Leaving work for the purpose of cancer screening for up to four hours per year is considered paid leave and you do not have to use your sick time. This time is allowable for all types of cancer screenings. 

Accommodations will be made for DOE employees requesting time off for the purpose of cancer screening. Requests for such time off must be made in advance and in writing. Approval must be granted by the principal or his/her designee, as long as such request does not substantially disrupt the normal operation of the office/school. 

In the event that the office head or principal determines that the number of requests would cause a substantial disruption, then the office head or principal can limit the granting of such excused leave to a reasonable number of staff requesting it on the same day and deny the other requests until a more appropriate time.

Read the DOE's personnel memo detailing this policy » 

Employees who wish to donate blood off-site during working hours are to be granted up to three hours unpaid leave on an annual basis. Requests for time off must be made in advance and in writing. Approval must be granted by the principal or his/her designee, as long as such request does not substantially disrupt the normal operation of the office/school.

In the event that the office head or principal determines that the number of requests would cause a substantial disruption, then the office head or principal can limit the granting of such excused leave to a reasonable number of staff requesting it on the same day and deny the other requests until a more appropriate time.

Such time off shall not be considered paid leave and cannot be charged against any leave the employee is entitled to.

PROSE stands for "Progressive Redesign Opportunity Schools for Excellence." PROSE is driven by collaboration and innovation, and the schools that become PROSE schools have opportunities to implement new ideas, share their work with other schools and develop sustainable cultures that respect teachers and all members as professionals. If the members at your school are interested in participating in PROSE, send an email to prose@uft.org to get more information about the application process.

The deadline for applications for the 2020-2021 school year is Jan. 24, 2020. For more information about the program, see the PROSE section on the UFT website.

Broadway Bridges, a program from the Broadway League in partnership with the UFT, is offering $10 tickets to Broadway shows for 10th-graders and their chaperones. Our shared goal is to provide the opportunity for every New York City public high school student to see a Broadway show before graduation. Participating shows for winter 2020 include “Aladdin,” “Come from Away,” “Dear Evan Hansen,” “Frozen,” “Mean Girls,” “The Phantom of the Opera,” “The Lion King,” “Wicked,” “Moulin Rouge!” and more. Register online on the Broadway Bridges website for performances from Jan. 8 through April 13, 2020. Ticket requests are filled on a first-come, first-served basis.

If you have questions about the program, please send an email to Robin Aronson at bridges@broadway.org.

The hard-to-staff (HTS) salary differential is designed to target employees in designated teaching licenses and/or other UFT-represented titles within specific schools. The HTS salary differential is part of the Bronx Plan – a joint initiative between the DOE and the UFT to support historically underserved schools in targeted neighborhoods throughout the city.

If a teacher or other pedagogue earning a hard-to-staff salary differential is rated Ineffective or Unsatisfactory after the completion of their first school year, and they remain in an eligible position, the differential shall be frozen for the following school year.

If the teacher or other pedagogue then receives an Ineffective or Unsatisfactory the following school year, they will not receive any part of the HTS salary differential for the previous school year. If the teacher receives a rating other than Unsatisfactory or Ineffective, they shall receive the full HTS salary differential payment in the fall of the next school year.

Yes, you may request an appointment with a specific pension consultant by name, but it is not a guarantee that you will be able to schedule a consultation with that person. To schedule a consultation at your borough office, call 212-331-6311

NYSED has published a series of informative briefs in preparation for schools to use the Next Generation standards, which can be found on the NYSED website here: http://www.nysed.gov/bilingual-ed/linguistically-diverse-learners-and-nys-next-generation-p-12-learning-standards.

As a result of the 2018 DOE-UFT contract, occupational therapists/physical therapists on a leave have the right to return to their school if the leave is for one year or less. A therapist on a leave should reach out to their supervisor at some point during their leave to confirm their approved return date or whether they will be changing the date of their return (in that case, they will also need to modify their leave). The supervisor then must enter the member’s name and employee ID as a transaction in Sharepoint (Cybershift timekeeping) in order to get re-staffed and back on payroll in a timely fashion.

The UFT Welfare Fund has negotiated a new program with EmblemHealth to help UFT-represented employees suffering from the Hepatitis C virus. The program gives access to best-in-class care, while eliminating the hundreds of dollars in drug copays normally associated with Hep C treatment. This benefit is available to all UFT-represented in-service employees and their dependents who receive prescription drug coverage through the UFT Welfare Fund.

Beginning Jan. 1, 2020, members who choose to be treated for Hepatitis C at NYU Langone Hospital's Hepatitis C Clinic will have access to world-class treatment by a renowned care team that develops treatment plans tailored to each individual patient's needs. Patients will have no drug copay with free at-home delivery of the associated treatment drugs and the NYU specialty pharmacy team will be available to answer calls 24/7.

You can call NYU Langone Hospital's Hepatitis C Clinic now at 212-263-3643 to schedule an appointment for after Jan. 1, 2020, when this benefit goes into effect. If you have any questions, please contact the UFT Welfare Fund at 212-539-0500.