BEST LOA

How to submit a leave of absence

Employees shall be eligible for leaves of absence after completion of their probationary period.  Requests for short-term leave of absence (less than 20 consecutive work days) shall be made to the employee's supervisor and managed by their school or department. Submit your leave request via EmpCenter and/or the identified method of communication made by your supervisor.

Requests for long-term leave of absence (20 of more consecutive work days) shall be made to Human Resources and managed by an assigned HR Team member.  Complete the Leave of Absence request form found at www.buffaloschools.org/leaveofabsence and submit it to HRLeaves@buffaloschools.org.  

In either instance, documentation may be requested and supplied to support the purpose of the leave and authorization or denial of the leave of absence request will be communicated in a timely manner.

How a leave of absence may impact health insurance.

Some leave of absence types are without pay.  When a BEST employee takes an unpaid leave of absence (highlighted below in blue) from the District, their health insurance coverage will be impacted.  Employees can expect their health insurance coverage to remain active until the end of the month in which the unpaid leave of absence was granted.  The Benefits Department shall have 30 days from the date that the unpaid leave of absence began to provide the employee with all pertinent COBRA information and applications.