TIME OFF

PERSONAL TIME OFF (PTO)

Trinity believes that employees should have opportunities to enjoy time away from work to help maintain balance in their lives. For this reason, the school provides a personal time off (PTO) program to all employees who work 20 or more hours per week.

Employees are eligible immediately upon hire for annual PTO. A new bank of PTO accrues on July 1 of each year.

•        10-month employees:

-   Full time (40 hours per week) – 12 days

-   Three-quarter time (30 to 39 hours per week) – 9 days

-   Part time (20 to 29 hours per week) – 6 days

•        12-month employees:

-   Full time (40 hours per week) – 15 days 

-   Three-quarter time (30 to 39 hours per week) – 12 days

-   Part time (20 to 29 hours per week) – 8 days

•        Employees working less than 20 hours per week are not eligible for PTO.

PTO is for illness of the employee or their immediate family; for things that need to be attended to that cannot be handled outside normal school hours; and for personal time for health and well-being. PTO covers all absences of a half day or full day from scheduled work time, except those absences which require the employee to be absent from work for civil or community reasons, such as jury duty or service on boards or commissions in the public service. Such absences are not chargeable to PTO.

Trinity encourages employees to use their PTO responsibly and, whenever possible, to schedule personal time well in advance. Trinity understands there may be occasions, such as sudden illness, when employees may not be able to give sufficient advance notice. In those situations, employees should inform their supervisor as soon as possible.

Trinity faculty should avoid, if possible, taking personal days off immediately before or after a school holiday. The school may require reimbursement for substitute coverage on those days or alternatively treat such an absence as leave without pay.

Requests for PTO are made and tracked via Trinity’s payroll platform and are subject to approval by the employee’s supervisor, taking into account the school’s operating requirements and staffing needs. Length of employment may determine priority in scheduling PTO. Unused PTO may roll over each year to a bank of sick time only, up to a maximum of 20 days of sick time. Banked sick time may be used only for illness and/or injury and may be used only after an employee’s PTO is exhausted.

Upon resignation of an employee’s position, employees working 20 or more hours per week may be paid for accrued but unused PTO up to a maximum of 5 days upon successful completion of the notification period.

Employee-to-Employee PTO Donation Policy

Employees in need of additional PTO hours due to medical need or missional purposes may receive donated PTO hours from other employees, subject to the following conditions:

       Eligibility for the Recipient:

• Must have completed the first 90 calendar days of employment.

• Must have exhausted all accrued sick, personal, and extended paid leave.

• Must be under the care of a physician for a health condition or caring for an immediate family member with a health condition; or

• Must present an appeal for Christian-mission-related need for time off.

       Eligibility for the Donor:

• Must have a minimum of 40 PTO hours remaining after the donation.

• May donate only the amount of time needed by the recipient.

       Donation Guidelines:

• Each donation must be at least 4 hours, with additional hours donated in one-hour increments.

• Unused donated PTO cannot be returned to the donating employee.

Requesting Donated PTO:

To request donated PTO, eligible employees must

1.  Complete the Donated PTO Request Form.

2.  Obtain a completed Physician's Certification Form (if applicable).

3.  Submit both forms to the Human Resources office.

If the employee is unable to submit their request, a personal representative may complete the forms and submit them on the employee’s behalf.

Process and Confidentiality

·     The Human Resources office will review and approve eligible requests, notify the applicant, and coordinate the donation process.

·     The donation time period will be determined on a case-by-case basis.

·     In compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), medical information will remain confidential. When disclosing information about an approved recipient, only a general statement indicating the recipient’s prolonged medical condition (or that of their family member) will be shared.

For detailed policies and procedures, or to access forms, please contact the Human Resources office.

HOLIDAYS

Employees are granted the official holidays off according to the annual school calendar. Benefits-eligible hourly employees (>30 hours/week) receive their standard pay rate for all holidays that they would otherwise be scheduled to work. 

LEAVES OF ABSENCE

FAMILY AND MEDICAL LEAVE ACT (FMLA)

PAID PARENTAL LEAVE

LEAVES OF ABSENCE: BEREAVEMENT, JURY DUTY, WITNESS DUTY,  PARENTAL SCHOOL LEAVE,
OTHER LEAVE REQUIRED BY LAW

PERSONAL LEAVE OF ABSENCE

In special cases where it becomes necessary for employees to take a leave of absence that is not covered by FMLA, they may request a personal leave of absence.

Requests for personal leave of absence are not automatically granted; they must be approved by the Head of School. If the leave is granted, the employees will be required to use all applicable PTO benefits during the requested period of leave.

While the school will make all appropriate efforts to maintain an employee’s position during a personal leave of absence, employees are not guaranteed the right to return to their position at the conclusion of the leave.

EXTENDED LEAVE OF ABSENCE

Eligible employees may apply to use up to 20 days of additional paid leave time in any employment year as extended leave. This leave time is used after the employee’s personal time off (PTO) has been exhausted and is not intended to be additional ordinary PTO. Extended leave can be used for the purposes listed below more than once in a year, but it may not exceed 20 days per employee in a rolling 12-month period. Thus, each time an employee takes extended leave, their remaining extended leave entitlement is the balance of the 20 days which have not been used during the immediately preceding 12 months.

For situations covered by long-term disability insurance, employees must choose insurance coverage for paid leave at the earliest date it is applicable, instead of using additional days from their extended leave pool.

For purposes of this policy, immediate family members include an employee’s spouse, child, parent, mother- and father-in-law, stepparent, stepchild, and stepsibling.

Eligibility

The employee must have worked 1,250 hours and be in good standing with no behavioral or performance concerns within the previous 12 months.

The following situations apply:

1.   A disability covered by long-term disability insurance, in order to help the employee bridge to the 90-day elimination period; or

2.   Serious mental or physical illness/injury of the employee or a member of their immediate family; or

3.   A non-delayable life-changing event.

Application Process

Application for extended leave should be made by submitting the Extended Paid Leave Application via email to the Associate Head of School and Human Resources representative. In consultation with the employee’s supervisor, the Associate Head of School, and the Human Resources representative, a reasonable determination will be made whether the situation falls into one of the three categories listed above to determine if the extended paid leave is approved. 

INSURANCE COVERAGE WHILE ON LEAVE

Any employee covered by the school insurance plans who is currently paying for any insurance coverage must continue to make such insurance payments during any unpaid leave of absence. Failure to make such payments may result in termination of the employee's coverage.

In the event that the employee elects not to return to work upon completion of an approved leave of absence, in some instances, the school may recover from the employee the cost of payments made to maintain the employee's health coverage.

INSURANCE COVERAGE WHILE ON LEAVE

Any employee covered by the school insurance plans who is currently paying for any insurance coverage must continue to make such insurance payments during any unpaid leave of absence. Failure to make such payments may result in termination of the employee's coverage.

In the event that the employee elects not to return to work upon completion of an approved leave of absence, in some instances, the school may recover from the employee the cost of payments made to maintain the employee's health coverage.