PRINTER'S NO. 1358
No. 1202 Session of 1999
INTRODUCED BY FLICK, R. MILLER, E. Z. TAYLOR, FARGO, BARRAR,
DALLY AND RUBLEY, APRIL 12, 1999
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION, APRIL 12, 1999
AN ACT
1 Amending the act of January 18, 1952 (1951 P.L.2111, No.600),
2 entitled, as amended, "An act to provide for minimum
3 compensation and increments for administrators and members of
4 the faculty of State Colleges; providing for leaves of
5 absence; imposing certain duties upon the Boards of Trustees
6 and Presidents of State Colleges and the Superintendent of
7 Public Instruction; and repealing inconsistent laws," further
8 providing for faculty leaves of absence.
9 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
10 hereby enacts as follows:
11 Section 1. Section 3 of the act of January 18, 1952 (1951
12 P.L.2111, No.600), referred to as the State College Faculty
13 Compensation Law, amended October 12, 1984 (P.L.914, No.180), is
14 amended to read:
15 Section 3. Leaves of Absence.--Upon recommendation of the
16 President and approval by the Council of Trustees and the
17 Chancellor of the State System of Higher Education, a leave of
18 absence for a period not to exceed eighteen [college]
19 consecutive calendar weeks with full pay or a leave of absence
20 for a period not to exceed thirty-six [college] consecutive
1 calendar weeks with half pay, for restoration of health[, study,
2 travel or other appropriate purposes] or professional
3 development, may be granted to any member of the faculty of any
4 [university] institution which is [part] a member of the State
5 System of Higher Education who has completed seven or more years
6 of satisfactory service as a member of the faculty of one or
7 more [universities] of the member institutions in the State
8 System of Higher Education: Provided, That at least five
9 consecutive years of such service shall have been rendered to
10 the [university] institution from which the leave is sought. At
11 the option of the employe, if the [university] institution
12 operates on a system of units other than semesters, the employe
13 may be granted a period corresponding to one or more units,
14 within the previous restriction of total weeks. Leaves may be
15 granted for any part of the calendar year. After completion of
16 the requisite seven years, one leave of absence [shall] may be
17 allowed for each additional seven years of service upon
18 recommendation of the Council of Trustees and approval by the
19 Chancellor of the State System of Higher Education. Leaves shall
20 be accumulated so that no one shall lose entitlement because of
21 failure to use leave, but no one shall be entitled to use more
22 than thirty-six weeks of the accumulated leave in succession
23 during any seven-year period. The President of any [such
24 university] member institution may be granted a leave of absence
25 on the same basis as faculty members, as defined in this act.
26 No leave of absence shall be granted unless such person shall
27 agree, in writing, to return to his or her employment with the
28 [State Teachers College] member institution for a period of not
29 less than one calendar year immediately following the expiration
30 of such leave of absence.
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1 No such leave of absence shall be considered a termination or
2 breach of the contract of employment and the person on leave of
3 absence shall be returned to [the same] a position similar to
4 the position he or she occupied prior thereto.
5 Every employe, while on such leave of absence, shall be
6 considered to be in regular full-time daily attendance in [the]
7 a position comparable to the position from which the leave was
8 taken during the period of said leave, for the purpose of
9 determining the employe's length of service and the right to
10 receive salary increments as provided by law or collective
11 bargaining agreement.
12 Every person on leave of absence shall retain the right to
13 make contributions as a member of either the State Employes'
14 Retirement [Fund or] System, the Public School [Employe's]
15 Employes' Retirement [Fund] System or TIAA/CREF and continue his
16 or her membership [therein] in [which ever] whichever system he
17 or she currently holds membership.
18 Nothing in this section shall be construed to prevent any
19 person on leave of absence from receiving a grant for [further
20 study] professional development from any institution of learning
21 other than the [State Teachers College] member institution by
22 which he or she is employed. Receiving such a grant shall not
23 entitle the faculty member to extend his or her leave of absence
24 beyond the thirty-six week limitation for any seven-year period
25 of time. In addition, if said grant totals more than one-half of
26 the total compensation to which the faculty member is entitled
27 to receive during his or her leave of absence, the compensation
28 payable under provisions of this act, except for contributions
29 into any of the aforementioned retirement system funds, shall be
30 reduced by an equal amount.
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1 If such employe resigns or fails to return to his employment,
2 the amount contributed by the member institution to the Public
3 School Employes' Retirement Fund, the State Employes' Retirement
4 Fund or TIAA/CREF shall be deducted from the refund payable to
5 such employe under existing law and the amount so deducted shall
6 be refunded to the institution by which it was paid.
7 The [Trustees of each State Teachers College] Board of
8 Governors shall have the [right] authority to make such
9 regulations as they may deem necessary to make sure that
10 employes on leave shall utilize such leave properly for the
11 purpose for which it was granted, requiring reports from the
12 employe or employes on leave in such manner as they may deem
13 necessary.
14 When granting a leave of absence for restoration of health,
15 the Board of Governors shall grant the leave to commence upon
16 the expiration of sick leave accumulated by the faculty member
17 and to which the member is entitled according to a collective
18 bargaining agreement between the State system or any of its
19 member institutions and representatives of its faculty.
20 A leave of absence for professional development shall be
21 directly related to the professional responsibilities as
22 determined by the Board of Governors and shall be restricted to
23 activities required by regulations of the Board of Governors to
24 improve professional competency. All requests for a leave of
25 absence for professional development shall be subject to review
26 and authorization by the Board of Governors which shall have the
27 sole authority to adopt and enforce policy establishing the
28 conditions for approval of such leaves. A leave of absence for
29 professional development may consist of any of the following
30 activities: graduate credits, undergraduate credits, a
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1 determinate number of hours of professional development,
2 activities or any combination thereof.
3 The employe requesting a leave of absence for professional
4 development shall submit to the Board of Governors a detailed
5 plan describing the professional development activities to be
6 undertaken. The board shall be authorized to approve or reject
7 the plan, consistent with its written policy. Upon completion of
8 the leave, the employe shall provide to the board satisfactory
9 evidence that the employe complied completely with the approved
10 plan for professional development during the leave of absence.
11 If the employe fails to do so, unless prevented by illness or
12 physical disability, the employe shall forfeit all benefits to
13 which said employe would have been entitled under the provisions
14 of this act for the period of the absence for professional
15 development and shall reimburse the member institution for all
16 compensation he received for that leave of absence.
17 Section 2. Nothing in this act shall be construed to
18 adversely affect the provisions of any collective bargaining
19 agreement negotiated and ratified in accordance with the act of
20 July 23, 1970 (P.L.563, No.195), known as the Public Employe
21 Relations Act, in effect on the effective date of this act until
22 the expiration of that agreement.
23 Section 3. This act shall take effect in 60 days.
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