah Code Title 78B Chapter 15, Part 8, or (d) appointed the legal guardian of a minor child or an incapacitated adult. Utah Code § 53G-11-209(1)(c) (2024)
1.2.5. “Postpartum recovery leave” means leave provided to a postpartum recovery leave eligible employee to recover from childbirth at 20 weeks or greater gestation.
Utah Code § 53G-11-209(1)(d) (2024)
Utah Code § 63A-17-511(1)(d) (2024)
1.2.6. “Postpartum recovery leave eligible employee” means an employee who accrues paid leave in accordance with District leave policies who gives birth to a child at 20 weeks or greater gestation.
Utah Code § 53G-11-209(1)(e) (2024)
Utah Code § 63A-17-511(1)(d) (2024)
1.2.7. “Qualified employee” means a parental leave eligible employee or a postpartum recovery leave eligible employee.
Utah Code § 53G-11-209(1)(f) (2024)
1.2.8. “Unmarried biological father” means a man who is the biological father of a child but who was not married to the biological mother at the time of the child’s conception or birth.
Utah Code § 78B-6-103(28) (2024)
2. LEAVE ACCRUAL
2.1. Employees will accrue 1.20 days of leave per contract month or part thereof. Usage of leave will be at the discretion of the employee for the reasons of illness, funeral, emergencies, or personal circumstances. The maximum amount of accumulated leave is 240 days. Employees must work a minimum of 30 contracted hours per week to be eligible to accumulate leave under this policy.
2.2. Employees in their first year of employment who are eligible to accrue leave under this policy will be awarded their first year’s leave accrual in total at the beginning of the year.
2.3. For employees hired during the school year they will receive the remaining number of days eligible to be accrued to the end of the school year. After the first year of employment, employees begin accruing leave on a monthly basis.
3. LEAVE USAGE
3.1. Employees will be allowed to use no more than three consecutive working days for reasons other than illness or medical related conditions. The Board reserves the right to require written verification from a physician as to the medical condition and request a second medical opinion if it deems it necessary. If more than three consecutive working days are requested for other than medical care, then the request will need prior approval by the Superintendent or designee.
3.2. Employees may use a maximum of 15 days of leave in any one-contract year. The only exceptions to this rule would be the following:
3.2.1. An extreme long-term medical related illness/condition verified in writing from a physician or health care provider (long-term is recognized as ten (10) working days or greater). An employee may request long-term leave to provide care for a spouse or child in the case of a terminal illness. The maximum leave allowed under long-term medical is 60 working days during a contract year. If the employee qualifies, Family Medical Leave must be requested and runs concurrent with long-term leave. If an employee is granted long-term leave, that employee may still use their 15 days of leave outside the long-term leave, as long as the total of all leave does not exceed 75 days in a contract year. Utah Code § 53G-11-209(2)(d) (2024)
3.2.2. All leave described in this policy will only be “paid leave” dependent on the amount of accrued leave an employee has. All other leave beyond the days accrued will be leave without pay and policy #2280 will be followed.
3.2.3. Any leave days taken in excess of the limits identified in this policy and the leave days accrued by an employee will be leave without pay.
3.2.4. Employees will not be allowed to use more than three days of leave in the 4 weeks preceding their termination of employment from the District. The District may make exceptions to this restriction for reasons of illness or medical related conditions verified in writing by a physician or health care provider.
3.2.5. Employees may not use a day of leave to substitute for another employee within the District (i.e., receiving pay for two jobs on the same day).
3.3. Postpartum Recovery Leave
3.3.1. Beginning July 2025, an eligible employee who is full-time may take up to 3 work weeks of paid postpartum recovery leave. The amount of leave for eligible employees who are part-time or who work more than full-time is the prorated amount reflecting the amount by which the employee works less than or more than full-time. This leave is additional to and is not charged against any other type of paid leave the employee has. The leave must be taken beginning with the date of birth unless a health care provider certifies that it is medically necessary to begin the leave earlier. The leave must be used in a single continuous period. This leave is consecutive to parental leave but consistent with Policy 2520 is concurrent with FMLA leave. The leave allowance is not increased if more than one child is born from the same pregnancy.
Utah Code § 53G-11-209(2)(a), (c), (4) (2024)
Utah Code § 63A-17-511(2)(a)(ii), (4) (2024)
3.3.2. An eligible employee shall give the District at least 30 days’ notice before the date the employee plans to begin using postpartum recovery leave and before the date the employee plans to stop using postpartum recovery leave unless circumstances beyond the employee’s control prevent giving the notice. In that case, the employee shall give the notice as soon as reasonably practicable.
Utah Code § 63A-17-511(5) (2024)
3.4. Parental Leave
3.4.1. Beginning July 2025, an eligible employee who is full-time may take up to 3 work weeks of paid parental leave in a 12-month period. The amount of leave for eligible employees who are part-time or who work more than full-time is the prorated amount reflecting the amount by which the employee works less than or more than full-time. This leave is additional to and is not charged against any other type of paid leave the employee has. The leave cannot be taken before the date of the event making the employee eligible for the leave and must be taken within 6 months following the date of the qualifying event. This leave must be used in a single continuous period unless a health care provider certifies that intermittent leave is medically necessary due to a serious medical condition of the child to whom the leave relates. This leave is consecutive to postpartum recovery leave but consistent with Policy 2520 is concurrent with FMLA leave. The leave allowance is not increased if more than one child is born from the same pregnancy, more than one child is adopted, or the employee is appointed as the guardian of more than one child or incapacitated adult.
