Service personnel staff shall not be absent from their assigned duties except as authorized by the Superintendent or designated representative. A staff member who is willfully absent from duty without leave shall forfeit compensation for the time of such absence and is subject to other disciplinary action as appropriate, up to and including termination of their contract of employment.

The immediate supervisor should be advised by the staff member seeking a leave of absence and the request for leave of absence should be made through the Superintendent. The Superintendent shall present the request for leave to the Board prior to the effective date of the leave.

Service personnel staff members on unpaid leave for reasons other than illness may apply to be substitutes within their classification category.

All service personnel staff should refer to the specific leave of absence policy and accompanying guidelines for eligibility and other requirements.

Paid leaves of absence include:

Unpaid leaves of absence include:

Any service personnel employee who is returning from an approved leave of absence that extended for a period of one (1) year or less shall be reemployed by the County Board with the right to be restored to the same assignment of position or duties held prior to the approved leave of absence. Such service personnel employee shall retain all seniority, rights and privileges which had accrued at the time of the approved leave of absence, and shall have all rights and privileges generally accorded service personnel at the time of the reemployment. An employee who is on an approved leave of absence shall accrue seniority during the period of time that the employee is on the approved leave of absence.

Any employee who is on a medical leave of absence, approved by his/her employer is entitled to continue his/her insurance coverage until s/he returns to his/her employment. The employee and employer shall continue to pay their proportionate share of premium costs for the coverage under the West Virginia Public Employees Insurance Agency program only for a period of one (1) year. A medical leave of absence may not exceed one (1) year. If there are exceptional cases where an extension is required (i.e., one (1) additional month of therapy, etc.) an extension recommended by the Superintendent and approved by the Board may be granted. If the medical leave of absence extends beyond one (1) year, the employee may be required to pay the full cost of coverage for PEIA insurance and insurance coverage provided by the County Board. Any employee who is on a medical leave of absence approved by the employer and is receiving temporary total disability benefits from Workers’ Compensation is entitled to continue PEIA coverage until s/he returns to work. The employer and employee must continue to pay their respective proportional shares of the premium cost for as long as the employee receives temporary disability benefits. If an employee, who is not eligible to receive temporary total disability benefits under Workers’ Compensation, fails to pay his/her premium, the employer may terminate coverage. If an employee who is eligible to receive such benefits under Workers’ Compensation fails to pay his/her premium payment, the Board shall notify such employee that the Board shall continue to make its share of the premium payment while such employee continues to be eligible for temporary total disability benefits but, that the insurance provider may terminate the policy coverage for lack of full premium payment.

An employee may continue insurance coverage while on a personal leave of absence approved by the Board. The monthly payments will be paid according to the policy or agreement established by the Board. An employee may continue insurance coverage during an approved family leave. An employee on an approved military leave with pay shall have his/her benefits continued as long as the employee is on the payroll. An employee who is on an approved military leave of absence without pay, due to an active call of duty from the President, is entitled to continue health and life benefit coverage for as long as premium payments are made. The employee is responsible for paying his/her employee share of the premium costs for each month during the military leave of absence.

An employee shall not be required to use accumulated annual leave or sick leave prior to taking an extended leave of absence.

The Superintendent shall develop procedures to implement leave provisions.

WV Code 5-16-24, 15-1F-1, 18A-2-2a, 18A-5-3a

Revised 3/4/08
Revised 3/31/09