The Voluntary Shared Leave Policy allows eligible University Staff to donate sick leave to the Shared Leave Bank. The Shared Leave Bank is available to eligible staff members who are experiencing a medical condition and do not have enough accrued leave to support the duration of the leave required for the medical absence.
Staff may apply for Shared Leave if they have six months of continuous service and have exhausted or will have exhausted all forms of paid leave at the time that Shared Leave is granted. The policy is only for permanent staff employees scheduled for 20 or more hours per week. Employees enrolled in the Short-Term Disability Plan (STD) or Long-Term Disability Plan (LTD) are eligible to receive donated leave only for the time not compensable under the STD or LTD Plans. An employee is eligible if he/she is out of work due to an event covered under the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA).
An eligible staff member may request Shared Leave only for a medical condition that may require leave without pay from work. Shared Leave, in and of itself, does not provide protected leave. Shared Leave serves to keep approved employees in paid status during an absence due to an extreme or life-threatening medical condition. Shared Leave may be granted for a maximum of 160 hours per calendar year as to not cause undue burden on their department. Shared Leave will only be granted for extreme or life-threatening illnesses, injuries, impairments or physical or mental conditions which have caused, or are likely to cause, the employee to take leave without pay or terminate employment. Shared Leave will not be granted for common or minor illnesses or injuries.
An employee who faces prolonged or frequent absences from work because of a serious medical condition or because he/she is needed to care for an immediate family member with a serious medical condition may apply for shared leave. A third party may apply on behalf of the employee if he/she is unable to complete an application.
An employee may complete an application for shared leave at such time as medical evidence is available to support the need for leave beyond the employee’s accumulated leave.
The following items must be included in the application:
The application must be submitted to the Office of Human Resources. The requesting employee will receive notification of approval or denial of his/her requested shared leave. If request is approved, the amount of donated leave will be shown in the requesting employee’s sick leave account. The payroll department will track the requesting employee’s absences and apply the donated leave accordingly.
Donated Shared Leave hours will reside in a bank managed by the Office of Human Resources. HR will email all Staff requesting donations when the bank runs low. Employees wishing to donate leave to the bank must complete a Shared Leave Donation form and submit the form to the Payroll Office. Employees may donate sick leave but may not reduce their ownsick leave accounts below 40 hours. Donated leave must be in no less than one half hour increments.
