§500.2. School bus operators; extended sick leave
A.
(1)(a) Every city, parish, and other local public school board shall permit each
school bus operator to take up to ninety days of extended sick leave in each six-year period
of employment, which may be used for a medical necessity in the manner provided in this
Section, at any time that the school bus operator has no remaining regular sick leave balance.
(b)If a school bus operator exhausts the sick leave available pursuant to the
provisions of Subparagraph (a) of this Paragraph, such school bus operator may be granted,
if school board policy provides for such leave, up to thirty additional days of extended sick
leave in each six-year period of employment for personal illness related to pregnancy, illness
of an infant, or required medica
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§500.2. School bus operators; extended sick leave
A.(1)(a) Every city, parish, and other local public school board shall permit each
school bus operator to take up to ninety days of extended sick leave in each six-year period
of employment, which may be used for a medical necessity in the manner provided in this
Section, at any time that the school bus operator has no remaining regular sick leave balance.
(b) If a school bus operator exhausts the sick leave available pursuant to the
provisions of Subparagraph (a) of this Paragraph, such school bus operator may be granted,
if school board policy provides for such leave, up to thirty additional days of extended sick
leave in each six-year period of employment for personal illness related to pregnancy, illness
of an infant, or required medical visits certified by a physician as relating to infant or
maternal health.
(2) As used in this Section, the following terms have the following meanings:
(a) "Child" means a biological son or daughter, an adopted son or daughter, a foster
son or daughter, a stepson or daughter, or a legal ward of a school bus operator standing in
loco parentis to that ward who is either under the age of eighteen, or who is eighteen years
of age but under twenty-four years of age and is a full-time student, or who is nineteen years
of age or older and incapable of self-care because of a mental or physical disability.
(b) "Immediate family member" means a spouse, parent, or child of a school bus
operator.
(c) "Infant" means a child under one year of age.
(d) "Medical necessity" means the result of catastrophic illness or injury, a life-threatening condition, a chronic condition, or an incapacitating condition, as certified by a
clinician, of a school bus operator or an immediate family member.
(e) "Parent" means the biological parent of a school bus operator or an individual
who stood in loco parentis to the school bus operator.
B.(1) Unused days during any six-year period of employment shall not cumulate or
carry forward into the next six-year period of employment.
(2) The balance of days of extended leave available to a school bus operator shall
transfer with such school bus operator from one public school employer to another without
loss of days and without restoration of days.
(3) Interruptions of service between periods of employment with a public school
employer shall not be included in any calculation of a six-year period, such that any
employment with any public school employer, regardless of when it occurs, shall be included
in any determination of the balance of days of extended sick leave available to a school bus
operator.
C.(1) All time while on extended sick leave is regular service time for all purposes
for which service time is calculated or used.
(2) Any school bus operator on extended sick leave shall be paid sixty-five percent
of the salary paid to him at the time the extended sick leave begins.
D.(1) No school bus operator may undertake additional gainful employment while
on extended sick leave, unless all of the following conditions are met:
(a) The school bus operator can demonstrate that he will be working not more than
twenty hours a week in a part-time job that he has been working for not less than one
hundred twenty days prior to the beginning of any period of extended sick leave.
(b) The clinician who certifies the medical necessity of the leave indicates that such
part-time work does not impair the purpose for which the extended leave is required.
(2) Any violation of this prohibition may require the school bus operator to return
to the employer all compensation paid during any week of extended leave in which the
school bus operator worked more than twenty hours and to reimburse the employer all related
employment costs attributable to such period as calculated by the employer, without any
restoration of such days.
E.(1) On every occasion that a school bus operator uses extended sick leave, a
statement from a clinician certifying that it is for personal illness relating to pregnancy,
illness of an infant, or required medical visits related to infant or maternal health or that it
is a medical necessity shall be presented prior to the extension of such leave.
(2)(a) If the board or superintendent, upon review of the application, questions the
validity or accuracy of the certification, the board or superintendent, as the case may be,
referred to in this Paragraph as the "challenging party", may require the school bus operator
or the immediate family member, as a condition for continued extended leave, to be
examined by a clinician selected by the challenging party. In such a case, the employer shall
pay all costs of the examination and any tests determined to be necessary. If the clinician
selected by the challenging party finds medical necessity, the leave shall be granted.
(b) If the clinician selected by the challenging party disagrees with the certification
of the clinician selected by the school bus operator, then the challenging party may require
the school bus operator or the immediate family member, as a condition for continued
extension of sick leave, to be examined by a third appropriate clinician whose name appears
next in the rotation of clinicians on a list established by the local medical society for such
purpose and maintained by the challenging party. All costs of an examination and any
required tests by a third clinician shall be paid by the employer. The opinion of the third
clinician shall be determinative of the issue.
(c) The opinion of all clinicians consulted as provided in this Paragraph shall be
submitted to the challenging party in the form of a sworn statement which shall be subject
to the provisions of R.S. 14:125.
(d)(i) In addition to the authority provided in R.S. 17:500(B), the board shall adopt
a policy regarding providing for employees suffering from catastrophic and long-term illness.
(ii) The board may, as part of a collective bargaining agreement, or by its own policy,
provide additional compensation or extended leave days in excess of what is required in this
Section.
(e) All information contained in any statement from a clinician shall be confidential
and shall not be subject to the public records law.
F.(1) Each city, parish, and other local public school board shall develop and
implement a sick leave bank policy to allow for the donation of sick leave among school bus
operators.
(2) A school bus operator may donate sick leave directly to another school bus
operator in an amount not to exceed one-half of the donating bus operator's accumulated
leave as calculated at the beginning of the school year.
(3) At least ninety percent of the leave balance in the bank shall be retained in the
bank from one school year to the next.
G. Each city, parish, and other local public school board annually shall submit a
report to the state Department of Education on the number of leave requests granted each
year pursuant to this Section, the number of leave requests denied, and the reason or reasons
for such denials.
H. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, all decisions relative
to the granting of leave pursuant to this Section shall be made by the superintendent of the
local public school system.