Metro Nashville Schools Employees Racking Up Sick Leave And Vacation Days

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The Tennessee Conservative [By Paula Gomes] –

Thanks to a generous sick time policy, employees who work for Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) get to accrue an unlimited number of sick days and vacation days, and those days are worth a good bit of money.

According to records provided to OpenTheBooks via an open records request, more than 9,500 school employees had nearly 450,000 unused sick days accrued.

Employees get to choose whether to get paid for the 444,724 unused days or to have them rolled into service time for pension benefits. If they elect to be paid for them, the first 50 days are worth $50 per day; the second 50 days are paid at $75 per day; and then once 100 days are accrued, they are paid at $100 per day.

A first year teacher with MNPS gets 12 sick days, 3 personal days, and 10 vacation days. The work year is 10 months long with scheduled breaks for holidays. Other staff, as well as teachers, get 12 sick days with no limit on how many days can be accrued. MNPS allows teachers hired from other school systems to bring their unused sick days with them.

OpenTheBooks found 13 employees that had accrued at least 350 days each as of July 28th, 2022. They also found 32 more people with 300+ days saved, another 68 with at least 250 days, and 198 employees with 200+ days accrued.

Topping the list of employees with the most sick days accrued is an auto mechanic for MNPS. Wylie Young has saved up nearly 500 sick days since May 1985 when he was hired and earns $26 an hour – approximately $54,246 annually. 

Coming in second is secretary/clerk Angela Reed with 465 days who has worked for MNPS since September 1987. Reed is paid $19 an hour – around $39,915 a year.

According to MNPS retirement policies – which are the same as any other Metro government employee – both support staff and teachers can take their unused sick leave turned into pension credits. This allows employees to count those credits toward their service time to either allow them to retire early or to increase their benefits once retired.

Last summer, MNPS sought to provide incentives to staff to get vaccinated amid the pandemic, offering yet more sick days for those that tested positive for Covid-19 – but only if they could prove that they had been vaccinated.

According to Channel 5 Nashville, MNPS Director Dr. Adrienne Battle said that it was not the responsibility of the district to “financially compensate” those that chose to remain unvaccinated. 

At the time, staff were already permitted to work from home if they tested positive from Covid and had to quarantine. The extra sick days were for those too sick to even work remotely. 

The rules for banking vacation days are a little different. 

During the 10-month school year, teachers get 10 vacation days, with a maximum of 50 unused days that can be paid out at a full day’s pay rate when they retire. 

For those employees that work year-round, vacation days range from 12 to 25 days per year, depending on how many years they have been employed by MNPS. A total of 50 days can be carried to the next year and then they can be paid for those unused vacation days upon retirement.

MNPS employees had over 100,000 total unused vacation days accrued OpenTheBooks found.

About the Author: Paula Gomes is a Tennessee resident and reporter for The Tennessee Conservative. You can reach Paula at paula@tennesseeconservativenews.com.

One thought on “<strong>Metro Nashville Schools Employees Racking Up Sick Leave And Vacation Days</strong>

  • January 8, 2023 at 7:19 pm
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    Hmm I wonder if MNPS teachers have so many days “raked up” bc they care about their kids and don’t want to take sick days? Quit trying to use teachers as a scapegoat..besides you have your numbers outright wrong in some cases and others are disingenuously misrepresented.

    Example: first year teachers do not receive 12 sick days per year, it’s 10. They don’t receive 3 personal days, it’s 2. And this vacation time you speak of is non existent unless you are accounting for holidays worked into the schedule like MLK day for example.

    How do I know this? Last year I was a first year educator with chronic health conditions. I know EXACTLY how many days I have to use because unlike fortunate others I am forced to use mine instead of accusing bc my health is poor due to my oh so lucky genetics.

    Also, interesting you went after teachers in this article even though you mention that these policies apply to ALL Metro employees.

    Reply

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