Plum School District pays $30K to settle teacher grievances over use of paid leave during sabbaticals

The Plum School District agreed to pay just over $30,000 to settle grievances over sick leave days involving three teachers.

The school board approved the settlement with the Plum Borough Education Association, the district’s teachers union, on Sept. 12 .

After a representative initially said the agreement would not be released publicly, the district released it Thursday in response to a Right-to-Know request submitted Sept. 13 by the Tribune-Review.

The district declined to comment on the settlement.

According to the settlement agreement, the association filed two grievances on behalf of three members it believed were denied their rights under their contract and the state school code to use paid leave during sabbaticals.

Of the nearly $30,380 paid, one teacher is receiving the majority of it, about $28,660.

For that employee, the district is deducting 37 sick leave days from his current balance for 74 days of his sabbatical during which he was stopped from using sick leave days in half-day increments during the 2021-22 school year. The district is paying him just over $27,000 for those sick leave days plus about $1,620 in interest, minus pension contributions.

Another teacher is receiving about $1,720, including $275 going into a retirement plan.

According to the settlement, the district will restore 9.5 sick leave days to the accrued leave balance of the teacher, who chose to use 19 sick leave days to receive full salary to the end of the 2021-22 school year after the district told her that she could no longer continue to use sick leave days in half-day increments to receive full pay while on sabbatical.

The district will deduct four sick leave days from her restored sick leave balance and pay her about $1,445 . That amounts to four days of pay at her 2022-23 per diem rate of about $361 for four days of unpaid leave she took during the 2022-23 school year.

The district also will pay her $50 per day for the remaining 5.5 sick leave days she would have had in her accrued leave balance upon her retirement at the end of the 2022-23 school year. That $275 will go into a retirement account.

The third teacher is not receiving any payment but is having seven sick leave days restored for days he was charged during the 2021-22 school year before being notified he would not be allowed to use sick leave days in half-day increments during a sabbatical.