Status Quo Central Items and Items Requiring Amendment and Incorporation. The parties agree that the following central issues have been addressed at the central table and that the provisions shall remain status quo or are altered as outlined below. The following language must, however, be aligned with current local provisions. The following issues are not subject to local bargaining or amendment by the local parties. Any disputes arising from these provisions may form the subject of a central dispute. PREGNANCY/PARENTAL LEAVES OF ABSENCE/SEB – EI WAITING PERIOD The parties agree that the issue of the statutory amendment to the Employment Insurance Act resulting in a reduction of the employment insurance waiting period has been addressed at the central table and the intent of any existing local collective agreement provisions shall remain status quo. Therefore, where a school board’s local collective agreement language references a two-week waiting period and required payment for the two-week waiting period, the board shall ensure that the funds payable from the board to a permanent employee taking an approved leave of 12 months or greater, shall reflect the full sum that would have been payable prior to the reduction of the waiting period. Provisions with regard to waiting periods and/or payments during such waiting periods shall not be subject to local bargaining or amendment by local parties. However, existing local collective agreement language may need to be revised in order to align with the terms herein and to accord with the relevant statutory change that reduced the waiting period to one week. STATUTORY/PUBLIC HOLIDAYS School boards shall ensure that within their local collective agreement terms, Family Day is included as a statutory/public holiday. WSIB TOP-UP If a class of employee was entitled to receive WSIB top-up on August 31, 2012 deducted from sick leave, the parties who have not yet do so must incorporate those same provisions without deduction from sick leave. The top-up amount to a maximum of four (4) years and six (6) month shall be included in the 2019-2022 collective agreement. For parties who have yet to incorporate or aligned local language into the 2014-2017 collective agreement, the following shall apply:
