The Maryland Healthy Working Families Act (MHWFA or the Act) requires employers to provide paid sick leave for employees to use for certain sick and safe purposes. City Schools has developed new processes to record and track the accrual and usage of earned sick and safe leave.

Substitute teachers and temporary employees, who do not receive leave benefits, are the only eligible group of City Schools employees to access earned sick and safe leave. 

As the school year progresses, processes and provisions may be adjusted to preserve employees’ rights to earn sick and safe leave and to facilitate City Schools’ right and responsibility to promote good attendance across the District.

This will be in effect as of the 2023-24 School Year. 

1. Employees remain responsible for following supervisors’ call-out procedures and may be subject to progressive disciplinary action for failing to do so;

2. employees who are out on extended, undocumented absences remain subject to review and progressive disciplinary action; and

3. supervisors will continue to address patterns of leave abuse, such as repeated use of leave on Fridays or Mondays or to extend holiday or vacation leave.

Pursuant to the Maryland Healthy Working Families Act (MHWFA), City Schools employees who regularly work at least 12 hours per week may use earned leave for certain “sick and safe” purposes. This includes temporary employees and substitute teachers. Certain employees are exempt from the requirements of the law.

Leave accrues at the rate of one hour for every thirty hours that an employee works. An employee is not entitled to accrue sick and safe leave during a 2-week pay period in which the employee worked fewer than 24 total hours.

Temporary employees and substitute teachers who regularly work at least 12 hours in a week (even if, on occasion, the employee works less than 12 hours in a week), will accrue 1 hour of sick and safe leave for every 30 hours that the employee works. 

Pursuant to the Act, City Schools employees who regularly work at least 12 hours per week may use earned leave for the following “sick and safe” purposes:

• To care for or treat the employee’s mental or physical illness, injury or condition;

• To obtain preventative medical care for the employee or the employee’s family member;

• To care for a family member with a mental or physical illness, injury or condition;

• For maternity or paternity leave; or

• The absence from work is necessary due to domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking committed against the employee or the employee’s family member and the leave is being used: (1) to obtain medical or mental health attention; (2) to obtain services from a victim services organization; (3) for legal services or proceedings; or (4) because the employee has temporarily relocated as a result of the domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking.

Employees may only use earned sick and safe leave for one of these authorized reasons, subject to all other eligibility requirements of the MHWFA, including the required notification and verification provisions.

City Schools employees may not earn more than 40 hours of sick and safe leave in a year; accrue more than 64 hours at any time; or use more than 64 hours of earned sick and safe leave in a fiscal year. If an employee has unused earned sick and safe leave at the end of the year, the employee may carry over the balance of the earned sick and safe leave to the following year, up to a 40-hour carryover maximum.

When the need to use sick and safe leave is foreseeable, employees must make a request to use the leave 7 days in advance. If the need to use earned sick and safe leave is not foreseeable, employees should notify their supervisor as soon as practicable and generally comply with any notice or procedural requirements for requesting or reporting leave usage. If the use of sick and safe leave meets the requirements of the Family and Medical Leave Act, they will run concurrently.

The provisions of this program are subject to change by City Schools in accordance with state law and consistent with state guidance.

• Maryland Earned Sick and Safe Leave Employee Notice (printable poster)

• Downloadable information about City's Schools Sick and Safe Leave

• Downloadable FAQ (also listed below)

Employees must complete the Smartsheet application and at the end elect to receive a copy for their records. The supervisor will receive a copy from Smartsheet to approve or deny. A copy will be forwarded by the supervisor to the payroll contact/timekeeper. Submission of the form is not in itself a confirmation of processing or approval. Please follow these directions:

1. Complete all required fields on the form.

2. Review that you have correctly spelled your supervisor’s City Schools email address and the accuracy of the information in order to have the request processed promptly.

3. Your supervisor will receive an electronic version of your application to approve or deny based on Sick and Safe Leave Program Guidelines.

4. You will receive an electronic confirmation of your supervisor’s approval or denial. Please monitor your City Schools email.

*If you forget to select to receive a copy you will need to complete the form again from the beginning and select to receive a copy.

**When providing documentation and verification of use of leave by uploading to the Smartsheet, after the initial application, you will need to complete the form again and the required fields.