Policy: GBRIA
Employee Benefit/Leave Policy School Year Support Staff
Employees in this category work the schedule
of the school calendar. Employees are part-time if they work
less than 6.5 hours per day or 32.5 hours a week for 180 days
a year. All paid leave is pro-rated, contingent on the hours
worked. All school year support staff will submit a bi-weekly
time sheet which specifies hours worked per day and leave
days taken. Temporary employees (employees whose employment
is less than 4 months) are not eligible for insurance benefits.
Personal Leave: Employees will receive two days per
year to use between July 1 and June 30 to be used at the employee’s
discretion. Personal leave is non-accumulative and days not
used within the allotted time will be lost. Such leave is
to be used for meeting personal obligations that cannot be
accomplished during regular work hours. Other than an emergency,
personnel needing such leave will provide their supervisor
with notice two (2) days in advance of the desired leave.
Holidays: Any school year employee hired as a paraprofessional,
secretary, custodian, or cook shall be paid for up to six
paid holidays each year, including Labor Day, Veterans Day,
Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s Day, and Memorial
Day. However employees who normally work fewer than five days
each week will not receive payment for holidays which fall
on the days on which they would not normally work.
Sick Leave: Each school year employee shall earn 1
day per month worked. Sick leave is accumulative from fiscal
year to fiscal year up to 30 days. The Superintendent, at
his discretion, may require any employee to submit medical
evidence substantiating the employee’s need to be absent
from work.
Employees may use sick leave for maternity or paternity leave
and/or for illness of the employee's spouse, domestic partner,
children or parents, including care of a newborn or a newly
adopted child.
Severance Benefit: After completion of 8 years service
in the Lyme School District, a staff member who terminates
employment shall be paid for accumulated unused sick leave
at his/her then current per diem rate. In order to receive
this benefit, the employee must notify the Board of his/her
intent to resign, in writing, by December 1 preceding the
employee’s final fiscal year of employment.
Bereavement Leave: Each employee will be allowed 3
paid days of Bereavement leave per year for death in the immediate
family (in addition to emergency days). Bereavement leave
is not accumulative.
Life Insurance: Term life insurance premiums will be
paid for employees working at least 18.75 hours per week.
Disability Insurance: Long-term disability insurance
premiums will be paid for employees working at least 18.75
hours per week. This insurance will offset 60% of the employee’s
wages at the time of injury, illness or disability after an
elimination period of 180 days.
Short Term Disability Insurance:: The District will
provide all support staff employees with short-term disability
coverage for up to 165 days. Eligibility shall begin following
a minimum of 15 consecutive days of absence or following the
use of all accrued sick leave, whichever is greater. The benefit
under the Short Term Disability Program shall be 60% of base
pay with a maximum of $500 per week. The duration of the benefit
shall be a maximum of 165 calendar days, or until the employee
returns to duty, or the employee becomes eligible under Long
Term Disability provisions, whichever occurs first. The Superintendent
shall determine eligibility and the number of days to be granted.
Health Insurance*: The District will pay up to 85%
of the cost of a single person health insurance HMO plan for
support staff employees who work at least 15 hours per week
(pro-rated for the number of hours or days worked). For school-year
employees who have signed a contract to return the following
school year, the District will prepay the employee’s
share (15%) of health insurance premiums for July and August.
The employee’s share of the premiums for July and August
will be deducted from the employee’s paychecks from
September through June. If a school-year employee resigns
in July or August, the amount prepaid by the district must
be reimbursed within 30 days of the employee’s resignation.
In lieu of participation in the group insurance plan, employees
who have health insurance through an alternative source may
elect to receive a cash payment of up to $500, made on a date
determined by the Superintendent. This payment will be proportional
to the number of hours worked. This cash payment will be taxed
as income.
Dental Insurance: For employees who work at least 15
hours per week, the district will pay 95% of a single person
dental policy (pro-rated for the number of hours or days worked
per week).
Retirement: New Hampshire law requires all Lyme School
District employees who work at least 35 hours per week to
participate in the state retirement system and make automatic
deductions from wages. The District contributes toward employees’
retirement plans at a rate determined by the New Hampshire
Retirement System.
Social Security and Medicare: All school employees
must participate in Social Security and Medicare and make
automatic deductions from wages. The District will match this
deduction as a contribution toward employees’ Social
Security and Medicare benefits.
Workers Compensation and Unemployment Insurance: Workers
compensation and unemployment insurance premiums are paid
entirely by the District where appropriate for all full-time
and part-time employees.
Jury Duty Leave: Support Staff who are required to
perform jury duty may do so without loss of pay or related
benefits, and will receive that portion of the regular salary
which, together with compensation for jury duty, equals normal
salary for that period of time. Any benefit in place at the
time of jury duty leave will continue.
Family Care Leave: Unpaid Family Care Leave shall be
granted for up to six months to both male and female employees
to care for his or her newborn infants or newly adopted children
or to care for sick members of their immediate family. The
term “immediate family” shall be construed to
mean spouse, domestic partner, children, foster children,
parents, grandparents, grandchildren, parents-in-law, brothers,
sisters or spouse’s siblings.
An employee must submit his or her request in writing to the
Superintendent at least 30 days before the intended date for
the leave, unless the need is unforeseeable, in which case
the employee must request FMLA at the earliest possible time.
In the letter requesting FMLA, the employee must set forth
the reason for the request and must attach a medical certification
from a health care provider setting forth the anticipated
length of absence and a brief description of the circumstances
giving rise to the request.
The district will pay up to six months of its share of health
and dental insurance following approval of Family Care Leave.
Workshops and Training: Each staff member will be granted
funds to attend job related training and workshops. The amount
of money allocated for each employee will be set by the Lyme
School Board during budget preparation.
ADOPTED: 27 July 2000
REVISED: 24 June 2003, 28 April 2005, 20 June 2006, 16 April
2009, 10 February 2011
*Some support personnel hired before the 2000–2001
school year receive benefits provided during the 1999–2000
school year.
