How much sick leave do teachers get

In exceptional circumstances medical certificates may be accepted from overseas medical practitioners, such as where a teacher becomes ill abroad, or is receiving a recognised medical treatment unavailable in Ireland.

The advice of the OHS must be sought in such circumstances. Normally a medical certificate will cover a period of no more than one week, although at the discretion of the board, a certificate for up to one month may be accepted.

However, a failure to include this information could lead to difficulties if seeking to have the absence amended later, for instance, the discounting of a school closure. Teachers who pay Class A PRSI are required to submit social welfare forms to claim Illness Benefit if they are absent on sick leave for more than three consecutive days, excluding Sundays.

Teachers on paid sick leave will receive their salary as normal for their first three days absent on sick leave. Notes which may be helpful to you when claiming Illness Benefit:. To work out where they stand under this dual countback, a teacher should look at their sick leave record both over the past four years, and also back over the past twelve months.

These records may be requested from their principal, as a print out from the OLCS, and it is good practice for schools to provide copies of their sick leave records to all staff on an annual basis. To check the rate of pay they will receive, they need to subtract their sick leave days taken in the past twelve months from 92 days. Whatever remains will be paid at full pay.

If the full six months of available sick leave were used in a single block, this would result in a straight split of 92 days at full pay, and 91 days at half pay. However, if sick leave falls over a longer period, it is entirely possible that a teacher will receive their full days of sick leave all at full pay. As the relevant four year and one year periods are always rolling forward, this grid can be useful to illustrate exactly which months need to be considered, and when particular absences will no longer be relevant to the countback.

The sick leave scheme operates across the full days of the year. Any period in which a teacher is medically unfit to work may be counted as sick leave, regardless of whether the school is open.

Weekends and school closures that fall during a period of illness will be counted as sick leave. For instance, if a certificate is presented for Wednesday to Friday only, and the teacher is fit and back to school on Monday, the weekend will not be counted as sick leave.

The school must follow the medical certificate provided, so if the certificate runs to the Sunday inclusive, the weekend will be recorded as sick leave. As a general rule, taking sick leave on both sides of a weekend or other school closure will result in that closure being counted as sick leave.

If the teacher was sick on a Friday and on the following Monday, they are assumed to also have been sick over the weekend, so this will be counted as a four-day absence.

If a teacher is absent for an extended period prior to a school closure, but is fit again immediately prior to the closure, or even on date during the closure, it is possible to avoid the whole closure being recorded as sick leave.

Further information on sick leave and school closures can be found at section There is a provision in the sick leave scheme for paid sick leave to be extended if a teacher has a serious illness, the Critical Illness Protocol CIP. Access to the CIP terms of absence will continue for one year from the date the teacher returns to work following their sick leave, and a teacher is not limited to applying for CIP only once.

The teacher will initially ask their employer to make a CIP referral to the OHS, and will need to provide a report from their consultant, outlining the serious nature of their condition. EdWeek Top School Jobs. EdWeek Market Brief. Menu Search. Sign In Subscribe. Reset Search. Teaching Profession. Share article Remove Save to favorites Save to favorites. Catherine Gewertz. Follow Unfollow.

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Nov 15 Mon. Help every student belong in school with these practices for school climate. Following the exhaustion of the maximum paid sick leave, a worker is eligible to be paid at the rate of pension to which they are entitled at that point. In order to calculate your entitlement to future paid sick leave and the rate at which it will be paid, you must have 2 pieces of information to hand:. Look back four years from the date of your current sick leave to find the total number of both certified and uncertified sick days taken during this four year period.

If the number of days taken is greater than days then there is no further entitlement to sick pay the entitlement has been exhausted. However, temporary rehabilitation remuneration may be payable. If the number of days taken is less than days then you are entitled to paid sick leave for the remaining number of days up to a maximum of You are entitled to minus the number of sick days taken in the past four years. If you are entitled to paid sick leave, the next step is to calculate the rate of sick pay that should be paid i.

Look back over the previous 12 months from the date of current sick leave to find the total number of both certified and uncertified sick days taken in this period. If you have taken less than 92 days sick leave in the previous month period, you are entitled to be paid at full pay up until you reach the 92 day cut off and will then be paid at half pay for up to 91 days.

This is subject to the limit of the total number of paid sick days you are entitled to — calculated in step 1.

Last reviewed: 16 July Has this been useful? Give us your feedback. About us Contact us. Primary principals Primary teachers Secondary principals Secondary teachers Area school principals Area school teachers Primary principals The basic sick leave entitlement for full-time primary principals is five days a year.

Sick leave entitlements are set out in Clause 7 of the collective agreement. Disregarded sick leave provisions are set out in Clause 7.