Bill Pending to Provide Holiday Time off for Jewish Teachers

A measure which permits Jewish teachers in the New York City public school system to deduct leave credits from their accumulated sick leave reserves to observe religious holidays has been approved by both houses of the New York State Legislature and is on Governor Hugh Carey’s desk awaiting an early signature, Assemblyman Sheldon Silver (D. Manhattan) said today. He stressed that provisions of the measure apply to teachers of all faiths, and that when signed, the measure will be the only such law in the state.

Silver introduced the bill in the State Assembly. Senators John Marchi (R.Staten Island) and Martin Connor (Democrat-Liberal, Lower East Side) introduced a companion measure in the State Senate.

The bill adds a new section to the State Education Law to provide that a teacher, employed by the city of New York, who wishes to take time off for observance of a religious holy day may, after using whatever personal leave is available, and on giving five days notice, deduct without penalty up to eight days in a school year from sick leave accumulated in past school years. By contractual agreement, each teacher is entitled to three days of personal leave.

The measure also provides that its provisions may be modified, supplemented or replaced by collective negotiations on new contracts in accordance with the state’s Taylor Law. Silver told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that the measure does not apply to current sick leave and applies only to New York city teachers.

PROVISIONS OF THE MEASURE

Silver said “The provision of paid leave for public employes is a mandatory subject of bargaining under the Taylor Law. In the negotiations of collective bargaining agreements, however, the voice of strictly observant religious groups is often lost among the demands of the majority.”

“While the minority may even be willing to give up some other benefits to meet their religious requirements, they are given no opportunity to do so” in contract negotiations, he said. Silver said the measure recognizes both the rights of members of religious groups and the place of collective negotiations in the determination of employment benefits.

He said, the bill permits the religiously observant teacher to observe holy days without having to give up a day’s pay for such observances. It also requires that the teacher charge such accumulated sick leave — after available personal leave has been depleted — against benefits that would otherwise accrue in the computation on retirement benefits or in the case of an extended leave.

Silver said that “by requiring that this leave be charged against accumulated ‘sick leave’ reserves, this bill also provides a safeguard against frivolous requests for such leave.”

In addition, he said, the bill “gives proper deference to the process of collective negotiations. It establishes a benefit that may exist independent of the negotiation process, while at the same time provides that in those areas in which there is no real need for such a provision, the union or the school board involved may bargain for a provision for the one provided by the statute.”