HOW MANY SICK DAYS DO I GET?
Here is how the College allots your sick days.
When a teacher is first hired into the Regular sector, or is assigned a charge in Continuing Education — and only then — six (6) sick days are automatically added to their sick bank. Every teacher, regardless of their workload, is credited with these six days. Note that sick days are not credited for hourly-paid Continuing Education contracts.
Every year on September 1, seven (7) sick days are credited to each full-time Regular sector teacher, and to any teacher on a full-time charge in Continuing Education; for part-time teachers, this number is prorated to their workload. The seven days constitute your ‘current sick days’ for the year and are not cumulative. However, if the total number of sick days in your bank is less than or equal to thirteen (13) on June 30, your unused current sick days are added to your sick bank. (No unused current sick days are added to your bank if you have more than thirteen sick days in your bank.) Unused days cannot be converted into cash.
Teachers can verify their sick bank on Omnivox. Click on Teacher’s Sick Bank, which is located under Administrative Services on the left-hand side. This opens a page with two headers showing your “current sick bank” and your “accumulated sick bank”. Note that the sick bank is calculated in terms of hours. For a full-time teacher, one day of absence is equivalent to 6.5 hours.
If you take a leave (other than a parental leave), the seven current sick days are adjusted on a prorated basis to the impact of the leave on your availability.
WHAT SHOULD I DO IF I’M SICK?
You must notify the College (your Sector Dean’s office) as soon as possible, and you must identify exactly which classes have to be cancelled. Each Dean has a phone number dedicated to absences, so you can call anytime. Your absence will be posted on the Cancelled Classes board and on the College website.
Upon your return to work, you will need to fill out a Certificate of Absence as promptly as possible. The form is available from Human Resources (4B.7), from your Sector Dean, and on the Dawson website (in the ‘Online Forms’ section). Clearly indicate on the Certificate of Absence the duration of your absence: you must indicate 6.5 hours of absence for a full-day and 3.25 hours for a half-day (these numbers are independent of the number of hours of class time during the day).
The College may request that you provide a medical certificate any time you take a sick day. However, the College usually does not do this unless your absence extends beyond five (5) days. If a medical certificate is requested from a teacher absent for fewer than 4 days, it is at the College’s expense.
WILL I GET PAID?
The first five (5) consecutive days of absence are paid at 100% of your salary, provided you have enough sick days available in your sick bank. If you have no sick days remaining, then those days would be unpaid.
After five working days of illness, you are placed on salary protection. Subsequent days of absence due to illness are paid at 85% of your normal salary for the first year, and at 66 2/3% for the second year. These are not taken from your sickbank. Note that during your sick leave, you are exempt from paying RREGOP premiums, and your long-term disability and life insurance premiums are waived as of the pay following the 52th week of your medical leave.
After this two-year period, you may be eligible to collect benefits under our long-term disability insurance policy, which is optional for new teachers but becomes compulsory once a teacher has accrued at least 3 years of seniority. If you do not have long-term disability insurance, you will not receive any income. Your health insurance premiums will also be waived once you become eligible for long-term disability benefits.
WHAT ABOUT ABSENCES FOR OTHER REASONS?
You have the right to be absent from work for up to ten (10) days per year to fulfill obligations relating to the care, health or education of your child or your spouse’s child, or because of the state of health of another relative[1] or a person for whom you are the recognised care-taker.
You can use up to six (6) sick days for these absences. The remaining four (4) days are unpaid. Any of these days may be divided into half-days. You must inform the College of your intention to avail yourself of these days as soon as possible.
The Collective Agreement also includes provisions for paid leaves of absence in the following specific circumstances:
Teachers do not have access to “personal days”. However, after notifying the College, teachers are entitled to paid leaves of absence in the following specific circumstances (5-9.01):
- for the death of spouse, child or spouse’s child: five (5) working days;
- for the death of father, mother, father-in-law, mother-in-law, step-father, step-mother, brother or sister: three (3) working days;
- for the death of brother-in-law, sister-in-law, step-brother, step-sister, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, grandfather or grandmother; the day of the funeral; if the deceased resided with the teacher: three (3) working days;
In cases of medically assisted death, the above three leaves can start the day prior to the death. - for the wedding of father, mother, child, sibling, half-sibling: the day of the wedding;
- for your own wedding: five (5) consecutive working days including the day of the wedding;
- for moving: the day of the move (once a year);
- for acts of God (disaster, fire, flood, etc.) which necessitate a leave from work: the number of days shall be set by the College after agreement with the teacher;
- for a quarantine ordered by competent medical authority: the number of days set by the competent medical authority
[1] In addition to your spouse, the term ‘relative’ shall mean the children, father, mother, brother, sister or grandparents or you or your spouse, as well as the spouses of these persons, their children and the spouses of their children. The complete list can be found in Article 5-9.06 of the Collective Agreement.