(a) All public school employees shall be permitted a minimum of five days per school term of sick leave, pursuant to rules and regulations promulgated by the State Board of Education as provided in N.C. Gen. Stat. § 115C-12(8).

(b) The State Board of Education shall adopt rules and regulations for the establishment of voluntary sick leave banks by local boards of education, from which an employee, upon exhaustion of accumulated sick leave and annual leave, when allowable, may withdraw sick leave days in the event of emergency or catastrophic illness. These rules may include, but not be limited to, (i) requirements of minimum service and minimum balance of sick leave before an employee may join the sick leave bank, (ii) enrollment periods for present employees and new hires, (iii) time limits for rejoining the sick leave bank, (iv) limitation on number of days which can be withdrawn by any employee, (v) waiting period before being eligible to withdraw sick leave, (vi) exclusion of illness or injury covered by Workers’ Compensation Benefits, (vii) certification by physician attesting to member’s illness or accident, (viii) administration of each sick leave bank by a Sick Leave Bank Committee to be made up of representatives of different classifications of employees, and (ix) other requirements to prevent any adverse selection by employees. The rules concerning the establishment of sick leave banks shall include provisions for notifying employees who donate sick leave to and employees who withdraw sick leave from the sick leave bank, of the State retirement credit consequences as to the donated sick leave.

(c) The State Board of Education shall also adopt rules and regulations to authorize an employee who requires a substitute to use annual leave on days that students are in attendance if the employee has exhausted all of the employee’s sick leave and if the employee’s absence is due to the catastrophic illness of the employee. The employee shall not be required to pay the substitute.

(d) The State Board of Education shall adopt rules relating to the reinstatement of unused sick leave when an employee who was employed on a 10-month contract at the time of separation returns to employment on a 10-month contract. Under these rules, the maximum period of separation after which unused sick leave is reinstated shall be three calendar months longer for school personnel employed on a 10-month contract than for school personnel employed on a 12-month contract. (1981, c. 423, s. 1; 1993, c. 321, s. 72(a); 1995, c. 324, s. 17.4; 2009-144, s. 1.)