District employees shall earn paid time off (PTO) days annually according to the following schedule unless otherwise provided by a negotiated agreement.
Employees represented by the LCEA Certified or Classified agreement or the AFSCME negotiated agreement should refer to the current year agreements.
179-184 day employees-12 days
185-209 day employees-13 days
210-220 day employees-14 days
240-260 day employees-16 days
Definitions
- “Immediate family” shall include an employee’s spouse, parent, children, siblings, grandparents, in-laws, grandchildren and partner in a civil union. Exceptions to this definition may be made by the superintendent.
Current PTO for employees not covered by a negotiated agreement
- PTO leave shall be accrued by the employee on the first day of the fiscal year. Part-time employees may receive PTO at a rate proportional to their FTE percentage based upon job description.
- PTO is provided for an employee use under the following conditions:
i. SICK LEAVE:
a. For an appointment with a doctor, dentist or other health care specialist.
b. For the illness of an employee or the employee’s immediate family.
ii. PERSONAL LEAVE:
a. For any other purpose.
iii. AND other allowable uses as allowed per law.
- If an employee exhausts all Current and Accrued PTO leave, any excess PTO days taken by the employee that are not covered by the sick leave bank shall be deducted from the employee’s pay as Leave Without Pay at the employee’s daily rate.
Accrued Sick Leave
Unused PTO days shall accrue from year to year during an employee’s employment up to a maximum of 90 days and shall be referred to as “accrued sick leave.” All sick and personal leave accrued by a district employee before July 1, 2019, shall roll over and be included in the employee’s accrued sick leave balance.
Accrued Sick Leave is subject to the following regulations:
- Unused PTO days that would take an employee’s accrued sick leave balance over 90 days shall be “cashed in” at the end of each fiscal year (June 30) and paid to the employee at the base substitute rate, rather than rolled over into the accrued sick leave balance.
- No employee shall receive pay for accrued sick leave at the time of termination of employment, except for retiring employees (defined as employees retiring through PERA or having 20 years or more of service in the district), who shall be paid half of the base substitute daily rate per unused accrued sick leave day.
Accrued sick leave may only be used for the purposes of sick leave, as defined above.
Current PTO must be used before accrued PTO may be used in a given year.
Annual PTO buy-back
If an employee has 7(seven) or more days of remaining current PTO at the end of the fiscal year (June 30), the employee may receive payout for the remaining days at the base substitute rate according to the schedule below:
- An employee who has 10 remaining current PTO days may opt to receive payout for up to four (4) PTO days at the base substitute rate.
- An employee who has 9 remaining current PTO days may opt to receive payout for up to three (3) PTO days at the base substitute rate.
- An employee who has 8 remaining current PTO days may opt to receive payout for up to two (2) PTO days at the base substitute rate.
- An employee who has 7 remaining current PTO days may opt to receive payout for one (1) PTO day at the base substitute rate.
- An employee who has six (6) or fewer remaining current PTO days does not have a payout option.
Days that are eligible for and opted for payout will be paid on the June paycheck of the contract year and will be paid at the daily substitute rate. Any additional days missed, other than those allowed herein or in other leave policies, will result in a reduction of pay on a per diem basis.
An employee who does not opt to have eligible PTO days paid out will have those days roll over into accrued PTO as defined above.
Adopted: Prior to 2019
Revised: July 2019
Revised: September 2020
Revised: June 2022
Revised: August 2025
LEGAL REF.: C.R.S. 14-15-101 et seq. (Colorado Civil Union Act)
CONTRACT REFS.: LCSD/LCEA Master Contract – Article 10 Leaves
AFSCME Union Contract – Article VIII
CROSS REFS.:
Administrative policies:
GBGF, Federally-Mandated Family and Medical Leave
GBGH, Sick Leave Bank
Lake County School District R-1, Leadville, Colorado