§ 20-2-1110 — Right of school bus driver to sick leave with pay; accumulation of unused sick leave

(a) Each person employed as a school bus driver in any public school of this state shall be entitled to sick leave with full pay computed on the basis of one and one-fourth working days for each completed school month of service, such leave to be cumulative over each school year; and all unused sick leave shall be accumulated from one school year to the next up to the maximum of 45 days. A school bus driver may utilize sick leave, upon the approval of the school superintendent of the county in which such school bus driver is employed, for absence due to illness or injury or necessitated by exposure to contagious disease in which the health of others would be endangered by his attendance on duty or due to illness or death in the school bus driver's immediate family. School bus drivers shall be charged with sick leave for absence only on days upon which they would otherwise work, and no charge against sick leave shall be made for absence on Sundays, holidays, or other nonworkdays. (b) Any unused sick leave accumulated by a school bus driver pursuant to the provisions of subsection (a) of this Code section shall be credited to such driver and shall be transferred when there is a change in the employment of the school bus driver from one local board of education to another, but no local board of education shall be required to transfer funds to another, nor shall the State Board of Education provide funds to a local unit of administration beyond those authorized by subsection (j) of Code Section 20-2-188 to finance the potential or actual cost incurred by a local unit of administration through the employment of school bus drivers transferring accumulated unused sick leave. Any unused sick leave credited to a school bus driver shall be forfeited if the driver withdraws from service for more than 24 consecutive months.