Arkansas Teachers' Minimum Sick Leave Law requires every school district to provide sick leave with full pay for each of its teachers at a minimum of one day per month or major portion of the month.
That's 10 sick days for a typical teacher work year, which is almost 10 months.
Further, according to Arkansas Code Annotated 6-17-1202 through 6-17-1209 -- an employee's sick leave for a school year -- 10 or more days -- is available beginning with the first day of the school term, according to the statute.
A teacher is entitled to sick leave by state law only for personal illness or illness in the employee's immediate family.
Immediate family is defined in the law as a spouse, child, parent or any relative if the other relative lives in the same household as the teacher.
If a teacher resigns or otherwise leaves a teaching position for any reason before the end of the school year, the school district may deduct from the last paycheck the pay for any days of sick leave that were used in excess of the days earned.
On the other hand, a teacher can accumulate up to 90 days of unused sick leave. And, if the teacher moves to another school system or to an education cooperative, a state agency, or a two- year college, that unused sick time can be transferred to the new job.
If a teacher must be absent from school because of an injury from an assault or other criminal act that occurred as part of the job, the employee can be granted a leave of absence with full pay for up to one year from the date of injury. The time off in that case is not to be charged to the teacher's sick leave.
Finally, state law establishes just the minimum requirements for sick leave for teachers. The law specifically states that local school districts are not prohibited from providing more days of sick leave or for having a more liberal policy for the administration of sick leave. Such a policy, for example, can include the formation of sick leave pools or banks, and allowing married couples who are teachers to use each other's accumulated sick leave.
SundayMonday on 03/24/2019