1. (a) For the purposes of this section, the following terms have the following meanings:

   1. (1) BOARD. The State Board of Education.
   2. (2) CATASTROPHIC ILLNESS. Any illness, injury, or pregnancy or medical condition related to childbirth, certified by a licensed physician, which causes the employee to be absent from work for an extended period of time and which is unrelated to the Public Education Employee Injury Compensation Program or paid parental leave.
   3. (3) CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER. The superintendent of any public K-12 school system; the President of the Alabama Institute for Deaf and Blind; the Superintendent of the Department of Youth Services School District; the Executive Director of the Alabama School of Fine Arts; the Executive Director of the Alabama High School of Mathematics and Science; the Executive Director of the Alabama School of Cyber Technology and Engineering; and the Executive Director of the Alabama School of Healthcare Sciences.
   4. (4) EDUCATIONAL AUTHORITY or AUTHORITY. Each local board of education; the Board of Trustees of the Alabama Institute for Deaf and Blind; the Alabama Youth Services Board in its capacity as the Board of Education for the Department of Youth Services School District; the Board of Directors of the Alabama School of Fine Arts; the Board of Directors of the Alabama High School of Mathematics and Science; the Board of Directors of the Alabama School of Cyber Technology and Engineering; and the Board of Directors of the Alabama School of Healthcare Sciences.
   5. (5) EMPLOYEE. Any individual employed by an educational authority on a full-time or part-time basis.
   6. (6) PARTICIPATING MEMBER. An employee who voluntarily chooses to participate in a sick leave bank.
   7. (7) SICK LEAVE. The same meaning as Section 16-1-18.1.
   8. (8) SICK LEAVE BANK COMMITTEE. A committee of five employees, one representing the authority and four representing the participating members of the sick leave bank.

2. (b)

   1. (1) The board shall adopt a model sick leave policy and adopt rules to implement and administer the model policy.

   2. (2) The board’s model policy shall provide for:

      1. a. Employees to deposit an equal number of days, not to exceed five, of their earned sick leave into the bank. The days deposited shall be available to be loaned to any participating member whose sick leave has been exhausted;
      2. b. The use of catastrophic leave, as provided in subsection (f); and
      3. c. Employees to donate their earned sick leave directly to any other employee, as provided in subsection (g).

   3. (3)

      1. a. The board shall develop uniform state forms:

         1. 1. Necessary for the operation and administration of sick leave banks and sick leave donation;
         2. 2. To ensure the orderly transfer and acceptance of catastrophic sick leave days from one sick leave bank to another; and
         3. 3. To ensure the orderly direct donation of sick leave days from one employee to another.
      2. b. The forms established under this subdivision may be used by any educational authority.

3. (c)

   1. (1) Each educational authority, upon the request of 10 percent of its full-time certificated and full-time support personnel, shall establish a sick leave bank plan for each of the two groups either jointly or separately. The decision whether to have a joint or separate sick leave bank shall be the exclusive decision of the employees, utilizing a secret balloting process.
   2. (2) At the beginning of each scholastic year, an election shall be held among the sick leave bank participating members to determine by secret ballot the four participating members who are to serve on the sick leave bank committee. The term of office shall be one year. The chief executive officer of the authority shall be responsible for conducting the election in a fair and equitable manner and ensuring the confidentiality of the secret balloting process. The chief executive officer of the authority shall also appoint the authority’s representative on the committee, subject to approval by the educational authority.

4. (d)

   1. (1) Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, each sick leave bank committee shall provide administrative and clerical support to the educational authority related to the operation of the sick leave bank by:

      1. a. Implementing and administering the model sick leave policy created pursuant to subsection (b); and
      2. b. Developing and implementing any additional guidelines or administrative procedures as necessary for compliance with this section, and for the orderly operation of the sick leave bank, including catastrophic leave and direct sick leave donation as provided in this section, subject to the approval of the educational authority.
   2. (2) The guidelines developed by a sick leave bank committee shall be approved by: (i) a secret ballot vote of the participating members of the sick leave bank; and (ii) the educational authority. The accounting of the sick leave bank shall be the responsibility of the authority. Vacancies occurring on a committee shall be filled in the same manner as provided in subdivision (c)(2). No representative on the committee shall serve for a term longer than five years.

