TBU LEAVE INFO
Click the button above to download a printable (i.e. not yellow) PDF version of the Leaves Summary document shown above.
HOW TO REQUEST A LEAVE OF ABSENCE
The BWDSB has a new procedure for applying for a leave or retirement: the Employee Information & Leaves Form (EIL). Members can use this when requesting an unpaid leave or at-cost days; HR will complete the form on your behalf if you require a medical leave.
- Please visit https://eil.bwdsb.on.ca/
- Log in using your 4+3 BWDSB login and password.
- From the “New Request” dropdown menu, select the applicable form (such as Short-Term Leave, Long Term Leave, Retirement, Resignation, etc.).
- Online help is available by selecting “Click here for help” at the top of the form.
MEDICAL LEAVE OF ABSENCE
If you require a medical leave of absence on the advice of your doctor, you will need to have your doctor complete the BWDSB Functional Abilities Form (FAF), which can be found below.
It is vital that members print and take the FAF to their doctor, and that the doctor completes this form in full (in place of a doctor's note). If you get a written note from your doctor, the Board will send you this form and you will have to make another doctor's appointment to have it completed.
BWDSB Functional Ability Form (PDF format)
BWDSB Functional Ability Form (Word format)
Your doctor should not provide a diagnosis, but should use the FAF to indicate abilities and limitations.
Please submit the completed form to your administrator. You do not have to apply for a medical leave through the EIL; this will be done on your behalf by HR after they receive your completed FAF.
You can expect to be contacted by Kathy Eccles, Human Resources Officer, regarding a medical leave.
Please note that you are entitled to union representation at any meetings with HR regarding medical leaves, such as an accommodation meeting or a return-to-work meeting. Please contact Brian Windross, TBU President, at [email protected] if you have questions or require support.
It is vital that members print and take the FAF to their doctor, and that the doctor completes this form in full (in place of a doctor's note). If you get a written note from your doctor, the Board will send you this form and you will have to make another doctor's appointment to have it completed.
BWDSB Functional Ability Form (PDF format)
BWDSB Functional Ability Form (Word format)
Your doctor should not provide a diagnosis, but should use the FAF to indicate abilities and limitations.
Please submit the completed form to your administrator. You do not have to apply for a medical leave through the EIL; this will be done on your behalf by HR after they receive your completed FAF.
You can expect to be contacted by Kathy Eccles, Human Resources Officer, regarding a medical leave.
Please note that you are entitled to union representation at any meetings with HR regarding medical leaves, such as an accommodation meeting or a return-to-work meeting. Please contact Brian Windross, TBU President, at [email protected] if you have questions or require support.
PREGNANCY, PARENTAL, OR ADOPTION LEAVE
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If you are looking for information on pregnancy or parental leaves, including extended parental leaves and adoption leaves, download the attached document. This FAQ document is based on information found in the TBU collective agreement.
Provincial OSSTF has also provided a document with more generic advice about pregnancy and parental leaves. |
TEACHER-FUNDED LEAVE -- A.K.A. DEFERRED-SALARY LEAVE
The Teacher-Funded Leave Plan allows Members an opportunity to take a one-year (or one-semester) leave and, through the deferral of salary, finance the leave. In each year of the plan preceding the year of the leave, the Member will be paid a percentage of their annual salary. The remaining percentage of annual salary shall be deferred and deposited to a joint trust fund at the Employer’s banking institution. The amount deposited, together with interest earned, shall be retained for the Member to finance the year of the leave.
Complete information about the deferred-salary leave plan can be found in the TBU Collective Agreement, Article 18.12, “Teacher-Funded Leave Plan.”
Download a summary of the deferred-salary leave plan:
Complete information about the deferred-salary leave plan can be found in the TBU Collective Agreement, Article 18.12, “Teacher-Funded Leave Plan.”
Download a summary of the deferred-salary leave plan:
FAQs re: TBU LEAVES
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AT-COST PERSONAL DAYS18.03.05
At Cost Personal Leave Subject to adequate notice to the Principal and the arrangement of coverage, the Bargaining Unit Member shall be granted an At-Cost Personal Day restricted to a maximum of five (5) per year. The timing of such days will avoid extending existing vacation periods. The cost for such a day will be the minimum cost of a qualified occasional teacher (not to exceed 1/194 of Group 3, Year 0) whether the member has been replaced not. The cost to the member for such a day will not exceed 1/194 of the member's annual salary. There will be no deduction from sick leave, and no impact upon pension subject to current Teacher Pension Plan regulations. On any given day no more than three such leaves will be granted at any one site. The application of this clause will not result in on-calls being assigned to members. |
Pension Buybacks for Leaves
Did you know that you can buy back your pension after some types of leaves? You can make up for the gap in your service and salary by paying for your time off – this is called a pension buyback.
