Sick leave donation proposed for PSS workers with life-threatening illnesses

Board of Education member Tanya King wants the creation of a new policy that would allow Public School System employees to receive accrued sick leave donations from co-workers if they need them to seek off-island treatment for life-threatening illnesses.

She disclosed, however, that the proposal has been repeatedly deferred to the committee level pending a fiscal and legal analysis by the board counsel and Education Commissioner Rita A. Sablan. The proposal has been sitting idle for more than three months now.

King, the board representative from Rota, told Saipan Tribune that she endorsed the sick leave donation after learning that several PSS employees with life-threatening illnesses need longer periods of stay for treatment, mostly outside the Commonwealth.

Based on existing board policy, PSS employees are allowed to accrue up to just 120 hours of sick leave-not enough for those who need longer medical treatment such as for cancer.

King’s proposed policy will allow employees to donate their accrued sick leave benefits to their co-employees. She’s looking at providing up to 120 days accrued sick leave for system personnel. This number, she said, came about after looking at similar policies in different states.

She likened PSS employees to the men and women serving in the National Guard who are entitled to 120 days of accrued sick leave after their tour of duty. “It mirrors what we give to our men and women fighting in the battle field and these people [sick employees] are also fighting battles in their lives,” she said.

She pointed out that donating one’s accrued sick leave to another employee who badly needs it will not take money away from PSS because the benefit stays within the system’s employees.

During last week’s board meeting, King appealed to her colleagues to act on her proposal with urgency.

“With due respect, this issue has been at FPA [fiscal and personnel committee] level at least in four different meetings and has always been tabled because of some analysis that has not been completed by respective individuals. .I would say that this has been going on for about three to four months and this has not been addressed,” she told colleagues.

King’s sentiment was echoed by board member Galvin Deleon Guerrero, who supports the proposal.

Members Lucy Blanco-Maratita and Herman Guerrero asked board chair Marylou S. Ada to defer the matter one last time to the committee for final review and recommendation. Ada instructed both the commissioner and the legal counsel to come up with their respective analyses in two weeks’ time.

Sablan said the proposed policy will have a “huge financial impact” on the system but refused to elaborate when pressed by Saipan Tribune after the meeting.