News | Federation of State Cultural & Educational Professionals

AFT Pennsylvania Delegates: SAVE THE DATE: July 11, 2025 - July 13, 2025, Sheraton Center City, Philadelphia

Randi Weingarten at a Massachusetts high school

Summer is upon us, and parents, children and teachers are winding down from what has been an exhausting and fully operational school year—the first since the devastating pandemic. The long-lasting impact of COVID-19 has affected our students’ and families’ well-being and ignited the politics surrounding public schools. All signs point to the coming school year unfolding with the same sound and fury, and if extremist culture warriors have their way, being even more divisive and stressful.

COVID-19 Leave Payout

Brothers and Sisters

It was just brought to my attention that the five days of verification leave (if you qualified) that was to payout during the month of May is actually on our next pay of April 22, 2022. You can verify the numer of hours you were paid by looking at your paystub that is not in ESS.

I apologize for the short notice by unfortunately, I was never notified by OA as I had indicated at our February General Membership meeting.

I will also take this opportunity to remind you that if you have excess annual leave showing under Annual Leave Ext under your leave quotas, you have until the

FOSCEP General Membership Meeting Announcement

Brothers and Sisters,

Happy New Year from FOSCEP! This will serve as official notification of the General Membership Meeting, which is scheduled for February 14, 2022 via ZOOM at 12 noon.

Please RSVP by February 4th to foscep@comcast.net . The ZOOM information will be provided upon receiving your RSVP.

If you do not RSVP you will not be able to gain access into the meeting.

Thank you and we look forward to seeing you at the meeting.

Tina Weaver – President

Kevin Mock – Vice President

Dara DeRoiste – Treasurer

Jenna Solomon - Secretary

Leave Incentive for COVID-19 Vaccine

FOSCEP received a side letter on November 5th and signed off on the additional five days of verification leave in addition to the one day previously available regardless of the date of vaccination. Please keep in mind that the verification leave is available December 20, 2021 through March 31, 2022. Questions can be directed to one of the Officers or Directors for your agency. A listing can be found under About Us, Contact Us. You can now verify your COVID-19 vaccination status to receive one day of paid time off (up to 7.5/8 hours). This incentive is available to employees who have received a single dose of the Johnson & Johnson/Janssen vaccine or both doses of the Moderna or Pfizer-BioNTech (Comirnaty) vaccine, regardless of the date of vaccination. MORE

New Paid Parental Leave Program

FOSCEP Brothers and Sisters,

In accordance with the Governor’s announcement on August 25, 2020, the Commonwealth is instituting a Paid Parental Leave program, to be effective October 15, 2020 for those employees who work in agencies under the Governor’s jurisdiction, in accordance with the following parameters:

Up to six (6) weeks of Paid Parental Leave may be utilized by full-time (225/240 hours) or part-time (prorated based on regular hours worked) permanent employees who have been continuously employed by the Commonwealth for the immediate twelve (12) months preceding a qualifying event and

Sick Family Leave - Five (5) Day Cap Modification

FOSCEP Brothers and Sisters,

Due to the current state of emergency related to the coronavirus pandemic, the Commonwealth is temporarily increasing the five (5) day limitation on Sick Family Leave usage in each calendar year to a fifteen (15) day limitation on Sick Family Leave usage within a calendar year.

This modification will retroactively take effect March 30, 2020 and will expire with the expiration of the Governor's Proclamation of Disaster Emergency or the end of the current calendar year whichever occurs sooner.

Upon expiration of this modification, the temporary increase to fifteen (15)

Right to Know Request and Appeal Withdrawn

On June 17, 2020, the Office of Administration sent you a notice about a Right to Know Law request and appeal filed by Ben Straka of the Freedom Foundation, in which he was seeking the middle names and day and month of birth for commonwealth employees.

Mr. Straka withdrew his appeal (OOR AP#2020-0571) in the Office of Open Records. As a result, the Office of Administration’s denial of employee middle names and day and month of birth will stand, and no further action is required to prevent the disclosure of this information to Mr. Straka.

ATTENTION TELEWORKING AND FRONT LINE MEMBERS

AFT is now offering an additional benefit of trauma counseling.

We’re very excited about this new benefit and hope you are too. If you have any questions about this or other benefit programs, please contact AFT National at aftplus@aft.org. Thank you.

Tina Weaver
President, FOSCEP Local 2382

Cancellation of 7 Pay Period Deadline for Use of Excess Annual Leave

FOSCEP Brothers and Sisters,

Please read the note below forwarded to us by OA regarding excess annual leave:

Commonwealth employees represented by your organization have the ability to carry-over unused Annual Leave from year-to-year subject to a defined maximum outlined in your collective bargaining agreement (CBA)/memorandum of understanding (MOU).

If an employee is unable to utilize such excess leave by the end of the year, they are automatically granted an extension of seven (7) pay periods into the next year to utilize such excess leave. The current deadlines associated with this seven (7)