LAUSD Employee Attendance Policy
The District's Employee Attendance Policy was adopted by the Board of Education (Report no. 393-0304) on July 13, 2004. It states:
"While the vast majority of employees have a strong commitment to their work and excellent attendance, it is also clear that unnecessary absenteeism has a negative impact upon student achievement due to interruption of the continuity of instruction, and results in reduced productivity, loss of service, and significant costs to the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD). The LAUSD Board of Education expects:
- Employees to maintain regular attendance and avoid absenteeism;
- Employees to work every hour that they are assigned;
- Employees to be at their work stations on time every working day;
- Employees to comply with legal restrictions, LAUSD policy and procedures, and the respective collective bargaining rules regarding reporting of absence and providing appropriate documentation;
- Supervisors to explain and insist upon regular attendance, maintain accurate employee attendance records, monitor employee attendance, provide performance feedback to employees and enforce all employee attendance policies and standards through employee performance evaluations and discipline processes.
- The District will make every attempt to avoid scheduling activities that contribute to staff absenteeism.
LAUSD seeks to assist administrators and supervisors to efficiently manage attendance, improve employee effectiveness through reduced absenteeism, and guide employees in appropriate use of illness and personal necessity time. Illness leaves are provided to ease the financial burden on employees who are unavoidably required to be absent from duty due to legitimate illness, injury, or personal necessity. Personal necessity leaves are provided for only eleven specific causes. Employees who use illness and personal necessity leaves for unauthorized reasons are in violation of District policy and related laws. Failure to comply with this policy can result in appropriate disciplinary action, up to and including termination."
Attendance Program Initiatives
Administrators play an integral role in improving Staff Attendance. It is the Administrator's responsibility to monitor their employee's attendance, identify their employee's need for protected leave, and issue the necessary discipline when needed.
The Superintendent has on his Performance Meter a goal to improve the District-wide staff attendance rate to 96% or better. In support of this goal, the Attendance Program staff provides assistance in managing attendance and help raise awareness of the impact of absences by:
-Educating Administrators and employees on the provisions of the Family Medical Leave Act/California Family Rights Act (FMLA/CFRA), other "protected leaves" such as Pregnancy Disability and Kin Care, and Workers' Compensation.
-Coordinating with various departments of the District (i.e. Site Administrators, Office of Staff Relations, Employee Transactions Branch, Certificated Human Resources, Office of General Counsel) to facilitate the process of designating and monitoring leaves, as well as proceeding with disciplinary action when necessary.
-Training administrators to use the BTS Staff Attendance Anaylsis Report to monitor the attendance for their school as a whole and for their individual employees.
-Encouraging each worksite to recognize individuals with excellent attendance