Sec. 2. (a) Except as provided in section 1 of this chapter, rights existing at the time a leave commences that arise from a teacher's:

(1) status as a professional or established teacher;

(2) accumulation of successive years of service;

(3) service performed under a teacher's contract under IC 20-28-6-8; or

(4) status or rights negotiated under IC 20-29;

remain intact.

(b) During a leave the teacher may maintain coverage in a group insurance program by paying the total premium including the school corporation's share, if any, attributable to the leave period. The school corporation may elect to pay all or part of the cost of the premium as an adopted or negotiated fringe benefit to teachers on leave.

(c) During a leave extending into a part of a school year, a teacher accumulates sick leave under IC 20-28-9-9 through IC 20-28-9-12, or the salary range of the school corporation that provides greater sick leave, in the same proportion that the number of days the teacher is paid during the year for work or leave bears to the total number of days for which teachers are paid in the school corporation.

(d) Except as provided in section 1 of this chapter, during a leave of a probationary teacher, the period of probationary successive years of service under a teacher's contract that is a condition precedent to becoming a professional or established teacher under IC 20-28-6-8 is uninterrupted for that teacher. However, this probationary period may not include an entire school year spent on leave.

(e) All or part of a leave granted for sickness or disability, including pregnancy related disability, may be charged at the teacher's discretion to the teacher's available sick days. However, the teacher is not entitled to take accumulated sick days when the teacher's physician certifies that the teacher is capable of performing the teacher's regular teaching duties. The teacher is entitled to complete the remaining leave without pay.

[Pre-2005 Elementary and Secondary Education Recodification Citation: 20-6.1-6-1(b), (c), (d), (e), (f).]

As added by P.L.1-2005, SEC.12. Amended by P.L.90-2011, SEC.35; P.L.213-2015, SEC.182.