Chapter 5 Human Resources > Section 8 Benefits

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Overview/Purpose
• 8.2.1 Understanding COAVSHP+:
• 8.2.2 General Policy Information:
• 8.2.3 Vacation Policy:
• 8.2.4 Sick Policy:
• 8.2.5 Holiday Pay Policy:
• 8.2.6 School Closure Pay Policy:
• 8.2.7 Bereavement and Jury Duty:
• 8.2.8 Transition:
• 8.2.9 Requesting Vacation and Sick Time:

Overview/Purpose

Since the introduction of the COAVHSP+, we have been refining the COAVSHP+ policy, which combines vacation, sick, holiday and other pay. We've collaborated with stakeholders, including managers and teachers, to make improvements, particularly for non-exempt employees.

We're thrilled to share the upcoming changes, effective starting September 2023. These changes address two main areas of the policy:

1. Eligibility
2. Earning Vacation and Sick Time

The new accruals will be in place for payrolls processed September 22, 2023 (for hours from 9/4/23 to 9/15/23) and September 29, 2023 (for hours from 9/11/23 to 9/22/23).

For full-time non-exempt employees, the threshold to accrue vacation, sick time, paid holidays, school closures, bereavement, and jury duty will be an average of thirty-two (32) hours per week, instead of the previous requirement of thirty-five (35) hours.

Full-time non-exempt employees with at least one year of employment will now receive eligible vacation time within the first 90 days following their eligibility date (based on 40 hours per week). While earned time will still accrue, the accrual rates have been increased fourfold (4X) to resemble an immediate

"lump sum" allocation. Eligible non-exempt employees with less than one year of service will follow the standard accrual rate, allowing them to earn up to 5 days in 12 months or 2080 hours.

To simplify COAVSHP+, we've also accelerated the sick time accrual rates. In addition, we have aligned the COA sick time accrual rates to that of the state mandated ones to ensure equitable policies for all. This ensures that eligible employees will not have to wait more than 90 days to use their sick time and can earn all eligible time in approximately six months (based on 40 hours per week).

For simplicity purposes all policies related to paid time off will now fall under our consolidated COA Vacation, Sick, Holiday Pay, and Plus Policy (COAVSHP+).

Understanding COAVSHP+ starts with understanding which classification you fall under as an employee:

For the purposes of determining COAVSHP+ benefits and eligibility, employees are classified as follows:

• Exempt Employees– Assistant Director, Director, Maintenance, Regional Managers and defined Corporate Personnel
• Non-Exempt Employees – Associate Admins, Teachers, Bus Drivers, Cooks, or other school level hourly associates and defined Corporate Personnel
  

Below is an outline of changes related to paid time off policies included in COAVSHP+ based on your classification as an Exempt or Non-Exempt employee.

1. General Policy Information

2. Vacation Policy

3. Sick Policy

4. Holiday Pay Policy

5. School Closure Pay Policy

6. Bereavement and Jury Duty

7. Transition

Non-Exempt Employees:

Exempt Employees:

No Changes See Handbook for Details

Non-Exempt Employees:

• Accrual Calculation – Full-time non-exempt employees accrue vacation time from their first hours worked at a defined rate based on their date of anniversary or calendar year.
• Accrual Limits – Full-time non-exempt employees cannot accrue more hours than their annual accrual limit based on the date of anniversary or calendar year.
• Maximum Accrual – Full-time non-exempt employees may carryover any unused vacation and will continue to accrue time, until they reach their maximum accrual limit (1.5 times their annual accrual limit). Once you have accrued that maximum balance you will stop accruing additional vacation time until you use some or all of the hours already accrued.
• Proper Usage – Use of accrued vacation time is subject to prior approval, except when used to supplement hours for any closures, unpaid holidays, or lost time in which case; supplemental hours cannot be in excess of an employee’s regular time worked for any given pay period up to eighty (80) hours. Full-time non-exempt employees may use vacation in hourly increments.
• Payout – Unless required by state law, unused time will not be paid out and subsequently forfeited upon termination.

