Bulletin Vol. 15, No 1 Oct, 2013
Welcome Back
We would all like to welcome you back and wish you a great start to the new school year! If you have any questions or concerns regarding your workload, social leaves, insurances, maternity, pension, etc., please feel free to give me a call at the office.
Presence in Schools in Accordance with 8-6.06.8 of the Local Agreement
After taking into account teacher preferences, the principal generates an individualized presence schedule (27 hours) at the beginning of the year, to which the teacher will later add his or her personal presence (maximum of 5 hours). Teachers may schedule personal presence time in non-assigned periods (NAPs) during the day. Personal presence remains unchanged this year at 5 hours, for a total weekly presence of 32 hours. The rules remain the same: teachers elected to Governing Boards are deemed to contribute one hour of personal presence per week (8-6.06.8 b), one hour is automatically credited for the up to 10 staff-team-department meetings called by the Principal and the up-to-three evening meetings per year with parents (8-6.06.8 c), members of the School Level Special Needs Committee are credited with 2 hours of personal presence per week, and members of the Teacher Council are also credited with one hour of scheduled presence (8-6.06.8 a). The credit for members of Teacher Council is the only one applied to the 27 hours and the rest are deducted from your personal work time. Approved extra-curricular activities are also recognized as personal presence (8-6.06.8 e).
It is strongly suggested that teacher councils review and recommend the extra-curricular activities and credits that are proposed as soon as possible in September (Clause 4-2.06 [10] and [11]).
Insurance—Planning to retire in the next 2 years?
For teachers who are planning to retire within the next two years, a wise financial decision would be to cancel your long-term disability coverage. The board covers two years on salary insurance before long-term disability begins. You should call Laura Gargano (SWLSB Human Resources) at extension 1379 to take advantage of this exemption and for all other questions relating to insurance.
Special Leaves—Pay Your Own Sub (Clause 5-4.02 r)
Each year, a full-time teacher is granted a bank of eight (8) social leave days. Teachers with contracts are also allotted up to eight (8) days (proportionate to the workload) of annual special/social leave without loss of salary to cover specific events such as marriage, Acts of God, moving, death/illness in family, religious holidays, etc. These days have no cash value and are not accumulated from year to year if not used. Please consult Article 5-14.00 of the Local Agreement for details (available on the home page of our website www.ltu.ca.)
Special leaves (or social leaves) can also be used to cover absences for other reasons that do not need to be specified by giving 48 hours notice to the principal and agreeing to pay the daily cost of an occasional supply teacher via a salary deduction. This provision (clause 5-14.02 [r]) is financially advantageous for teachers whose salaries exceed step 3 of the salary scale. This must be processed by payroll and teachers are not to give subs cash payments from their pocket!!
Leave for Family Obligations (clause 5-14.06)
With the new Collective Agreement comes an added clause which allows a teacher to take up to 10 additional days to fulfill family obligations related to the safety, security and well-being of the teacher’s child or immediate family members. These days are days without pay, but it must be noted that when using this new clause (5-14.06), if you still have unused sick days in your current 6-day sick bank, these days will be deducted first before you have days without pay. It is to be noted that that it is more beneficial to use your social leave days if possible, unless you were saving them for a specific occasion.
Part-Time Contracts after 40 days
The Collective Agreement stipulates that all contracts pre-determined or not must be granted after 40 consecutive workdays. If the leave is predetermined to be more than 40 days, the part-time contract will be issued at the onset of the replacement period. If the leave is undetermined, the contract will be issued retroactively to the first day worked once 40 days have elapsed. For undetermined leaves, it is to be noted that if you miss more than 3 workdays, the consecutiveness will be broken and you would have to start the process all over again. It is important to note that the leave of the absent teacher can only be considered as predetermined if the board has the official medical paperwork attesting to this; otherwise, the leave will be undetermined pending the appropriate paperwork.
Religious Leaves Requests—Newly Hired?
For teachers starting a new contract after September, you are entitled to submit your religious leave request form. Please make sure to do so as soon as possible. Your school secretary or principal should be able to provide you with a copy that should be sent to Richard Greschner in Human Resources for approval.
Industrial Alliance Insurance and Dependents Turning 18
When one of your dependents covered under your health insurance plan turns 18, you must submit proof to IA that the dependent is a student to continue benefitting from coverage for the dependent in question. If this is not done, the dependent will be cut off from all insurance coverage.
OFFICE STAFF
Sébastien Joly: President
Stephanie McLellan: Director of Membership Welfare
Pasquale Machado: Director of Pedagogical Affairs
Kathy Morrow: Administrative Assistant
Leonor Paxaio: Secretary
450-667-7037 / 1-800-301-1351 / FAX 450-667-9506
email: laurierteachersunion@ltu.ca
