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Absences

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Self-treated days

If you are a UFT-represented DOE employee and are absent from school because of illness, you will be paid for up to 10 days in any school year without submitting a doctor’s note, as long as you have days in your Cumulative Absence Reserve (CAR), commonly referred to as your sick bank. These are known as “self-treated days.” It is important that you call your school and notify the principal each day that you will be absent. 

If you take more than 10 self-treated days in any school year, you will not be paid for the additional absences unless you submit a doctor’s note – even if you have accumulated days in your CAR. Whenever possible, you should submit medical certification for each day you are absent to preserve as many of your self-treated days as possible.

Here are some more important things to know about self-treated days:

  • You can use three of your 10 days for personal business, provided that the days are approved by your principal. Personal business is officially defined as something that cannot be done at any time other than a school day, during school hours. Some or all of these three personal business days may be used to care for family members who are ill.
  • Aside from these three personal business days, your self-treated days may only be taken for your own illness or disability. If you have exhausted all the days in your CAR and you are a full-time employee, you may borrow up sick leave days.  Appointed pedagogues may borrow up to 20 additional sick leave days. Full-time paras and administrative employees may borrow up to 10. You must submit a request to borrow CAR days in writing to your principal. 
  • If your supervisor suspects that you are abusing the sick leave provisions in the contract -- for example, absences are always on Mondays or Fridays or before holidays, s/he may investigate.

Other absences

You are entitled to take one day each school year for an annual physical exam or for annual laboratory tests. This absence is deducted from your sick bank (CAR).

Absences due to hepatitis B as a result of working with children, or to an allergic reaction from a DOE-mandated skin test, will not be deducted from your CAR, provided you submit appropriate medical documentation.

Other absences that are not deducted from your CAR include those used if you contract measles, mumps or chicken pox from a student; for the death of an immediate family member or to appear in court as a juror or witness. These are considered "non-attendance" days. Your chapter leader can advise you about which forms to file for these absences.

You can request up to four hours of paid time off annually to get screened for cancer, and up to three hours of unpaid time off annually to donate blood. The request should be made in advance and in writing to your principal. It will be granted if it is determined that it would not be a major disruption to the school. See the DOE's personnel memo on absences for cancer screenings for further details. 

Absences for paraprofessionals

Educational paraprofessionals may use their sick leave (CAR days) for their own personal illness with certification from their physician.

CAR is time earned by a full-time educational paraprofessional that can be used for personal illness. Eligible employees earn one CAR day for every month they are on payroll, up to 10 days per year. These days may be carried over from year to year. Eligible employees can accrue a maximum of 200 CAR days.

An educational paraprofessional may not use more than five self-treated days per term, and not more than 10 self-treated days in an academic year. Absences due to personal illness beyond an employee's 10 self-treated days must be medically certified.

Educational paraprofessionals may use their sick leave up to three consecutive days for a self-treated illness. Beyond three consecutive days, an employee's principal may request certification from their physician, such as a note from their doctor, to certify their absences.

An educational paraprofessional may use three sick leave days for personal business during the academic year. These days are included as part of the educational paraprofessional's 10 self-treated days in a 10-month period. If three personal business days are used, then the employee can only use seven self-treated days during the school year. For more information regarding the use of personal business days, the employee should contact the school’s payroll secretary.

Educational paraprofessionals who exhaust their sick leave balances are eligible to borrow up to 10 days with certification from their physician. UFT educational paraprofessionals whose sick leave allowance has been exhausted have the right to borrow against future sick leave in accordance with applicable administrative regulations.

A request to borrow CAR in conjunction with a leave of absence needs to be submitted through SOLAS for approval. The employee's CAR is placed in a negative balance for the number of days borrowed. As the employee earns CAR, the negative balance is adjusted.

UFT educational paraprofessionals do not have the option to buy back borrowed CAR days. They may only accrue one sick day each month, which will be applied to their negative CAR balance.

