Area School Principals' Collective Agreement

7.1.1 The purpose of this provision is to:

1. Provide the opportunity for Principals, currently in service, who are declared medically unfit or who have a terminal illness to retire from teaching with dignity;
2. Give the ability for Boards to recruit a new Principal to the vacant permanent position without delay.

7.1.2 ‘Currently in service’ means the Principal is employed in a permanent position at the time the application for medical retirement is made and when concurrence is given by the Secretary for Education. This provision cannot be granted retrospectively.

7.1.3 A permanently appointed Principal, currently in service, may be granted medical retirement under this clause in circumstances where the Principal has either a terminal or serious illness which causes them to be incapable of continuing to work or returning to work in the foreseeable future, subject to the provisions of Schedule D.

7.1.4 An application for medical retirement may be initiated by either the Principal or the employer. The processes to be followed by the Principal and the employer are specified in Schedule D.

7.1.5 In such circumstances, the Principal shall provide to the employer evidence of their illness from the Principal’s registered medical specialist with a prognosis attesting to the incapacity to work both currently and in the future. Their employer may request a further medical opinion from a registered medical practitioner nominated by the employer and will reimburse the cost where this is requested.

7.1.6 Where the majority of medical evidence supports the application for medical retirement, as per the guidelines outlined in Schedule D the employer shall seek the concurrence of the Secretary for Education to medically retire the Principal.

7.1.7 Where the majority of medical evidence does not support a claim for medical retirement under this provision the application process shall cease.

7.1.8 The notice of termination of employment provisions set out in clause 9.1 do not apply where the Secretary for Education gives concurrence to medical retirement.

Note 1: In the event that a Principal deceases in service without activating or uplifting the medical retirement provisions outlined in medical retirement terminal illness or medical retirement serious illness, the estate of the Principal shall have no claim on the medical retirement provision.

Note 2: An employer cannot retrospectively grant any application for medical retirement (when a Principal has ceased to be a permanent employee of the Board, the Board may no longer approve medical retirement).