Salary and Financial Assistance

When ministry personnel require a short-term medical leave from their jobs, section 037 of The Manual requires pastoral charges to continue salary and benefits for up to six months. The Restorative Care Plan assists ministry personnel during their illness, and pastoral charges with this financial responsibility.

To access the Restorative Care Plan, contact your Conference personnel minister.

Why a Restorative Care Plan?

Employers and benefits providers have learned that life is unpredictable, and sooner or later some employees will need a short-term medical leave from their jobs. Section 037 of The Manual requires pastoral charges to continue salary and benefits for up to six months while ministry personnel are ill or disabled.

To assist ministry personnel during their illness and pastoral charges with this financial responsibility, the United Church introduced the Restorative Care Plan in July 2002. This program provides care and support for the members of our ministry personnel community.

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Local Help and Support

Studies show that early absence management is crucial to returning employees to work, whether through ongoing communication that makes employees feel valued and "connected" to their place of work, or through more effective management of physical or psychological situations that enable them to return to work, whether it is full time, or on a modified basis.

The Restorative Care Plan provides help and support to both pastoral charges and ministry personnel. It relieves the pastoral charge of the administrative responsibility of managing absences and offsets the financial liability of paying salary continuance to the disabled minister. As well, following the process ensures that ministers receive the emotional and medical assistance required to manage their situations effectively.

The local Conference personnel minister supports the process by overseeing the claim and ensuring that the Medical Absence Report form is received and submitted to the Ministry and Employment Policies and Services (MEPS) Unit, which then coordinates the distribution to the church's service provider, a third-party disability manager hired by the church to support this program. It's important to remember that while the pastoral charge, presbytery or district, and Conference monitor the progress of the absence, they are not privy to details of the absence.

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Financial Support to the Pastoral Charge

The Restorative Care Plan provides funding to pastoral charges to help them fulfill their obligation under section 037 of The Manual. It is funded on a pooled basis, whereby each pastoral charge contributes 1% of monthly pensionable earnings for each minister it employs. These funds (or premiums) are then used to reimburse any pastoral charge whose minister is absent from work due to illness or accident for up to six months. The pastoral charge continues to pay the minister directly, while the Restorative Care Plan reimburses 85% of the disabled minister's pre-disability monthly pensionable earnings to the pastoral charge for months two through six of the minister's medically certified absence. There is no Restorative Care Plan reimbursement for the first month of salary continuance.

Unfortunately, sometimes ministry personnel are absent from their pastoral charge without filing a claim for restorative care. When this happens, the pastoral charge is left without the financial assistance the plan provides. As well, the minister may be left without adequate care or recognition of his or her situation. Even more important, when the minister is absent for reasons that may require a prolonged absence—one that may stretch into long-term disability—it can be difficult to have the long-term disability claim approved by the benefits insurer. The Restorative Care Plan helps ensure that appropriate documentation is in place and the management of the initial illness is on record.

A version of this article appeared in Connex Issue 5, 2005.