Further guidance on Absences

Know Your Rights definitions for:

Absence forms

  • CAR Transfer Form & Rules
    All pedagogues may use this form to donate sick time to a colleague. The recipient receives one day for every two days donated. Pedagogues may only donate sick days to a colleague suffering from a catastrophic illness. Sick leave transfer rules are on page 2 of the form.
  • OP 44: Application for Termination Pay for Pedagogues
    Upon resignation, termination or retirement, pedagogues and paraprofessionals may be granted half of their sick leave balance (up to 100 days) at the rate of 1/200th of their annual salary. Pedagogues must fill out this form online, download it, print it and get it signed by the principal and then mail or hand-deliver (strongly suggested) it to the DOE. The DOE does not accept faxes. Paraprofessionals do not need to fill out this form. However, in order to collect termination pay, they must be members of the Teachers' Retirement System.
  • OP 201: Application for Excuse of Absence Without Pay and/or as Non-Attendance
    All pedagogues use this form to request time off with pay and no loss of CAR time for the circumstances listed on page 2 (death in the family, jury duty, graduation, religious observance, etc.). OP 201 is also used to request a day off without pay in certain circumstances.
  • OP 221: Application to Attend Meeting, Conference or Convention Outside NYC
    All pedagogues, paraprofessionals and administrative staff use this form to request approval for time off for a meeting or conference either with pay as non-attendance and no loss of CAR time, or without pay
  • OP 407: Confidential Medical Report and Medical Evaluation
    All pedagogues, paraprofessionals and administrative staff are required to submit an OP 407 form when applying for sabbatical leaves, (for) restoration of health leaves, (for) sick leaves over 20 consecutive school days and (for) alleged line of duty injuries. To maintain confidentiality, this form may be submitted directly to the Medical (Bureau) Division in place of a doctor’s statement on an OP 198 form.
  • Application to Use Earned Annual/Sick Leave or Report Non-Chargeable Absence
    All UFT members may use this form to report any kind of absence (e.g. sick day, personal day, meeting attendance, etc.).

DOE documents regarding absences

Frequently Asked Questions

A list of the most commonly asked questions.

Can I borrow days and also take parental leave?

No. Birth mothers must choose between two options:

  1. Take the traditional maternity leave including any applicable right to borrow days and/or use a grace period; or
  2. Take paid parental leave. Under this option, immediately following the birth of a child, a birth mother may choose to use up to six weeks of CAR days for a vaginal birth and may use up to eight weeks of CAR days for a C-section birth. Following the use of her CAR days, the birth mother can use paid parental leave for up to an additional six weeks — for a total of 12 to 14 weeks.
When can I start my paid parental leave?
  • If you physically gave birth to a child, you have the option to use your available CAR/sick day balance immediately after your child's birth, up to a maximum of six calendar weeks (eight weeks for a C-section) before taking paid parental leave.
  • If you did not give birth to a child, you are eligible for up to six weeks of paid parental leave beginning on the date of the covered event.
  • If both parents work for the DOE, as of the 2023 contract, they receive a combined total of 12 weeks of paid parental leave (six weeks each). 
How do I apply for a leave?

Most leaves are applied for on the DOE website through SOLAS, the Self-Service Online Leave Application System (https://apps.schools.nyc/solas). Absences of one day or more, but less than 10, and intermittent FMLA leaves are not applied for online; pedagogues should talk to their school Payroll Secretary in these instances.

Can my leave be denied?

A leave may be denied because of incomplete medical documentation, not meeting eligibility requirements, not providing timely notice of the need for a leave, the health condition is not sufficiently serious, or a leave is determined not to be medically necessary. If there is missing information required from your leave application, you should receive notice in writing and you will have an opportunity to provide the necessary documentation.

What is considered bereavement leave?

You may take time following the death of a family member without loss of CAR days. If your parent, child, sibling, grandparent, grandchild, spouse or domestic partner, or parent of spouse or domestic partner or any other relative or step-relative of your immediate household should die, you are granted the day of death plus the next three calendar days (excluding weekends and holidays). Under the 2023 contract, members may delay taking all or part of their bereavement leave to any point within three months of the death if the delay is in connection with a funeral or a memorial service that is scheduled later. The superintendent may grant additional time with appropriate documentation.

See more about bereavement.