The Following Table Illustrates Vacation Time Accruals

Exempt Employees:

No Changes Except:

The Following Table Illustrates Sick Days Earned for Exempt Bi-Weekly Paid Employees   The Following Table Illustrates Sick Days Earned for Exempt Semi-Monthly Paid Employees

Non-Exempt Employees:

• Accrual Calculation – All full-time non-exempt employees accrue sick time from their first hours worked at a defined rate unless state specific paid sick laws require otherwise.
• Accrual Limits – All Full-time non-exempt employees cannot accrue more hours than their annual accrual limit unless state specific paid sick laws require otherwise.
• Maximum Accrual – Unless required by state law, all full-time non-exempt employees may carryover any unused sick, however, may not accrue more than their annual accrual limit (i.e., 40 hours). Once you have accrued that maximum balance you will stop accruing additional sick time until you use some or all of the hours already accrued.
• Proper Usage – Use of accrued sick time is subject to covered uses, except when used to supplement hours for any closures, unpaid holidays, or lost time in which case;
  supplemental hours cannot be in excess of an employee’s regular time worked for any given pay period up to eighty (80) hours. Full-time non-exempt employees may use sick time in hourly increments.
• Payout – Unless required by state law, unused time will not be paid out and subsequently forfeited upon termination.

The Following Table Illustrates Employees’ Sick Time Accruals

*All Other States: CT, DE, FL, IL, IN, NC, OH, PA (excluding Phila), TX, VA, WI ** COA policy exceeds state requirements

Exempt Employees:

No Changes See Handbook for Details

Non-Exempt Employees:

All full-time non-exempt employees that work an average of at least thirty-two (32) hours or more, who have completed their ninetieth (90^th) day of employment, will be paid holiday pay for designated eligible holidays. To be eligible to receive holiday pay, full-time non-exempt employees must have worked or been available for work on both the day before and the day after the holiday, unless the employee has taken pre-approved time off.

Exempt Employees:

No Changes See Handbook for Details

Non-Exempt Employees:

All full-time non-exempt employees that work an average of at least thirty-two (32) hours or more, who have completed their ninetieth (90) day of employment, will be paid for up to two (2) consecutive school closures as defined by Emergency Closure Policy in our Family Guide.

Exempt Employees:

• Exempt employees who have completed their ninetieth (90^th) day of employment, will be paid for up to three (3) regular workdays due to the death of immediate family.
• Exempt employees will also be paid up to three (3) regular workdays for jury or witness duty leave, unless required otherwise by state law.

Non-Exempt Employees:

For the purpose of explaining the transition period, all COAVSHP+ eligible employees will fall into one of the following scenarios:

Initial transition:

Exempt Employees:

• Scenario: All full-time exempt employees, with less than 1 year of employment:
  • Accrual method: COA will conduct a look back period from November 1 ,2021. The company will calculate earned sick days for all full-time exempt employees from their initial start date. The company will then credit each employees’ sick time balance accordingly. Employees that have completed their ninetieth (90) day of employment that have met the eligibility, can start using their sick time accordingly.

Non-Exempt Employees:

•  Scenario: All full-time non-exempt new hire employees, with less than 1 year of employment:
  • Accrual method: COA will conduct a look back period from November 1 ,2021. The company will calculate all hours worked for all full-time non-exempt employees from their initial start date. The company will then credit each employees’ vacation and sick time balance accordingly. Employees that have completed their ninetieth (90) day of employment that have met the eligibility, can start using their vacation and sick time accordingly.
•  Scenario: All full-time non-exempt employees, with more than 1 year of employment:
  • Accrual method: All full-time non-exempt employees that have already beencredited their annual allotment will keep their time received. You will not accrue any additional time until your next anniversary date. At your new anniversary, you may carryover any time that you have not used, and you will start to accrue time according to date of anniversary or calendar year.

Subsequent Transitions as result of promotions (or demotions):

• Non-Exempt to Exempt:

  • Employees will have any accrued time balances adjusted to reflect the policy associated with their new classification.

• Exempt to Non-Exempt:

  • Employees will keep their time received; you will not accrue any addition time until your next anniversary date. At your new anniversary date, you may carryover any time that you have not used, and you will start to accrue time according to date of anniversary or calendar year.

All related policies can be found in our Employee Handbook located on the PEEEPS Intranet/website https://coapeeeps.com/

This document doesn’t modify any changes related to the process in which employees request sick or vacation time. The Field Memo only notifies employees of the changes to ensure that everyone is aligned with the changes to our new policies.

New Process to use for vacation & sick time request:

1. First, management will access Alpha Staff to check their available PTO balance.
2. Next, they will submit their time-off requests through the Alpha Staff portal.
3. After approval, they will log the requested days into Procare.
4. Following payroll processing, the hours will be deducted from their PTO balance.

This process does not change or modify the proper use of Vacation & Sick time as outlined in our employee handbook, such as:

1. Employees are required to submit vacation time requests in advance, whenever possible.
2. Vacation requests are subject to approval by the respective manager. It is crucial to obtain approval prior to confirming and personal plans.
3. Sick time used are to be submitted promptly through the AlphaStaff portal and must be consistent with allowable purposes.