Baby Yale Academy closes for the following holidays. 2 days will be utilized as Staff Workdays where we will use the days for planning conferences:
We are open year-round. There are some holidays, staff workdays, and center closure days that occurs each year. If those dates are changed at any time, we will notify you in writing in advance to ensure that you are able to make the necessary arrangements. Listed below are those dates:
| January 1 | Independence Day |
| Labor Day | Thanksgiving Day |
| Presidents Day | Staff workday – 3rd Friday of June |
| Staff workday – 2nd Friday of October | Last Week of December (5 days) – vacation |
Generally, when one of the listed holidays fall on a Saturday, the school will close on Friday. If the holiday falls on a Sunday, the school will be closed on Monday.
Emergency Closings
Due to severe weather conditions or other emergency situations, there may be times when
Baby Yale Academy may be closed. Emergency closing is directed by the Owner only.
Severe Weather Conditions:
In the event of severe weather conditions, Baby Yale Academy will generally follow the Brentwood School District in determining whether to close the Center. Employees are instructed to listen to local radio and television stations for emergency closing information in these circumstances.
Employees are also instructed to contact the Director for further instructions. Employees are instructed to contact the Director by 6am and again at 8am for further instructions.
Other Emergencies:
Other situations, including but not limited to electrical power failure, lack of water, lack of heat or air conditioning, hazardous road conditions, or other situations which could endanger the safety or health of children and employees, may result in Baby Yale Academy being closed at the sole direction of the owner. Employees will be advised of their obligations in these situations.
In the event of an emergency closing in the middle of the day, the Directors will instruct employees during the emergency. Employees are required to remain at the Center if there are children present. In rare instances, this may require employees to remain after normal closing hours. Employees must be mindful that compliance with Licensing Regulations must be maintained even in emergency situations (ratios, general policies, and the like). The Center Director will inform employees when they can go home. Employees who refuse to cooperate during an emergency closing situation may be subject to disciplinary action up to and including termination.
HEALTH
Your health is important to us! Not only does your health affect your own ability to perform your duties effectively, but your health can also affect others – the children under your care, parents, and other staff. As such, staff should follow similar guidelines to those laid out for sending children home (temperature exceeding 101˚F, vomiting, etc.) as indicators as to when staff should also remain at home instead of reporting to work, or when a staff member should be sent home from work.
How to request time off from work
As you know, the school shuts down for the last 5 workdays of December and this is considered Vacation time. If you are considered a regular employee (past your probationary period of 6 months) you are entitled to this paid time off. Requests are:
- Complete the time off request and submit it to the Director.
- Requests are not approved until you receive your approved time request off back from the Director.
- Do not purchase airline tickets, etc. before having your request approved.
- If you do not hear back from the Director, within 1 week of your requested time off, you must follow-up with the Director concerning your request for time off.
- First come first serve. Whoever submits their request first is granted the time off.
- If requests were submitted on the same day at the same time. The request will be approved based on seniority of the employees.
Illness
If you are ill, please contact the Director at least 4 hours in advance to ensure that we can provide adequate coverage to meet state ratio requirements. You are required to provide documentation (doctor’s note, etc.) for the absences. If you choose to use one of your protected days (you have 3 days) you must inform the Director at the time of your call in. You are not required to provide documentation for any of those 3 days. Therefore, it is important for you to inform us of the usage of those days.
Sick Days
BYA provides 3 protected days of sick leave. It is accrued based on a minimum of 1 hour of paid leave for every 30 hours of work. This sick leave is not a wage under California law and therefore does not require employers to cash out sick leave during employment or at the time of separation from employment. To be eligible you must work for the same employer for at least 30 days within a year in California and satisfy a 90-day employment period before taking any sick leave. If you work less than 30 calendar days within a year for the same employer in California, then you are not entitled to paid sick leave under this law. If you work less than 90 days for your employer, you are not entitled to take paid sick leave.
Your sick leave usage is tracked through your ADP paycheck stubs. If you have any questions, regarding the usage of these days, please see the front office.
Paid sick leave can be carried over to the next year if an employee does not use their sick leave. However, we place a 48-hour cap leave carried over.
You can use your days for yourself or a family member, for preventive care or diagnosis, care or treatment of an existing health condition, or for specified purposes if you are a victim of domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking or any other reason that you deem necessary.
- Family members include the employee’s parent, child, spouse, registered domestic partner, grandparent, grandchild, and sibling.
- Preventive care would include annual physicals or flu shots.
The employee may decide how much paid sick leave he or she wants to use for example, whether you want to take an entire day, or only part of a day. Your employer can require you to take a minimum of at least 2 hours of paid sick leave at a time, but otherwise the determination of how much time is needed is left to the employee.
The employee must notify the employer in advance if the sick leave is planned, as may be the case with scheduled doctors’ visits. If the need is unforeseeable, the employee need only give notice as soon as practical, as may occur in the case of unanticipated illness or a medical emergency.
The sick leave pay must be paid at an employee’s regular rate of pay, either for the workweek in which the paid sick leave was taken, or as determined by averaging over a 90-day period.
Once those 3 days are used, the employee calling in sick, must provide a doctor’s note and can be subject to disciplinary actions depending on usage up to and including termination for being unavailable for work.
