§ 115C-302.1. Salary.
§ 115C‑302.1. Salary.
(a) Prompt Payment. Teachersshall be paid promptly when their salaries are due provided the legalrequirements for their employment and service have been met. All teachersemployed by any local school administrative unit who are to be paid from localfunds shall be paid promptly as provided by law and as State‑allottedteachers are paid.
(b) Salary Payments. State‑allottedteachers shall be paid for a term of 10 months. State‑allotted months ofemployment for vocational education to local boards shall be used for theemployment of teachers of vocational and technical education for a term ofemployment to be determined by the local boards of education. However, localboards shall not reduce the term of employment for any vocational agricultureteacher personnel position that was 12 calendar months for the 1982‑83school year for any school year thereafter. In addition, local boards shall notreduce the term of employment for any vocational agriculture teacher personnelposition that was 12 calendar months for the 2003‑2004 school year forany school year thereafter.
Each local board of educationshall establish a set date on which monthly salary payments to State‑allottedteachers shall be made. This set pay date may differ from the end of the monthof service. The daily rate of pay for teachers shall equal midway between onetwenty‑first and one twenty‑second of the monthly rate of pay.Except for teachers employed in a year‑round school or paid in accordancewith a year‑round calendar, or both, the initial pay date for teachersshall be no later than August 31 and shall include a full monthly payment.Subsequent pay dates shall be spaced no more than one month apart and shallinclude a full monthly payment.
Teachers may be prepaid on themonthly pay date for days not yet worked. A teacher who fails to attendscheduled workdays or who has not worked the number of days for which theteacher has been paid and who resigns, is dismissed, or whose contract is notrenewed shall repay to the local board any salary payments received for daysnot yet worked. A teacher who has been prepaid and continues to be employed bya local board but fails to attend scheduled workdays may be subject todismissal under G.S. 115C‑325 or other appropriate discipline.
Any individual teacher who isnot employed in a year‑round school may be paid in 12 monthlyinstallments if the teacher so requests on or before the first day of theschool year. The request shall be filed in the local school administrative unitwhich employs the teacher. The payment of the annual salary in 12 installmentsinstead of 10 shall not increase or decrease the teacher's annual salary nor inany other way alter the contract made between the teacher and the local schooladministrative unit. Teachers employed for a period of less than 10 monthsshall not receive their salaries in 12 installments.
Notwithstanding thissubsection, the term "daily rate of pay" for the purpose of G.S. 115C‑12(8)or for any other law or policy governing pay or benefits based on the teachersalary schedule shall not exceed one twenty‑second of a teacher's monthlyrate of pay.
(b1) The State Board ofEducation shall maintain the same policies related to masters pay for teachersthat were in effect for the 2008‑2009 fiscal year.
(c) Vacation. Includedwithin the 10‑month term shall be annual vacation leave at the same rateprovided for State employees, computed at one‑twelfth of the annual ratefor State employees for each month of employment. Local boards shall provide atleast 10 days of annual vacation leave at a time when students are notscheduled to be in regular attendance. However, instructional personnel who donot require a substitute may use annual vacation leave on days that studentsare in attendance. Vocational and technical education teachers who are employedfor 11 or 12 months may, with prior approval of the principal, work on annualvacation leave days designated in the school calendar and may use those annualvacation leave days during the eleventh or twelfth month of employment.
On a day that pupils are notrequired to attend school due to inclement weather, but employees are requiredto report for a workday, a teacher may elect not to report due to hazardoustravel conditions and to take an annual vacation day or to make up the day at atime agreed upon by the teacher and the teacher's immediate supervisor orprincipal. On a day that school is closed to employees and pupils due toinclement weather, a teacher shall work on the scheduled makeup day.
All vacation leave taken bythe teacher will be upon the authorization of the teacher's immediatesupervisor and under policies established by the local board of education.Annual vacation leave shall not be used to extend the term of employment.
Notwithstanding any provisionsof this subsection to the contrary, no person shall be entitled to pay for anyvacation day not earned by that person.
(c1),(c2) Repealed bySession Laws 2002‑126, s. 7.11(a), effective July 1, 2002, and applicableonly to leave days accruing after September 30, 2002.
(c3) Teachers mayaccumulate annual vacation leave days without any applicable maximum until June30 of each year. In order that only 30 days of annual vacation leave carryforward to July 1, on June 30 of each year any teacher or other personnel paidon the teacher salary schedule who has accumulated more than 30 days of annualvacation leave shall convert to sick leave the remaining excess accumulation.
Upon separation from servicedue to service retirement, resignation, dismissal, reduction in force, ordeath, an employee shall be paid in a lump sum for accumulated annual leave notto exceed a maximum of 30 days. In addition to the maximum of 30 days pay foraccumulated annual leave, upon separation from service due to serviceretirement, any teacher or other personnel paid on the teacher salary schedulewith more than 30 days of accumulated annual vacation leave may convert some orall of the excess accumulation to sick leave for creditable service towardsretirement. Employees going onto term disability may exhaust annual leaverather than be paid in a lump sum.
