LINC

Pressing Necessity/Emergency Leave Details

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As a PSTA member you have access to three days with pay per year for Pressing Necessity/Emergency Leave. This leave can be accessed for responding to events requiring an immediate response which are outside the control of the teacher including road closure, natural disasters, accident, home emergency or community emergency service.

Now that winter weather is approaching, the following information is being sent to you as a reminder of Prairie Spirit’s practice regarding “Pressing Necessity/Emergency” leave which includes staff absenteeism due to inclement weather.

In the event of inclement weather, you are expected to make every effort to safely arrive at work by taking an alternate route, waiting for the plow or waiting for conditions to improve, etc.  If weather conditions will impact your safe arrival at work, please contact your in-school administrator or immediate supervisor as soon as possible to let them know of your situation. 

If you are unable to get from your home to work due to bad weather, the usual options are in place for staff including access to personal days with pay, days without pay, or vacation days (for 12 month support staff).

In your local agreement/handbook, there are provisions for three days per year for Pressing Necessity/Emergency Leave.  When there is an official RCMP road closure impacting your ability to get to work, staff may access the “Pressing Necessity/Emergency” conditions of our local agreements and be absent from work with pay.  Any public grid or secondary road that is impassable meets the requirements for Pressing Necessity/Emergency Leave.  Please note that a “snowed in” vehicle or blocked driveway does not qualify for Pressing Necessity/Emergency Leave.

Examples of an impassable public grid or secondary road are:

  • a significant snow drift blocking the road
  • a washed-out road
  • RCMP road closure

Please note that flight delays do not fit the criteria of a pressing necessity. 

Emailed to all PSTA members October 25, 2022

More information regarding Pressing Necessities can be found in Section 12.11 of our LINC Agreement.

12.11.1 Pressing Necessities leave with pay shall be granted to a teacher for the purposes of responding to an event outside the control of the teacher if this unexpected event requires an immediate response so as to ensure the safety of family, community members and/or property.

12.11.2 A teacher shall be granted up to a maximum of three (3) days annually with pay to attend to a pressing necessity.

12.11.3 Examples of a pressing necessity include, but are not limited to, the following:
a. Road closure
b. Natural Disaster
c. Accident
d. Home emergency
e. Community Emergency Service

12.11.4 Reasons for the need of a pressing necessity day shall be given to the administrator/supervisor.

LINC Agreement: Section 12.11

2020 Education Bursary

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As part of our LINC agreement, Prairie Spirit teachers can apply to have 65% of tuition expenses to a maximum of $500 per class covered for classes taken while employed by Prairie Spirit. The PSSD-PSTA Local Negotiations Subcommittee met in January to finalize the applications to the Education Bursary Program and the 2020 Education Bursary funds have been disbursed.

With a carry over of $7,483 from the 2019-2020 school year, there was a total of $52,483 available to support teachers’ professional learning. We saw the greatest number of applications this year and all but $653 of the available funds were disbursed.