TBU members have the ability to take up to five at-cost personal days each school year. You automatically maintain service credit for employer-approved absences that span five or fewer consecutive school days, meaning that there will be no impact to your retirement date or pension.
"Employer-approved time off for five or fewer consecutive school days doesn't affect your pension. Your employer continues to deduct pension contributions for the time away.”
(https://www.otpp.com/en-ca/members/life-events/time-off-work-and-how-it-affects-your-pension/#op-collapse-shortLeaves)
If you take more than five consecutive days off, you don’t contribute to your pension while you’re not working. This means that if you take five at-cost personal days plus one (or more) unpaid days in a consecutive stretch, you will not be making pension contributions on those days, which can have an impact on your retirement date.
Please note that you are never required to buy back a leave – if you don’t buy it back, your retirement date shifts by the number of days you took off. You can check out your retirement date and play with the pension calculator at www.otpp.com/members/my/ .
You can also buy back other types of leaves:
You may be able to buy back the following:
What you can’t buy back
Please note that you have until April 30 of the year following the end of your leave or reduced workload to tell the pension plan you want to buyback your leave, and five years to pay for it.
For more information about pension buybacks, including what is eligible and what isn’t, the impact to your pension, the cost of a buyback, tax implications, and the buyback deadlines, please visit www.otpp.com/en-ca/members/life-events/time-off-work-and-how-it-affects-your-pension/ (or call OTPP at 1-800-668-0105).
TBU members have the ability to take up to five at-cost personal days each school year. You automatically maintain service credit for employer-approved absences that span five or fewer consecutive school days, meaning that there will be no impact to your retirement date or pension.
"Employer-approved time off for five or fewer consecutive school days doesn't affect your pension. Your employer continues to deduct pension contributions for the time away.”
(https://www.otpp.com/en-ca/members/life-events/time-off-work-and-how-it-affects-your-pension/#op-collapse-shortLeaves)
If you take more than five consecutive days off, you don’t contribute to your pension while you’re not working. This means that if you take five at-cost personal days plus one (or more) unpaid days in a consecutive stretch, you will not be making pension contributions on those days, which can have an impact on your retirement date.
Please note that you are never required to buy back a leave – if you don’t buy it back, your retirement date shifts by the number of days you took off. You can check out your retirement date and play with the pension calculator at www.otpp.com/members/my/ .
You can also buy back other types of leaves:
- Maternity, parental, and adoption leaves
- Sabbatical or voluntary leave
- Leaves for academic upgrading
- Compassionate care leaves and emergency leaves that are approved by the employer
You may be able to buy back the following:
- Leaves for a reduced workload due to childcare or disability
- Transfer of credit after teaching in another province
What you can’t buy back
- Short leaves of 5 or fewer days (see above)
- Teacher-funded leaves, such as a deferred salary leave (a.k.a the x/y leave)
- A permanent move from from full-time to part-time work
Please note that you have until April 30 of the year following the end of your leave or reduced workload to tell the pension plan you want to buyback your leave, and five years to pay for it.
For more information about pension buybacks, including what is eligible and what isn’t, the impact to your pension, the cost of a buyback, tax implications, and the buyback deadlines, please visit www.otpp.com/en-ca/members/life-events/time-off-work-and-how-it-affects-your-pension/ (or call OTPP at 1-800-668-0105).
Changes to the approval process for short-term leaveS
December 2023
The TBU has received the following notice from Human Resources:
“In an effort to expedite short-term leave requests when staff enter them into the Employee Information and Leave system (EIL), they will now get an email response directly from their administrator/direct supervisor to confirm approval or denial. Previously there would have been an approval email generated through EIL.”
If you have applied for a short-term leave, such as an at-cost day or an unpaid day, please get in touch with your administrator if you do not receive a timely response.
Even after applying through the EIL and receiving approval from admin, teachers must still submit their school’s request-to-be-absent form to the appropriate administrator outlining the required supply coverage.
Some reminders about at-cost days:
The TBU has received the following notice from Human Resources:
“In an effort to expedite short-term leave requests when staff enter them into the Employee Information and Leave system (EIL), they will now get an email response directly from their administrator/direct supervisor to confirm approval or denial. Previously there would have been an approval email generated through EIL.”
If you have applied for a short-term leave, such as an at-cost day or an unpaid day, please get in touch with your administrator if you do not receive a timely response.
Even after applying through the EIL and receiving approval from admin, teachers must still submit their school’s request-to-be-absent form to the appropriate administrator outlining the required supply coverage.
Some reminders about at-cost days:
- TBU members may take up to 5 at-cost leave days per year.
- At-cost days can be taken consecutively or individually.
- You will not lose your entire pay for the day; the board will deduct the cost of the supply teacher who is replacing you. The price of a at-cost day is approximately $280, the minimum cost of a qualified occasional teacher (not to exceed 1/194 of Group 3, Year 0), and will not exceed 1/194 of the member's annual salary.
