FAQ | CUEA Site

You can find your sick bank amount where you see your paystubs at:

my.ocdeapps.us

Sick Leave is accumulated in “hours”. 8 hours = 1 day.

Scroll down to the bottom of the main page (past "Payroll History") and you will see "Leave Balances".

The first column is what you Begin the school year with.

The second column is what you have "earned" for the year (80:00 hours is 10 days). If you are a full-time employee, this should be 80:00

"Taken" shows what you've used this year.

"End" is the balance.

This is an incredibly helpful resource (link) about all of the types of Leaves at the CUSD website

Each full time member shall be entitled to 10 days paid leave of absence per school year for illness or injury (10.2.1). You can see your sick leave balance at: my.ocdeapps.us

If an absence is more than 5 consecutive days, your school site administrator may ask you for a note from your doctor (10.2.5).

If you need to be out for more days than the total of 10-in-a-year, you can use your sick leave to cover those days, but, it will probably require a doctors note.

For example: if a member goes out on Pregnancy Disability Leave and has 20 days of sick leave, they have the right to use those 20 days. They would have a doctor's note to explain the reason why they are using more than the 10-days-in-a-year. Same thing if a member needed to be out for any long-term illness or recovery. Those are your sick leave days to use.

Some related FAQ's you might want to check out:

What if I need to go out on Pregnancy Disability Leave (PDL)? (which also explains the district sponsored 6-weeks PDL leave)
What if I need to take a personal day? (the difference between PB and PN days)
How do I find out how many sick days I have currently in my sick leave account?
What if I am out of sick days but need to be out for an extended period of time?

You have two choices: Personal Business (PB) or Personal Necessity (PN).

Which one should you choose and why?

You may use up to 5 of your sick-leave days per year as Personal Business (PB) Leave.

You may use this leave for ANY reason.

You do NOT need to explain the reason.

You do NOT need permission to take this leave.

You do NOT need to fill out a form.

You DO need to notify using Frontline (sub finder system) at least 3 student days before you take the leave (10.3.4.2).

If you take PB leave for one or more of the pre-service days at the beginning of the year, you need to put it in the Frontline system at least 3 weekdays before. A sub is not required for a pre-service day absence, but it is deducted from your sick-leave bank.

You may use up to 10 days for Personal Necessity (PN)

PN can be used for things like:

Death of a member of the family

Taking care of a sick family member (child, spouse, parent..)

Religious holiday

Accident involving unit member, or their property

Appearance in court as a litigant or witness

Significant family events (graduation, child’s wedding…)

May NOT be used for: “vacation” or “honeymoon”.

For something like that, use one of your 5 PB days

To be Clear: PB days are a subset of PN days. You get a TOTAL of 10 you can use each year. Five (5) of those 10 can be PB days; the rest can be PN and/or sick.

If you are unsure if your absence qualifies as PN days, you can use PB (so long as you gave 3 days notice prior on Frontline).

Regardless, your sick bank will reflect a deduction of one day (8 hours) for each PN or PB day you use.

Keep in mind: PN days may be called in “immediately” (example: you call in the morning of the day you need to be out because the pipes in your house burst in the night and you need to attend to it).

PB days, however, require 3 student-day notice in Frontline.

PB days are typically “expected” with some fore-knowledge on your part. You probably know ahead of time you’re going to be out.

PN days could be expected, or could be unexpected, for one of the reasons listed above.

This is an incredibly helpful resource (link) about all of the types of Leaves at the CUSD website

First of all: You can choose either Personal Necessity (PN) or Sick Family (child, spouse, parent...) as an absence reason for a sick family member.

Yes, CA Labor Code 233 states that you can use up to an additional five (5) days for Sick Family (in addition to your typical 10 days/year), BUT, there are certain limitations :

1) You can only use up to five (5) of these in a school year.

2) They do not accumulate. For example: If you don't use 5 of these this year, you can't "bank" them for next year and take 10.

3) You MUST have these five (5) days available in your sick bank. They are not provided for you. They are deducted from your sick bank.

4) If you claim a 6th day, you will be deducted a day’s pay! Yes, you will lose a day’s pay! DO NOT CHOOSE THIS SELECTION MORE THAN 5 TIMES IN A SCHOOL YEAR!

What do you do if you need more than 5 days to take care of a sick family member? Answer: You can always use PN days to take care of a sick family member (child, parent, spouse…). It’s just that California allows for you to take these 5 additional days without having to justify it with a doctor’s note.

Advice: Choose “sick family” for the FIRST 5 for your family, then use PN days if you have more days you need to attend to a sick family member.

This is an incredibly helpful resource (link) about all of the types of Leaves at the CUSD website

Beginning in August of 2024, CUEA negotiated for six (6) consecutive weeks of paid maternity leave!

This means that for the first six weeks, the unit member will not have any sick days deducted. These are six consecutive weeks, so if, for example, the PDL were to begin the week before winter break, that would be week 1, and the two weeks of winter break would count as weeks 2 and 3. The intent of the agreement is to preserve sick leave in instances when it would have normally been used. It cannot be "banked".

