1 general conditions of employment - Department of Education and ...

4 LEAVE4.12 SPECIAL LEAVE4.12.1 GENERALSpecial leave is a category of full pay leave which covers activities which are not regarded asbeing on duty but which are not covered by other forms of leave.Where appropriate, applications for special leave should be accompanied by documentationverifying the staff member’s involvement in the particular activity or organisation.Short term temporary or casual staff are not entitled to special leave.See Section 4.15 Trade Union and Employer Representative Activities for details of unionactivities which attract the grant of special leave.4.12.2 COURSE ATTENDANCE AND EXAMINATIONSA maximum of ten days in any 12 months may be granted to attend courses conducted byofficially recognised organisations.A maximum of five days in any twelve months may be granted for the purpose of attending anexamination approved by the Director-General and for necessary time spent in travelling to andfrom the place at which the examination is held.4.12.3 JURY SERVICEa) Staff members who receive a jury summons should advise their principal of the details assoon as possible.b) A staff member who attends court in answer to a jury summons may be granted specialleave for the time they are necessarily absent.c) A certificate of attendance must be obtained from the Sheriff or the Registrar of the courtsetting out attendance at court and details of any payments made to the staff members.d) Except as set out in g) below, staff members should not claim jury service fees but shouldonly claim out of pocket expenses, otherwise leave of absence will be granted withoutpay.e) A staff member who attends court but is not empanelled for jury service is obliged toreport for duty where practicable, even for part of the day. In these circumstances, staffmembers should telephone the principal and indicate that they are returning to school.f) Applications for leave must be accompanied by the Sheriff's certificate, otherwise the staffmember will be granted leave without pay or may elect to take recreation leave (ifapplicable).g) A staff member who serves on a jury during a school vacation while receiving vacation orstand down pay is not eligible for compensatory leave. The certificate of attendance isnot required and the staff member may claim the jury service fee for any period ofattendance during a school vacation.Handbook for non teaching staff in schools 2007 Page 4 - 62