5. (e) Each educational authority may adopt rules and policies to implement and administer this section as to its employees and the educational institutions under its control, provided that no educational authority or sick leave bank committee may adopt any policy or rule that conflicts with the model policy developed under subsection (b), the catastrophic leave provisions of subsection (f), the sick leave direct donation provisions of subsection (g), any other provision of this section, or any of the following general regulations:

   1. (1) No employee shall be allowed to owe more than 15 days to the sick leave bank, unless over 50 percent of the participating members of the bank vote to extend the limit.
   2. (2) Appropriate administrative forms for administering the sick leave bank shall comply with the model policy and uniform forms created pursuant to this section and be developed by the sick leave bank committee, subject to the approval of the educational authority.
   3. (3) Sick leave days borrowed from the sick leave bank shall be repaid to the sick leave bank monthly as re-earned by the participating member. Upon the resignation or other termination of an employee who has an outstanding loan of sick leave days, the value of the loan shall be deducted from the final paycheck at the employee’s prevailing rate of pay.
   4. (4) A participating member of the sick leave bank shall not be allowed to accumulate more days than allowed in Section 16-1-18.1, including days in the sick leave bank.
   5. (5) Employee membership in the sick leave bank shall be voluntary.
   6. (6) Any alleged abuse of the use of the sick leave bank shall be investigated by the applicable sick leave bank committee. On the finding of wrongdoing, the participating member shall repay all of the sick leave credits drawn from the sick leave bank and be subject to other appropriate disciplinary action as determined by the educational authority.
   7. (7) Upon retirement or transfer of the sick leave bank member, days on deposit with the sick leave bank shall be withdrawn and transferred with the employee or made accessible for retirement credit, as applicable.
   8. (8) Before being eligible to use catastrophic sick leave days, the participating member shall first borrow and use days from the sick leave bank, up to a maximum of 15 days. However, if the participating member later qualifies for catastrophic sick leave, donated catastrophic sick leave days may be used to repay days owed to the sick leave bank to the credit of the affected participating member.
   9. (9) At the beginning of the scholastic year, or upon employment of a new employee, as the case may be, the appropriate number of sick leave days, upon application of the employee, shall be credited to the employee’s account to enable the employee to join the sick leave bank if the employee does not have the minimum number of sick leave days to enable him or her to join the bank. Each sick leave bank committee shall develop in its guidelines a provision whether to allow other employees who have previously failed or refused to join the sick leave bank the option to join upon deposit of the prerequisite number of sick leave days. Any policy developed by the sick leave bank committee shall be uniformly applied to all employees.

   10. (10)

       1. a. No employee may be required to appear before the sick leave bank committee or request approval from the sick leave bank committee in order to donate or receive leave under this section, provided that each employee shall provide the applicable educational authority with a written plan regarding the employee’s intended use of leave that he or she intends to take pursuant to this section.
       2. b. Any discretionary functions relating to the sick leave bank are the responsibility of the educational authority.
6. (f) Employees, at their discretion, may donate a specific number of days to the sick leave bank to be designated for a specific employee for use against a catastrophic illness. A donating employee shall not be required to donate a minimum number of catastrophic days to the sick leave bank. The recipient employee may use catastrophic sick leave days for himself or herself or for other covered individuals as provided in Section 16-1-18.1. Before sick leave days for a catastrophic illness may be used by a recipient employee, the recipient employee shall have first exhausted all sick and personal leave. Donated days shall become available for use by the particular employee who shall not be required to repay the days. Any employee who donates sick leave days to the sick leave bank for a particular employee suffering from a catastrophic illness shall be clearly informed that the donated days are not to be recovered or returned to the donor. If a particular employee does not require all of the days donated to the credit of the employee, the days shall revert to the credit of those employees who donated the days in accordance with the guidelines adopted by the sick leave bank committee. A sick leave bank may donate sick leave days to another sick leave bank for use by a particular employee who is suffering a catastrophic illness. An employee must be a participating member of the sick leave bank to donate or receive catastrophic sick leave days.

7. (g)

   1. (1) Beginning with the 2027-2028 school year, an employee may directly donate sick leave to any other employee of any educational authority for any reason. An employee donating leave under this subsection may donate to an employee of any other educational authority, even if the donor is employed by a different educational authority than the receiving employee. Sick leave donated under this subsection shall not be deposited into a sick leave bank. The recipient employee is not required to repay the donor for the sick leave. No individual employee may receive more than 30 total sick leave days per academic school year under this subsection.
   2. (2) If an educational authority has not authorized a sick leave bank, the authority shall adopt procedures to implement this subsection as the policy pertains to the direct donation of sick leave.
8. (h) If an authority fails to comply with this section within 30 calendar days after receiving the petition to establish a sick leave bank, the State Superintendent of Education shall investigate the situation and shall immediately take due and appropriate steps to ensure compliance with this section.

(Acts 1984, No. 84-321, p. 739, §§1-4; Acts 1988, No. 88-261, p. 402, §4; Acts 1993, No. 93-753, p. 1506, §§1, 2; Acts 1995, No. 95-386, p. 786, §1; Act 99-581, p. 1314, §1; Act 2026-523, §1.)