An employer shall not deny an employee the right to use accrued sick days, discharge, threaten to discharge, demote, suspend, or in any manner discriminate against an employee for using accrued sick days, attempting to exercise the right to use accrued sick days.
Vacation
BYA provides 5 days of paid vacation when the Center closes the last week of December. This vacation is accrued daily. For example, to figure an employee’s accrued time based on a daily rate, you will divide the number of hours to accrue (40 hours) per year by the number of working days in a year, so 5 days X 52 weeks, for daily.
Time off No Pay (TONP)
Time off, no pay. We only allow 3 days per calendar year of time off, without pay. Please manage your time accordingly. Any usage of time off, no pay, more than those 3 days can result in disciplinary action, up to and including termination.
Family and Medical Leave
While we are not required to offer FMLA as we do not have 50 or more employees. We will still honor the leave. FMLA leave is unpaid leave. However, if you have sick time, vacation time, personal time saved up with BYA, you may use that leave time. Employees in California may take up to 12 weeks of leave in a 12-month period for a serious health condition, bonding with a new child or qualifying exigencies. This leave renews every 12 months, as long as the employee continues to meet the eligibility requirements. To be eligible you must:
- have been employed for at least 1 year
- have at least 1,250 hours during the preceding 12-month period are eligible for family and medical leave.
- For employees, not eligible for family and medical leave, BYA will review business considerations and the individual circumstances involved. Upon return from Family Medical Leave, the employee will return to the same or to an equivalent position. Family or medical leave will be unpaid leave.
Please refer to the Appendix of this handbook for the specific conditions and guidelines governing FMLA.
Other Types of Leave
Employee’s work schedules have been established considering the student/teacher ratio, workloads, and coverage requirements. Employee absences have a detrimental effect on these conditions. While absence for illness and emergency situations may happen from time to time, employees will not be granted leave beyond their accrued vacation, sick, and personal leave as a standard practice.
In addition, other situations may occur where an employee needs to request time off from work. Some of these are described below. Requests for leave other than those detailed below shall be referred to the Director, who may grant or withhold approval of such leave. All such absences shall generally be considered without pay or other compensation for the employee. Please submit requests in advance for approval, whenever possible. Emergency circumstances will be considered on a case-by-case basis. Leave without pay will only be granted in extenuating circumstances. Leave without pay must be approved in advance of the requested start date of the leave by the Director. Requests must be submitted in writing. Employees will receive written notice of the approval/denial for a requested leave of absence.
Leave without pay which has not been approved by the Center Director will be considered a voluntary termination.
Jury/Witness Duty
When leave of absence must be taken for jury duty or to answer a subpoena in court, Baby Yale Academy will recognize this leave WITHOUT pay. Employees must notify the Center Director as soon as possible after they receive notice they are called for jury or witness duty. A copy of the official request to serve or subpoena should be provided to the Center Director upon receipt of such notification.
Bereavement Leave
When the death of an immediate member of an employee’s family, as listed below, necessitates her or his absence from work, the Director may grant up to (3) days of leave, WITHOUT pay. You must request the Bereavement Leave in advance of the leave.
| Spouse
Mother Father |
Son
Daughter Sister |
Brother
Grandparent Grandchild |
In addition, anyone who permanently resides in the employee’s household may be considered a family member for purposes of bereavement leave, at the Director’s discretion. When the death of a non-immediate member of an employee’s family, as listed below, necessitates her or his absence from work, up to (1) day of leave WITHOUT pay may be granted by the Director:
Stepparent* Aunt/Uncle In-laws (mother/father,
Stepchild* Nephew/Niece son/daughter)
*Bereavement leave for the loss of a stepparent/stepchild may be extended to 3 days if stepchild was primarily raised by the employee, or the employee was primarily raised by the stepparent.
Employees may be required to provide proof of the relationship between themselves and the deceased individual, and a copy of either the obituary or some other evidence of when burial/funeral services are to be held. Bereavement leave for other family members or nonfamily members is subject to the discretion and approval of the Director.
SAFETY
The safety of our employees, the children under our care, and of anyone we may interact with is important to us as well. The following are general principles and guidelines; specific procedures are covered in the General Duties section of this handbook.
Hazards
During your employment, you have the potential to be exposed to bodily fluids, blood-borne pathogens, and chemicals. Please review the appropriate policies in the General Duties section for more information on how to correctly deal with situations where these hazards might be present.
Controlled Substances
To ensure the health and safety of the children at the Center and of other employees, there are other restrictions regarding both legal and illegal behaviors which have been shown to be detrimental to the employee and those around the employee.
All facilities, grounds, and vehicles of Baby Yale Academy are tobacco-free environments. Smoking or any other use of a tobacco product in the presence of children or parents during working hours is strictly prohibited. Failure to abide by this policy will result in disciplinary action, up to and including termination.
Furthermore, using, possessing, or being under the influence of alcohol or illegal drugs during working hours or while on Baby Yale Academy property (including vehicles and during class excursions) is strictly prohibited and will result in immediate termination of duties.
Weapons and other Safety Hazards
Possession or use of any type of weapon, dangerous object, or explosive device while on Center property is prohibited, and will result in immediate termination. This does not include items which might reasonably be expected to be used during the normal course of an employee’s duties.
