1. Full-time or part-time employees who are employed fifty percent (50%) or more of the workweek, determined by combining an employee’s straight-time hours worked or paid for with hours of vacation pay accrued, shall be eligible for sick pay for scheduled days or hours lost due to a bona fide illness or injury as follows:
a. Full-time and eligible part-time employees, after completing ninety (90) days of their probationary period, shall receive five (5) days of sick leave to be used in the first calendar year of their employment for those days or hours of work which the employee was scheduled to work but was unable to do so because of bona fide illness or injury. In addition, such newly hired employees shall receive one (1) day of paid sick leave for each ninety (90) days of employment during the remainder of the employee’s first calendar year of employment. Such sick leave, if not used, may be accrued and banked for those times in the future when an employee is scheduled to work but is unable to do so because of a bona fide illness or injury.
b. On January 1 of each calendar year following the employee’s first calendar year of employment, full-time and eligible part-time employees shall be granted seven (7) days of sick leave which, if not used, may be accrued and banked for those times in the future when an employee is scheduled to work but is unable to do so because of a bona fide illness or injury. A “day” for the purpose of this Article shall be that number of straight-time hours which the full-time or eligible part-time employee is scheduled to work on the day on which he/she is absent due to a bona fide illness or injury.
c. One-half of accrued and banked sick days, or five (5) days, whichever is less, must be used before an employee is eligible for short-term disability leave. Accrued sick days shall not be paid to an employee terminating his/her employment with, or who is terminated by, the Publisher.
2. A full-time or eligible part-time employee off work due to a bona fide illness or injury for more than five (5) consecutive working days shall be considered off work due to a serious health condition as that term is used in the Family and Medical Leave Act. The employee, during the five (5) day period following the fifth (5th) consecutive workday off due to illness or injury, shall submit to the Publisher, if it requests, his/her physician’s diagnosis of the nature and seriousness of his/her illness or injury and the physician’s prognosis for the duration of the illness or injury. The Publisher, if it so elects, may have the employee examined by a physician of its choosing. The cost of such examination shall be paid by the Publisher. A full-time or eligible part-time employee off work more than five (5) consecutive days due to a serious health condition, shall be eligible for short-term disability leave as follows:
| Employee’s years of Service | Short-term temporary disability leave |
|---|---|
| More than one (1) year but less than five (5) years of service. | 60% of weekly pay for twenty-six (26) weeks or until the employee becomes eligible for long-term disability coverage, whichever is earlier. |
| More than five (5) years but less ten (10) years of service. | 75% of weekly pay for twenty-six (26) weeks or until the employee becomes eligible for long-term disability coverage, whichever is earlier. |
| More than ten (10) years but less than twenty (20) years of service. | 80% of weekly pay for twenty-six (26) weeks or until the employee becomes eligible for long-term disability coverage, whichever is earlier. |
| More than twenty (20) years of service. | 90% of weekly pay for twenty-six (26) weeks or until the employee becomes eligible for long-term disability coverage, whichever is earlier. |
An employee may use his/her accrued sick leave to supplement his/her short-term temporary disability leave pay so that the employee could be paid one hundred percent (100%) of his/her weekly pay for such period of time as utilization of the employees accrued and banked sick days will permit.
3. Employees shall be given reasonable amounts of unpaid time away from work for legitimate reasons such as attending doctor’s and specialist appointments, for example, to help accommodate situations where employees have difficulty scheduling everything outside of the work schedule. Employees will give their supervisors notice of such time and supervisors shall try to adjust the work schedule of the employee to accommodate such appointments.
4. Ad salespersons who are paid commissions pursuant to a commission plan who are off work due to a bona fide illness or injury of seven (7) days or more may after seven (7) days elect to be paid for such days at the Key Rate or at base pay plus commission, but not both, for a period of not more than thirty (30) calendar days. Thereafter, such salespersons shall be considered to be working at the Key Rate for purposes of computing pay for sick days accrued and/or banked as well for short-term temporary or long-term disability leave purposes. Ad salespersons off work on sick leave more than thirty (30) calendar days shall not be entitled to commission payments.
5. A full-time or part-time employee working a minimum of sixty percent (60%) of the workweek for six (6) months or more, off work due to a bona fide illness or injury verified by the employee’s physician for more than twenty-six (26) consecutive weeks shall be eligible for long-term disability leave in accordance with the terms of the Long Term Disability Plan. The Publisher, if it so elects, may have such employee examined by a physician of its own choosing. The terms of the Plan and the conditions of eligibility are set forth in the insurance plan contract document in effect as of November 30, 2007, the date of signing of this Agreement. The Publisher reserves the right to change insurance carriers of the Long Term Disability Plan in effect as of the effective date of this Agreement. If the carrier of the Long Term Disability Plan is changed, the Publisher will make every reasonable effort to insure that the plan offered by the new carrier is as similar in design as that of the carrier insuring the plan on November 30, 2007, the date of signing of this Agreement. While some elements of each carrier’s plan may differ, the long term disability plan provided to represented employees shall be substantially the same as that plan covering non-represented employees at the relevant time(s) provided that bargaining unit employees shall receive sixty percent (60%) of pay subject to the terms of the plan document.
6. A full-time or eligible part-time employee must use five (5) days or one-half (1/2) his/her sick leave, whichever is less, provided for in Section 1a, b, and c herein before moving onto short-term disability leave but such employee shall move onto the long-term disability coverage provided by the Long-term Disability Plan when eligible to do so under the terms and conditions of the Plan.
7. The amount of sick leave pay will be the difference specified herein of the employee’s straight-time pay less the amount of any compensation received under the Workers’ Compensation Act, the Social Security Act, or any other compensation program paid for in full or part by the Publisher.
8. An otherwise eligible employee is not eligible for sick leave, short-term disability, or long-term disability when his/her absence is due to injury incurred while in the service of any employer other than the Publisher or while engaged in self-employment for compensation. Except as otherwise provided by law, the sick leave provisions herein are not applicable to employees absent from work due to the illness of or an injury to a family member or other person.
9. Any employee who is required to submit to an examination by a physician chosen by the Publisher shall have the cost of such examination borne by the Publisher.
10. A sick leave absence under the provision of this Article broken by a return to work for less than sixty (60) consecutive calendar days shall be deemed to be continuous if the employee is again absent as the result of the same illness or injury.
11. A full-time employee or eligible part-time employee out on a sick leave of five (5) or more consecutive working days seeking to return to work must provide medical certification by a qualified medical authority stating the employee is able to return to work. If such medical certification is limited in any way, the medical authority shall specify what limitations on the full performance of his/her job duties the medical authority is placing on the employee. The Publisher may require such employee to be examined by a medical authority of its choosing at its expense in order to determine whether the employee may safely return to work and resume performance of his/her job.
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