Employee Leave of Absence

During your employment with Santee School District, there may be a time that you will need to take a leave of absence. For example, you may experience:

  • Giving birth to a baby
  • Adopting a child
  • A personal medical reason
  • The need to care for a family member

Notification Process:

You will need to complete a Request for Special Leave form with the dates of your absence and route it to your supervisor for approval. Please attach any medical documentation stating the medical necessity to take a leave that your healthcare provider has given to you. If you are pregnant, we need documentation of your Estimated Due Date so that we may calculate your leave.

If your leave extends beyond 10 consecutive work days, you will recieve written notification of your FMLA (Family Medical Leave Act) eligibility. Employees are eligible for up to 12 weeks/60 work days of FMLA if they:

  • Have been employed with Santee School District for a period of 12 or more months, and
  • Work at least 1,250 hours during the year preceding the leave
    • Please note that all certificated staff are eligible for FMLA even if on shared/part-time contract

All employees are responsible for entering their own absencees into the Frontline (AESOP) absence verification system! You may always call the HR Dept. for questions regarding the system, absence reasons, or substitute eligibility.

LOA to Deliver a Baby:

Employees who are pregnant and will be delivering a baby are entitled to 6 or 8 weeks of Pregnancy Disability Leave beginning on the date of birth (depending on vaginal or C-Section delivery) AND up to an additional 12 weeks (60 work days) of Parental Bonding Leave (see Ed. Code 4497735/45196.1). Parental Bonding Leave may be taken all at once or in mimimum of two-week increments, but must be used within the first 12 months following the date of birth. Any unused time after the baby's first birthday is forfeited.

LOA for New Parents (non-birthing, adoption, or foster placement):

New parents of a child are eligible to take the Parental Bonding Leave as mentioned above. If both parents are employees of the District, the District may limit the period of bonding leave to 12 total work weeks to be shared between the parents.

LOA for a Personal Medical Reason:

Employees who need to be out due to a personal medical reason will need to submit the documentation as stated above and will be notified of their FMLA eligibility. Employees will remain in full-pay status as long as they have available sick (and vacation for classified staff) time. Once sick (and vacation) time is exhausted, employees are eligible for up to 100 days of half-pay.

LOA to Care for a Family Member:

Employees are eligible to take up to half of their annual allotment of sick time to care for a family member. For example, if an employees earns 10 days of sick time each year, they are eligible to take up to 5 to care for a family member. If the employee needs additional time to care for a family member, they may use their personal necessity allotment of 8 days per year. Additional PN days may be requested in writing to the Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources. Please note that all personal necessity days are deducted the employee's sick time allotment.

Unpaid Leave of Absence:

All unpaid leave of absence requests must be approved by the Board of Education. For further information on unpaid LOA requests, please contact Lindsay Meyer in the HR Dept. at 619-258-2313.