NORTH CAROLINA GENERAL ASSEMBLY
1975 SESSION

CHAPTER 72
HOUSE BILL 30

AN ACT TO REWRITE G.S. 115-143 AS IT PERTAINS TO HEALTH CERTIFICATES REQUIRED FOR TEACHERS AND OTHER PUBLIC SCHOOL EMPLOYEES.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

Section 1.  G.S. 115-143 is rewritten to read as follows:
"§ 115-143.  Health certificate required for teachers and other school employees. — All public school employees upon initial employment, and those who have been separated from public school employment more than one school year, including superintendents, supervisors, district principals, building principals, teachers, and any other employees in the public schools of the State, shall file in the office of the county or city superintendent, before assuming his or her duties, a certificate from a physician licensed to practice medicine in the State of North Carolina, certifying that said person does not have tuberculosis in the communicable form, or other communicable disease, or any disease, physical or mental, which would impair the ability of the said person to perform effectively his or her duties. Thereafter, annually, each public school employee must, before assuming his or her duties, file in the office of the county or city superintendent a certificate from a physician licensed to practice medicine in this State, that said person does not have tuberculosis in the communicable form. Provided that a local school board or a superintendent may require any person herein named to take a physical examination when deemed necessary.
Any public school employee who has been absent for more than 40 successive school days because of a communicable disease must, before returning to work, file with the superintendent a physician's certificate certifying that the individual is free from any communicable disease.
The examining physician shall make the aforesaid certificates on an examination form supplied by the State Superintendent of Public Instruction. The certificate shall be issued only after a physical examination has been made at the time of the certification, and such examination shall be in accordance with rules and regulations adopted by the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, with approval of the Secretary of Human Resources, and such rules and regulations may include the requirement of an X-ray chest examination for all new employees of the public school system.
It shall be the duty of the county or city superintendent of the school in which the person is employed to enforce the provisions of this section.
Any person violating any of the provisions of this section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and subject to a fine or imprisonment in the discretion of the court."
Sec. 2.  This act shall become effective upon ratification.
In the General Assembly read three times and ratified, this the 24th day of March, 1975.