Once the paid PDL has been exhausted, sick leave benefits are in effect the same as for any other paid leave.

For more information, the district does offer maternity leave workshops a few times/year. Unit members can contact CUSD insurance or CUEA to find out those dates. This is a link to the CUSD Human Resources site - click on the "leave of absence" resource to see a slide deck that is used at maternity workshops. CUEA Members might also consider investigating The Standard long term disability insurance which does have provisions for leaves once sick days are exhausted. (There is an FAQ with the contact information for The Standard disability insurance offered through CTA.)

Relevant Contract Language (Effective as of August 2024!):

10.4.2 Child Bonding Leave (important highlights of this language are explained, below):

Child bonding leave occurs either immediately after Pregnancy Disability Leave or immediately upon the adoption of a child or placement for foster care.

This leave would apply to both mothers and fathers. If both parents are Unit Members, each are entitled to the 12 weeks as per the article guidelines (see more explanation of the article below). The 12 weeks must be used within one year of the birth or placement of the child. Both parents are not required to take their 12 weeks of leave simultaneously.

Unit Members are entitled to a total of up to 12 work weeks of leave. To be eligible for this leave, you must have completed at least one year of service with CUSD.

This leave comes out of your sick leave bank. There is no compensatory sick leave coverage by CUSD. That applies only to Pregnancy Disability Leave (PDL) from 10.4.1 of the contract. Please see the FAQ in regards to PDL leave for specific information on how to be eligible for up to 6-weeks of compensatory sick leave.

If the school year ends before the 12 weeks are exhausted, the Unit Member may take the balance into the subsequent school year.

The 12 work weeks must be taken in minimum increments of two (2) work weeks or more. Here's what that means: You have 12 weeks that you can take within one year of birth or adoption of the child. You can split those 12 weeks in TWO parts. The smallest part can be NO LESS than 2 weeks.

EXAMPLE: You could take 2 weeks right when the child is born or adopted and then, within a year's time, you could take the other 10 weeks - but those must be consecutive! Or, you could split it 3 weeks and 9 weeks...etc.

There is some allowance for a one time exception (see 10.4.2.7, below)

This is an incredibly helpful resource (link) about all of the types of Leaves at the CUSD website

Relevant Contract Language:

It is a good idea to have The Standard disability insurance. As a member of CTA, you are eligible for disability insurance (there is no such insurance through CUSD as your employer).

Disability insurance is helpful for longer term absences in which a differential needs to be paid (a differential is when you pay the difference between your daily salary and the daily rate for your substitute). You can find out more about that insurance at: https://www.ctamemberbenefits.org/disability

The Standard has a dedicated phone number for CTA members:

800-522-0406 7 AM - 6 PM Monday - Friday PST

ctaservice@standard.com

*If your leave is exhausted during Pregnancy Disability Leave (PDL), please read the FAQ on PDL as it has additional information and contract language.

This is an incredibly helpful resource (link) about all of the types of Leaves at the CUSD website

Relevant contract language:

If you have Jury Duty, this will NOT be deducted from your sick-bank. You will continue to receive your full salary during your jury service.

However, if there is payment to you from jury duty service (it’s usually a pretty nominal amount), that is deducted from your daily rate of pay.

If you voluntarily defer your jury duty service from working hours to non-working hours (example: in the summer), you can receive the daily substitute pay! You’ll need to submit your proof-of-service with a notification of postponement and the original summons. But, the district would rather pay you the sub money in your summer, and keep you in your classroom during the school year.

This is an incredibly helpful resource (link) about all of the types of Leaves at the CUSD website

You are allowed up to 5 days of Bereavement (7 days if it's out of state) that will NOT be deducted from your sick bank. If you choose this selection in Frontline, your site will confirm that the bereavement falls into the category of “immediate family” as written in 10.6.2 of the contract (see below). If it is not confirmed, the leave will then be taken from your sick bank as Personal Necessity. Your site will notify you of this change.

This is an incredibly helpful resource (link) about all of the types of Leaves at the CUSD website

Relevant Contract Language:

Our Students Deserve the Best!

Frequently Asked Questions

Q. How do I find out how many sick days I have currently in my sick leave account?

Q. Where do I find the Frontline Link?

Q: How many sick days can I use in a year?

Q: What if I need to take a personal day? (What's the difference between Personal Business and Personal Necessity)

Q: What If I have a Sick Family Member? Do I get more days for this?

Q: What if I need to go out on Pregnancy Disability Leave?

Q: How does Child Bonding Leave work?

Q: What if I'm out of sick days but need to be out for an extended period of time (such as with a long term illness or my sick leave becomes exhausted during Pregnancy Disability Leave)?

Q: What if I have Jury Duty?

Q: What if I need to take a bereavement day?

Q: What if I run out of sick leave but still need to take a day?

Q: How do I sign up for The Standard disability Insurance?

Q: What is the Catastrophic Sick Bank? How do I contribute to it? How do I use it?