WSSDA%205409.pdf

Parent document: Regular Board Meeting-09-25-2024.pdf

Text

& Poticy

POLICY AND PROCEDURE 5409 |

New law states schools must grant two

JUNE 2014

unpaid holidays for faith or conscience

SSDA has issued the new
Policy and Procedure
5409, Unpaid Holidays for

Reasons of Faith and Conscience.
Districts are now required by law
to grant two unpaid holidays per
calendar year to employees for
reasons of faith or conscience or
for an organized activity conducted
under the auspices of a religious
denomination, church or religious
organization, unless the employee’s
absence would cause the district an
“undue hardship.”

Districts need to be aware that
they need to adopt a resolution to
implement the law. This should be
done at the same board meeting
where the new policy is adopted, and
the policy should be attached to the
resolution as “Exhibit A.” Please find
a model resolution attached to this
issue of Policy & Legal News.

SSB 5173 grew out of increasing
concerns from non-Christian religious
communities that the lunar calen-
dar, which determines their holidays,
conflicts with the Gregorian-based
school calendar. The bill delegated
defining of “undue hardship” to the
Office of Financial Management (OFM).

OFM promulgated emergency rules
to have the definition in place by June
12, 2014, the new law's implemen-
tation date. “Undue hardship” is
defined as “action requiring signif-
icant difficulty or expense to the
district.” The rules provide criteria
which must be considered in making
the undue hardship determination.
Districts should note that one of the
criteria that could establish “undue
hardship” is whether the employee’s
absence would cause the district to

violate a collective bargaining agree-
ment. All criteria are listed in the
policy attached to this issue. The
two unpaid days per calendar year, if
unused, do not roll-over to the follow-
ing year.

Districts should be aware that
potential for unintended conse-
quences abounds. First, the new
law is silent on how districts
should determine when a request
is covered by the new law, which
leaves a significant amount of
wiggle-room for employee abuse.

Would “holidays of faith or
conscience” include “Festivus,”
George Constanza’s made-up
holiday from Seinfeld? The new law
doesn’t rule it out. Significantly, the
requested time off does not have
to coincide with any particular day
recognized as a religious holiday.
Another concern is the significant
burden districts will take on when
requests for the unpaid days are

made in conjunction with requests
for paid time off, as well as situa-
tions where multiple observers will
request the same days off.

SSB 5173 provides students
the same entitlement, but OSPI’s
definition of excused absence
(WSSDA Policy and Procedure 3122,
Excused and Unexcused Absences)
already allows student absence
from school for observance of
religious holidays.

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