- The cost will be deducted even if you are not replaced on the day you are absent, for example on PD days or a snow day.
- Members apply for at-cost days through the EIL (Employee Information and Leave app inside the BWDSB Staff Portal).
- Your application must be granted provided that your request is not adjacent to March Break, Christmas break, or summer. You can, however, use at-cost days to extend long weekends at other times of the year.
- For any given day, only three requests will be granted at each school or worksite, on a first-come, first-serve basis.
- There will be no deduction from sick leave, and no impact upon pension subject to current Teacher Pension Plan regulations.
- Please remember to CHECK YOUR CHEQUE and your absence ledger (in the Employee Services app inside the BWDSB Staff Portal) in the period after the at-cost leave day(s) to ensure that the amount that was deducted from your pay was correct.
- The application of this clause will not result in on-calls being assigned to members.
“Inclement Weather” entries in your absence ledger?
Feb 24, 2023
Some members are reporting that they have noticed “inclement weather” entries in their absence ledger inside the Staff Portal.
For most people, there have been no deductions from pay, sick days, or any other types of leave days – but you should check. The “inclement weather” notation shows a “credit loss” but so far no-one has reported that their pay or sick days have been affected, so the “credit loss” is meaningless.
All members are encouraged to check their absence ledger and pay stub regularly, at least once per pay cycle.
Instructions for checking your absence ledger are available here, including an explanation of the most common absence codes. If you find a discrepancy in your absence ledger, please speak to the school administrator who handles absences immediately so that it can be corrected.
Feb 24, 2023
Some members are reporting that they have noticed “inclement weather” entries in their absence ledger inside the Staff Portal.
For most people, there have been no deductions from pay, sick days, or any other types of leave days – but you should check. The “inclement weather” notation shows a “credit loss” but so far no-one has reported that their pay or sick days have been affected, so the “credit loss” is meaningless.
All members are encouraged to check their absence ledger and pay stub regularly, at least once per pay cycle.
Instructions for checking your absence ledger are available here, including an explanation of the most common absence codes. If you find a discrepancy in your absence ledger, please speak to the school administrator who handles absences immediately so that it can be corrected.
Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan
No need to buy back short absences
From http://www.otpp.com/members/pension-news-online/articles/article/-/article/718989
August 01, 2014
A plan change will soon eliminate the need to buy back some of your time away from work.
Beginning September 1, 2014, you will automatically maintain service credit for employer-approved absences that span five or fewer consecutive school days. Referred to as "short absences," these paid and unpaid days off may be for things like personal days, religious holidays or if you run out of sick days and need more time off.
This plan simplification was approved in late July by the Ontario Teachers' Federation and Ontario government, which jointly sponsor the pension plan.
What does this mean?
If your employer approves time off for one day or up to five consecutive school days, you won't have to buy back service for these short absences. Your employer will report credit, deduct and remit contributions from your salary as they normally would if you were working.
If you take an employer-approved leave of absence that lasts more than five consecutive school days, you will still have the option to buy back credit for all or a portion of the leave.
No need to contact OTPP
If you plan to take off a day here and there, or up to five days, you don't have to do anything when it comes to your pension. You will automatically maintain service credit in the plan.
Note: In Bluewater, this includes at-cost days, or a combination of at-cost days and leaves, to a maximum of five days.
No need to buy back short absences
From http://www.otpp.com/members/pension-news-online/articles/article/-/article/718989
August 01, 2014
A plan change will soon eliminate the need to buy back some of your time away from work.
Beginning September 1, 2014, you will automatically maintain service credit for employer-approved absences that span five or fewer consecutive school days. Referred to as "short absences," these paid and unpaid days off may be for things like personal days, religious holidays or if you run out of sick days and need more time off.
This plan simplification was approved in late July by the Ontario Teachers' Federation and Ontario government, which jointly sponsor the pension plan.
What does this mean?
If your employer approves time off for one day or up to five consecutive school days, you won't have to buy back service for these short absences. Your employer will report credit, deduct and remit contributions from your salary as they normally would if you were working.
If you take an employer-approved leave of absence that lasts more than five consecutive school days, you will still have the option to buy back credit for all or a portion of the leave.
No need to contact OTPP
If you plan to take off a day here and there, or up to five days, you don't have to do anything when it comes to your pension. You will automatically maintain service credit in the plan.
Note: In Bluewater, this includes at-cost days, or a combination of at-cost days and leaves, to a maximum of five days.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
EI Booklet
LTD Guide
For the LTD Termination Memo and LTD Termination Form, please visit the TBU Retirements page.
LTD Guide
For the LTD Termination Memo and LTD Termination Form, please visit the TBU Retirements page.