The Folsom Cordova Unified teachers union wants a judge to force the school district to pay an elementary school teacher for five days she spent at a family reunion.

The Folsom Cordova Education Association filed a suit in Sacramento Superior Court last month claiming Edith Hiatt legitimately used "personal necessity leave" for the September 2008 trip. They asked the court to set aside a school board decision to dock her pay.

"It (the leave) was not intended for family reunions," district spokesman Stephen Nichols said. "They can use the time outside the 184 days (of instruction) as vacation."

The teacher contract says they can take take up to half their sick time for "matters involving the employee's immediate family."

The union argues that can include reunions.

"We have a contract and we feel it should be honored," said Mark Schultz, president of the teachers union. "Anytime it isn't, we have a process to ensure it is. We will continue to pursue the process until it reaches its final step."

According to the suit, Hiatt – who teaches at Cordova Villa Elementary – was warned her pay would be docked if she went to the reunion. She went anyway.

She filed a grievance over the pay cut, and Nichols said the district paid her for at least three of the five days. She received $981.91.

The district hired an arbitrator who decided in Hiatt's favor in August, according to the suit. The arbitration wasn't binding, however, and the district threw out the decision three months later.

Schultz said the union wants to make sure Hiatt gets to keep her pay.

Nichols said the district intends to fight the suit.

"We don't want teachers to go on vacation in the school year during instructional time," Nichols said. "It is an additional cost we cannot afford to spend, especially right now."

The district not only pays the teacher on leave, Nichols said, but a substitute, too.

District officials have since proposed changes to the teachers' contract to clarify how "personal necessity leave" can be used. An earlier contract included a list of allowed uses, but that was omitted, Nichols said, during negotiations over the 2006- 2008 contract.

Schultz says the union is open to discussing the changes.