Utah Code § 53G-11-209(2)(a), (c), (4) (2024)
Utah Code § 63A-17-511(2)(a)(i), (3) (2024)
3.4.2. An eligible employee shall give the District at least 30 days’ notice before the date the employee plans to begin using parental leave unless circumstances beyond the employee’s control prevent giving the notice. In that case, the employee shall give the notice as soon as reasonably practicable.
Utah Code § 63A-17-511(5) (2024)
4. NOTICE OF LEAVE BENEFITS
4.1. The District shall provide written notice to all employees regarding a qualified employee’s right to use postpartum recovery leave and parental leave.
5. LEAVE INCENTIVES
5.1. Annual Leave Incentive:
5.1.1. An annual leave incentive will be established for employees who have successfully accumulated 30 days of leave as of June 15th and completed their current contract with Sevier School District. The annual incentive would be paid to those employees who have used less than two days leave during the contract year. The employee will receive one point for each 4-hour period of the first two days of unused leave. Points will be calculated on the basis of 8 hours per day. Points will be awarded based on their percentage of unused leave compared to 16 hours with the number of points generated being rounded down to the nearest point value.
5.1.2. An 8-hour per day employee can obtain a maximum of four points upon which their leave incentive would be calculated. The District will use (an amount equal to) $5,000, which all points earned by employees will be divided into, to determine the amount paid per point. The maximum value established per point is $125, with no minimum value being established. Any of the $5,000 funds unused will be carried forward to the next year and used in the point value calculation for the distribution of funds to qualifying employees. The days purchased by the District will reduce the employee’s accumulated leave by the number of hours/days purchased with the annual leave incentive. The purchase of these days is automatically calculated by the District and paid, unless an individual requests in writing prior to April 15th of each year that they not participate. An employee who uses leave without pay during the contract year would not qualify for this incentive. Principals, directors, and administrators do not qualify for the annual leave incentive.
6. RETIREMENT LEAVE INCENTIVE
6.1. The employee must work for the District a minimum of 10 years in a leave qualifying capacity to qualify for the retirement leave incentive. The employee must be of legal retirement age or qualify for immediate retirement under the provisions of the Utah State Retirement guidelines. The maximum number of days the District will provide the retirement leave incentive is 240 days. The cash settlement of unused accumulated leave will be paid based on the employee’s regular salary schedule position in their final contract year excluding any extensions or salary modifications based on the following scale:
Accumulated Percent of
Leave Daily Rate
1-89 Days 7.50%
90-119 Days 12.50%
120-149 Days 17.50%
150-179 Days 22.50%
180-209 Days 27.50%
210-239 Days 32.50%
240 Days 37.50%
These new percentages for leave payoff will take effect for any employee who qualifies for the retirement leave incentive and retires on or after July 1, 2006. The current percentages will be paid to any qualifying employee who retires on or prior to June 30, 2006.
All payouts of the leave incentive will be combined with a vacation leave payout (if the employee is eligible) to determine the appropriate payout options, hereafter referred to as the combined payout.
1) If the combined payout is less than or equal to $500, it will be paid through payroll.
2) If the combined payout is greater than $500 and less than $2,000 and the employee doesn’t qualify for the District’s defined medical benefit (DMB), it will be paid directly to the employee’s designated 401k account.
3) If the employee qualifies for the District’s DMB and the combined payout is greater than $500 or if the combined payout is greater than $2,000 whether the individual qualifies for the DMB or not, then the payout will be determined through an exit interview conducted by the employer to determine the appropriate payout option. Based on the exit interview the funds will be paid to the employee’s DMB account or their designated 401k.
No other payout options are available.
***Note***
This policy is intended to focus on the learning opportunities for students within Sevier School District. It recognizes that a fundamental educational philosophy is that our employees are well trained and professional in the performance of their duties and that their being on the job is paramount to students being given the greatest opportunity to learn. This policy also establishes a financial incentive to employees for good attendance. This policy will sunset every three years from adoption at the election of the Board. The purpose for the sunset will be to evaluate if leave usage increases significantly or is abused by employees and creates an adverse effect on student learning opportunities. This policy replaces the
following policies: 2040-Sick Leave, 2050-Funeral Leave, 2060-Personal Leave (Certificated Personnel Only), 2070-Maternity Leave, 2080-Special Leave, and modifies the retirement leave incentive in policy 2100-Retirement.
All current contracted employees who are presently accruing leave and do not meet the new hours per week criteria, will be “Grandfathered In” and will continue to accrue leave as per the policy.
Effective date of contract hour change from 20 to 30 is July 1, 2013.
Approved 09/11/01
Revised 04/05/06
Revised 12/17/08
Revised 12/09/09
Revised 02/26/14
Revised 03/12/25