(a)When used in this section, the following terms have the following meanings:
(1)EMPLOYEE. Any individual employed full-time as provided by law, or employed as an adult bus driver, by those employers enumerated in this section.
(2)EMPLOYER. All public city and county boards of education; the Board of Trustees of the Alabama Institute for the Deaf and Blind; the Alabama Youth Services Department District Board in its capacity as the Board of Education for the Youth Services Department District; the Board of Directors of the Alabama School of Fine Arts; the Board of Trustees of the Alabama High School of Mathematics and Science; the Board of Trustees of the Alabama School of Cyber Technology and Engineering; for purposes of subsection (c) only, the Alabama State Senate, the Lieutenant Go
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(a) When used in this section, the following terms have the following meanings:
(1) EMPLOYEE. Any individual employed full-time as provided by law, or employed as an adult bus driver, by those employers enumerated in this section.
(2) EMPLOYER. All public city and county boards of education; the Board of Trustees of the Alabama Institute for the Deaf and Blind; the Alabama Youth Services Department District Board in its capacity as the Board of Education for the Youth Services Department District; the Board of Directors of the Alabama School of Fine Arts; the Board of Trustees of the Alabama High School of Mathematics and Science; the Board of Trustees of the Alabama School of Cyber Technology and Engineering; for purposes of subsection (c) only, the Alabama State Senate, the Lieutenant Governor, the Office of the Senate President Pro Tempore, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Alabama House of Representatives, the Legislative Services Agency; any organization participating in the Teachers’ Retirement System, excluding any state governmental department not listed herein; the Board of Trustees of the Alabama Community College System; and for the purposes of subsection (c) only, any four-year public institution of higher learning.
(3) EXECUTIVE OFFICER. The superintendent of any public county school system or any public city school system; the President of the Alabama Institute for the Deaf and Blind; the president of any two-year school or college under the auspices of the Board of Trustees of the Alabama Community College System; the Superintendent of the Department of Youth Services School District; the Executive Director of the Alabama School of Fine Arts; the Executive Director of the Alabama High School of Mathematics and Science; the President of the Alabama School of Cyber Technology and Engineering; the Secretary of the Senate; the Clerk of the House of Representatives; the Lieutenant Governor; the Speaker of the House of Representatives; the Director of the Legislative Services Agency; and the chief executive officer of any other employer as provided in this section.
(4) ON-THE-JOB INJURY. Any accident or injury to the employee arising out of and in the course of employment or occurring during the performance of duties or when directed or requested by the employer to be on the property of the employer. The term does not include a mental disorder or mental injury that has neither been produced nor proximately caused by some physical injury to the body.
(5) SICK LEAVE. The absence from duty by an employee as a result of any of the following:
a. Personal illness or doctor’s quarantine.
b. Incapacitating personal injury.
c. Attendance upon an ill member of the employee’s immediate family (parent, spouse, child, foster child currently in the care and custody of the employee, sibling, child currently in the care and custody of the employee for whom a petition for adoption has been filed); or an individual with a close personal tie.
d. Death in the family of the employee (parent, spouse, child, sibling, parent-in-law, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, brother-in-law, sister-in-law, nephew, niece, grandchild, grandparent, uncle, or aunt).
e. Death, injury, or sickness of another individual who has unusually strong personal ties to the employee, such as a person who stood in loco parentis.
f. Attendance upon an adopted child who is three years of age or younger.
(b) Sick leave for employees.
(1) The employee shall earn one sick leave day per month of employment.
(2) The employee may take sick leave for any of the reasons enumerated and defined in this section. Sick leave taken for the purpose of attending to an adopted child may be taken for a maximum of eight weeks or 320 consecutive hours. Nothing in this section shall permit an employee to use sick leave that he or she has not earned or has not been donated.
(3) Reimbursement of pay for the employee per day of sick leave shall be at the daily rate of pay for the employee.
(c) Sick leave accumulation and transfers.
(1) An employee may accumulate an unlimited number of sick leave days. Earned sick leave days that have been accrued by an employee shall be transferrable from one employer to another. The executive officer of the employer shall ensure that certification of the number of unused sick leave days is provided to the new employer when an employee transfers employment. All of the earned and unused sick leave days that an employee has accumulated shall be transferred to the new employer for use by the employee as provided by law. However, for purposes of applying accrued sick leave as credit for retirement purposes, an employee is limited to a maximum of sick leave as authorized in subdivision (b)(1). As pertains to receiving retirement credit for accrued sick leave, the Teachers’ Retirement System Board of Control may adopt policies and procedures necessary to effectuate a uniform policy pursuant to this section.