(d) Personal Leave. Teachersearn personal leave at the rate of .20 days for each full month of employmentnot to exceed two days per year. Personal leave may be accumulated without anyapplicable maximum until June 30 of each year. A teacher may carry forward toJuly 1 a maximum of five days of personal leave; the remainder of the teacher'spersonal leave shall be converted to sick leave on June 30. At the time ofretirement, a teacher may also convert accumulated personal leave to sick leavefor creditable service towards retirement.
Personal leave may be usedonly upon the authorization of the teacher's immediate supervisor. A teachershall not take personal leave on the first day the teacher is required toreport for the school year, on a required teacher workday, on days scheduledfor State testing, or on the day before or the day after a holiday or scheduledvacation day, unless the request is approved by the principal. On all otherdays, if the request is made at least five days in advance, the request shallbe automatically granted subject to the availability of a substitute teacher,and the teacher cannot be required to provide a reason for the request. Teachersmay transfer personal leave days between local school administrative units. Thelocal school administrative unit shall credit a teacher who has separated fromservice and is reemployed within 60 months from the date of separation with allpersonal leave accumulated at the time of separation. Local schooladministrative units shall not advance personal leave. Teachers using personalleave receive full salary less the required substitute deduction, except forteachers using personal leave on non‑protected teacher workdays. Teachersusing personal leave on non‑protected teacher workdays shall receive fullsalary.
(e) Teachers in Year‑RoundSchools. Compensation for teachers employed in year‑round schools shallbe the same as teachers paid for a 10‑month term, but those days may bescheduled over 12 calendar months. Annual leave, sick leave, workdays,holidays, salary, and longevity for teachers who are employed at year‑roundschools shall be equivalent to those of other teachers employed for the samenumber of months, respectively. Teachers paid for a term of 10 months in year‑roundschools shall receive their salary in 12 equal installments.
(f) Overpayment. Eachlocal board of education shall sustain any loss by reason of an overpayment toany teacher paid from State funds.
(g) Service in ArmedForces. The State Board of Education, in fixing the State standard salaryschedule of teachers as authorized by law, shall provide that teachers whoentered the armed or auxiliary forces of the United States after September 16,1940, and who left their positions for such service shall be allowed experienceincrements for the period of such service as though the same had not beeninterrupted thereby, in the event such persons return to the position ofteachers, principals, and superintendents in the public schools of the Stateafter having been honorably discharged from the armed or auxiliary forces ofthe United States.
(g1) Payment DuringMilitary Duty. The State Board of Education shall adopt rules relating toleaves of absence, without loss of pay or time, for periods of militarytraining and for State or federal military duty or for special emergencymanagement service. The rules shall apply to all public school employees,including, but not limited to, school teachers, administrators, guidancecounselors, speech language pathologists, nurses, and custodians employed bylocal boards of education or by charter schools. The rules shall provide that(i) the State pays any salary differential to all public school employees inState‑funded positions, (ii) the employing local board of education paysany pay differential to all public school employees in locally fundedpositions, (iii) the employing charter school pays any pay differential to allpublic school employees in the charter school, and (iv) the employing localboard of education pays the local supplement.
(h) Teachers Paid FromOther Funds. Every local board of education may adopt, as to teachers notpaid out of State funds, a salary schedule similar to the State salaryschedule, but it likewise shall recognize a difference in salaries based ondifferent duties, training, experience, professional fitness, and continuedservice in the same school system. If a local board of education does not adopta local salary schedule, the State salary schedule shall apply. No teachershall receive a salary higher than that provided in the salary schedule, unlessby action of the board of education a higher salary is allowed for specialfitness, special duties, or under extraordinary circumstances.
When a higher salary isallowed, the minutes of the board shall show what salary is allowed and thereason. A board of education may authorize the superintendent to supplement thesalaries of all teachers from local funds, and the minutes of the board shallshow what increase is allowed each teacher.
(i) Longevity Pay. Longevitypay shall be based on the annual salary on the employee's anniversary date.
(j) Parental Leave. Ateacher may use annual leave, personal leave, or leave without pay to care fora newborn child or for a child placed with the teacher for adoption or fostercare. A teacher may also use up to 30 days of sick leave to care for a childplaced with the teacher for adoption. The leave may be for consecutive workdaysduring the first 12 months after the date of birth or placement of the child,unless the teacher and local board of education agree otherwise. (1997‑443, s. 8.38(e);1999‑237, s. 28.26(a), (b); 2002‑126, s. 7.11(a); 2002‑159,s. 37.5(a); 2003‑301, s. 1; 2004‑124, s. 7.20; 2004‑180, s.2; 2007‑378, s. 1; 2008‑107, s. 26.21(a); 2008‑187, s. 45.5;2008‑209, ss. 1(a), 2; 2009‑451, s. 7.35.)