Sick leave bank offers employees a different kind of security
If you’ve ever worried about what might happen to your family if you were laid low by a lengthy illness or a debilitating injury, then HISD’s Employee Support Services department has a suggestion for you:
Sign up for the district’s Supplemental Sick Leave Bank (SSLB) by May 29, and you could buy yourself a little peace of mind for the next school year.
The SSLB offers participants up to 30 additional paid leave days in the event of a catastrophic illness or injury, resulting in an extended absence from work. Eligible employees must agree to contribute one day of their earned Local Leave to the SSLB to participate.
A number of employees have offered testimonials about their experiences with the SSLB. Oates Elementary School life skills teacher Louvenia Matthews tapped into this benefit after an unexpected surgery came hard on the heels of a bout with meningitis. Janowski Elementary School instructional technologist Joshua Martinez, meanwhile, used this particular kind of “bank” to keep his family’s finances afloat three different times. And Multimedia Services web designer Quentrella Joyce says she doesn’t know what she would have done without it in the summer of 2011.
For more information about the SSLB, please visit the Benefits website or see this related article on the May 11–29 enrollment period. And if you’d like to share your experiences with the SSLB in a future edition, please send an email to info@houstonisd.org with the subject line “SSLB.”