(2) Employees of the Alabama State Senate, the Lieutenant Governor, the Office of the Senate President Pro Tempore, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Alabama House of Representatives, and the Legislative Services Agency may only accrue unlimited sick leave under this section until January 1, 2013. On January 1, 2013, an employee subject to this section may carry over only the actual number of sick leave hours the employee has or the number allowed under Section 36-26-36, whichever is greater. After January 1, 2013, sick leave earned by an employee subject to this section in excess of the amount determined on January 1, 2013, is subject to Section 36-26-36(d).
(d) The following policies, procedures, and rights are established pertaining to employees who are injured while on the job:
(1)a. The employee shall provide written notice of the injury to an immediate supervisor, the executive officer, or to the principal of the school, if applicable, within five working days after the injury occurred, or where the employee has died or is not clinically able to make notification, another person who is reasonably knowledgeable may make the notification of the injury within 30 days of the date of the injury.
b. Other notification procedures shall be as established by written policy of the employer.
(2) The employer may require medical certification from the employee’s physician that the employee was injured and cannot return to work as a result of the injury. The executive officer, at his or her discretion, may require a second opinion from another physician at the expense of the employer. The employer may require a statement from the physician that there is a reasonable expectation that the employee will be able to return to work. A uniform physician certification form shall be adopted by the State Board of Education and distributed to each executive officer.
(3) Upon determination by the executive officer that an employee has been injured on the job and cannot return to work as a result of the injury, the salary and fringe benefits of the employee shall be continued for a period of up to 90 working days consistent with the employee’s injury and the subsequent absence from work resulting from the injury. This subdivision shall apply to the temporary disability of the employee as applicable to the job-related injury.
(4) The employer may adopt a written policy to extend the 90-day sick leave period for on-the-job injuries. Additional on-the-job injury policies may be adopted by the employer if the policies do not conflict with this section.
(5) Any reasonable on-the-job injury costs incurred by the employer to hire a substitute per absent injured employee in a fiscal year shall be reimbursed to the employer by the state during the next succeeding fiscal year upon application by the employer to the appropriate State Board of Education department on a form adopted by the state board, not to exceed 90 working days. The department shall subsequently submit the request to the Legislature as a line-item in its budget request for reimbursement to the employer, and, if approved by the Legislature, shall reimburse the employer at the amount per day for sick leave authorized and funded in the annual budget act for public schools and colleges.
(6) Sick leave shall not be deducted from the employee’s account if absence from work is found to be a result of an on-the-job injury.
(7) For any employee not covered under Chapter 1A, the Maryann Leonard Educators’ On-The-Job Injury Act, any unreimbursed medical expense or cost that the employee incurs as a result of an on-the-job injury may be filed for reimbursement with the State Board of Adjustment. Reimbursement to the employee shall be determined by the Board of Adjustment’s policies and rules that may be adopted from time to time. The Board of Adjustment shall adopt appropriate rules and forms for submission by the employee.
(8) For any employee not covered under Chapter 1A, the Maryann Leonard Educators’ On-The-Job Injury Act, the executive officer, or his or her designee, shall inform the employee who is injured on the job of his or her rights about appearing before the Board of Adjustment and the applicable written policies within seven calendar days after notification of the injury.
(e) The employer, under the rules and policies adopted from time to time by the State Board of Education, may provide for paid leaves of absences and vacations for its employees. Payment may be from public funds. The employer may provide for leaves of absence during the times the schools are, or are not, in session when the teacher or employee devotes the leave to instructing in or attending schools for appropriate training, or when approved by the State Board of Education as beneficial to the state’s educational objectives. The employer may also provide for the payment of any full-time teachers or employees for absences during the time schools are in session when the absence results from an unavoidable cause that prevents the teacher or employee from discharging his or her duties. Pay for the absences resulting from unavoidable causes other than sickness shall not be allowed for a longer time than one week during any one scholastic year.
(f) As applied to Alabama Community College System employers, any employee who earns and accumulates annual leave may accumulate up to 60 days of annual leave at a rate not to exceed that provided in the policy established by the State Board of Education.
(g) The policies and procedures required and permitted by this section shall be adopted by the employer consistent with and as required by Section 16-1-30.