NEW AND NOTEWORTHY
Attached you will find information of importance to all Education Support Professionals. Please review the bill and you are urged to make contact with your Senators and House of Representatives to sign on as co-sponsors to this bill. Senator Duckworth and US Representative Sean Casten reintroduced the bipartisan ESP and School Support Staff Family Leave Act to help expand the FMLA and ensure it covers the 2.7 million education support professionals (ESPs) who are currently blocked from accessing FMLA benefits. Education support professionals shouldn’t have to choose between taking care of themselves and their loved ones, or holding onto their jobs. Many education support professionals are not eligible for unpaid leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) due to the law’s provisions. The ESP Family Leave Act would provide ESPs with access to the same FMLA protections that other working families receive.
This school year, the state department that handles Pensions made a change. Stipends for extra classes are now not always pensionable. Despite the fact that we have language in our CNA that speaks to the opposite of that, state mandates override a local's contract. Be aware that if you accept a stipend for an extra class going forward:
- Leave replacements are NO LONGER pensionable.
- If a FULL YEAR vacancy exists due to retirement, resignation, or due to increased need (enrollment) and the District is unable to fill it, that would be considered a pensionable vacancy.
WE ARE VERY EXCITED ABOUT THE POSITIVE RESPONSE SO FAR! Please continue to provide feedback through the Google form below! The MEA Leadership Team would like to hold a social event for you! We have been looking into a Barbeque at the Ballpark of the Somerset Patriots! The ballpark BBQ is down the third base line, and is a large, shared section where our group will have reserved picnic tables where you can hang out and eat at while you watch the game. The picnic tables are your seats for the game. The ballpark BBQ comes with an all you can eat 90min BBQ Buffet that starts when gates open. The buffet includes basics like pulled pork, hot dogs, cheeseburgers, veggie burgers, mac n cheese, and coleslaw, etc. You aren’t glued to your seats for the game so you can stand up and mingle while watching.
Date: Mid to Late May
Who: MEA Members and their Families
Cost: MEA & nominal member contribution
We will have more definitive information once we know if there is interest from the membership! Please use this Google Form to help us plan this event!
AETNA Grievance: After the MEA filed a grievance claiming that there were two (2) issues with Aetna not being equal to or better that AmeriHealth, Dr. Freeman, Mr. Arifaj (BA), and Mrs. Giordano (Asst. BA) met with Brown & Brown. It was discovered that one of the Master Plans for AmeriHealth was not current. Once the new plan was sent to NJEA Research, both issues were resolved.
- Aetna actually provided a “better than” maximum out-of-pocket (MOOP) of $3,550/$7,100, compared to the outgoing Benecard MOOP of $4,350/$8,700. The corrected AmeriHealth documents are attached and attached for your reference. Booklets can take up to 90 days to be updated and released; these booklets dated 2020, reflect the benefits that were in effect through June 30, 2022.
- Aetna matched the ER copay of $50 for the PPO 10 plan. The benefit was changed in October 2019 through collective bargaining. The old copay was $25, which was increased to $50 effective 10/1/2019, but the written plan was not current.
REMINDERS
Know Your Contract: 2021-2024 MEA/MBOE CNA
Emergencies happen where you may be unable to get to a computer, but if you know that you are going to be out of work on a bereavement, medical, or family leave, please log your absence into Frontline. We appreciate our secretaries that take the time to do so when we cannot.
Certificated staff that are asked to abandon a duty to cover a class: This should come with approval of the building administrator. Coverage is then unpaid; being paid for duty time can be considered theft of service.
To all MEA members that are teachers: When using Frontline to record an absence, do not forget to indicate that a substitute is needed. Certainly, the pool of substitutes has been minimal at best, but as teachers, it is still our obligation to request one.
Please be proactive! If you use a sick day, get a doctor's note before you leave the office. Building principals may ask for notes for even one (1) day out. It will save you time and keep you from being at the mercy of a doctor's office, and their workload, if you secure your note upon leaving that office.
