POTTSTOWN >> It pays to stay healthy as a Pottstown School District employee.
On Monday, the Pottstown School Board will vote on paying out $67,043 to retiring employees for unused sick days.
More than half of that money – $38,523.57 – will go to Superintendent Jeff Sparagana, who retires at the end of the month after 19 years with the district.
Also benefitting will be Technology Director Taffy Wolfe, retiring after 34 years with the Pottstown School District, who will receive $13,940 for unused sick days.
Pamela Bateson, retiring as director of special education, will receive $6,950 in unused sick leave payments, after 25 years with the district.
The payments follow school district policy, except in Sparagana’s case where the payments are guided by his contract, which this year provides more than $180,000 in compensation.
Should Sparagana need the services of a medical professional after his retirement, he will benefit from his contract which allows him to continue to carry his district medical benefits until he is 72 years old under the same terms as he has now.
The contract provides Sparagana with 12 sick days per year and allows for the payment of unused days at a rate of 25 percent of his per diem pay, with a maximum of 250 days.
The same is not true of Sparagana’s unused vacation time, which, the contract states, must be reconciled at the end of each year, with a maximum of $500 per year.
After Sparagana’s last day, he will be temporarily replaced by Stephen Rodriguez, currently human resources director as the school board continues its search for a new superintendent.
Payment for unused sick time, although common in the public sector, is not a universal practice.
According to the Society for Human Resources Management, “in some states, courts have interpreted PTO and vacation pay to constitute wages, thus holding that an employer is required to pay an employee for any unused PTO or vacation leave he or she has accrued upon the discharge or separation.”
However, “state courts have generally held that sick leave is a benefit an employer is not required to pay at termination because it is only an applicable benefit if an employee gets sick. If an employee has unused sick leave at the time of separation, the employee is not entitled to a sick leave payout because he or she is not sick.”
The non-profit agency, Workplace Fairness, founded in 1994 as the National Employee Rights Institute, concurs, noting that “some employers do pay employees for unused sick time, possibly as an incentive for employees to not misuse sick leave.”
In other financial matters, the school board will also vote Monday on a .8 percent raise for Business Manager Linda Adams. According to the terms of her contract, the $1,106 raise is calculated using the rise in consumer price index and will increase her salary to $139,225.
