Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College
Shared Leave Policy
(Revised 1/1/07)
Policy section 1
The policy
It is the policy of Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College (ABAC) that employees may voluntarily donate sick or annual leave to other employees who have exhausted all of their sick and annual leave and, because of a medical emergency, are in need of additional sick leave.
Policy section 2
Applicability
This program applies to all employees of the College who earn or accrue annual or sick leave.
Policy Section 3
Definitions
Employee means any employee of the College who earns or accrues annual or sick leave as a benefit of his/her employment.
Leave donor means an employee making a voluntary written request for transfer of annual or sick leave to the sick leave account of a leave recipient.
Leave recipient means a current employee who has completed the employment probationary period and for whom the ABAC Shared Leave Certification Committee has approved an application to receive leave from the annual or sick leave accounts of one or more leave donors.
Life-threatening or emergency medical condition means a health condition involving a serious, extreme, or life-threatening illness, injury, impairment, or condition that is likely to require an employee's absence from duty for a period of time longer than the amount of sick and annual leave available to the employee, and the health condition is such that it is not medically appropriate for the employee to delay the absence in order to accrue additional sick or annual leave prior to the absence. Some examples of such conditions include: advanced or rapidly growing cancers, acute life-threatening illnesses, chronic life-threatening conditions in need of immediate care, life-threatening infections, severe injuries arising from automobile or other serious accidents, and severe or life-threatening conditions involving failure of bodily organs or systems (e.g., heart attack). The absence may be continuous, as in hospitalization following surgery or an accident; or intermittent, as in periodic absences for chemotherapy or other procedures.
Policy Section 4
Confidentiality
Any medical information forwarded to the Shared Leave Committee will remain confidential.
Shared Leave Procedures
Procedure section 1
Application to
become a leave recipient
An employee may make written application to the Shared Leave Certification Committee, via the Office of Human Resources. The application will be made by using the Shared Leave Request Form.
If an employee is not capable of making application on his or her own behalf, a personal representative, having documented power of attorney for the potential leave recipient, may make written application on behalf of the employee.
In order for a request to receive donated leave to be approved, the employee must:
A potential leave recipient may request up to 160 hours of leave transfer at one time, and may make up to three applications for leave transfer within a calendar year, for a maximum total of 480 hours requested per calendar year.
Each application must include a completed Shared Leave Request Form and Physician’s Certification of Emergency or Life Threatening Medical Condition form.
Procedure Section 2:
Approval of
application to become a leave recipient
Each application will be reviewed by a Shared Leave Certification Committee consisting of one staff member from Human Resources, one faculty member, and one staff member from a work unit other than Human Resources. The Human Resources Director will appoint these committee members for a renewable term of one year. The committee member from Human Resources or his or her designee will carry out the administrative functions of the committee.
If any committee member(s) is unavailable to perform the functions of the committee due to illness, vacation, or other reason, or is unable to provide a timely decision for any given applicant, the Director of Human Resources or his/her designee(s) will serve as substitute ad hoc member of the committee.
The committee’s decision to approve or disapprove a request for shared leave will be by simple majority vote. If the application is approved, the Shared Leave Certification Committee will notify the leave recipient (or the personal representative who made application on behalf of the leave recipient), within 10 working days after the date the application was received, that:
1. The application has been approved; and
2. Other employees may request the transfer of annual or sick leave to the account of the leave recipient.
The leave recipient or his or her representative may then advise potential donors that they may use the Shared Leave Donation form to request transfer of some of their leave to the leave recipient’s account. When soliciting leave from other employees, potential leave recipients must be careful to refrain from any activity that might be interpreted as pressuring other employees to donate leave. Potential leave recipients and their representatives must refrain from using e-mail to solicit leave by revealing a medical condition, as e-mailing of medical information may violate HIPAA privacy guidelines.
If the application is not approved, the committee will notify the applicant (or the personal representative who made application on behalf of the potential leave recipient), within 10 working days after the date the application was received, that:
Requests not approved may be appealed in writing to the Director of Human Resources.
Procedure Section 3:
Donation of
leave
An employee may submit a Shared Leave Donation Form to the Office of Human Resources, requesting that a specified number of hours of leave be transferred from his/her annual or sick leave account to the sick leave account of a specified leave recipient. Requests for leave transfers must be in 8-hour increments. A leave donor must retain a combined total of 120 hours of leave in his/her own annual and sick leave accounts (pro rated for part-time employees), unless the donation is to the leave account of his/her own spouse, child, or parent. If you wish to donate leave prior to separating from ABAC (retirement, changing jobs), you may not donate more hours than you could use during the remainder of your employment. For example, if you have 10 working days until retirement, you may donate only 80 leave hours (8 hours x 10 days). The 120-hour rule still applies (see above).
ABAC will not transfer annual or sick leave to a leave donor's immediate or upper-level supervisor(s) or subordinates.
Leave transferred under this section may be substituted retroactively for a period of leave without pay.
Leave Donation Forms will be accepted until the total amount donated is equal to the amount approved by the Shared Leave Certification Committee. Subsequent Leave Donation Forms will be returned to prospective donors.
If the leave recipient does not use all the donated leave, unused leave will be returned to donors based on the date and time the Leave Donation Form was processed by Payroll.
Frequently Asked Questions
FAQ’s Section 1
How do I donate
leave?
(Please
read the policy & procedures above)
Who is eligible to donate shared leave?
How much leave may I donate?
What's the first step?
Employees who wish to donate leave should complete the
Shared Leave Donation Form and follow instructions to submit the form. If
approved by the review committee, you will receive a confirmation of your
donation.
What happens if I change my mind and need the leave I previously donated?
Donations are irrevocable, although any donated leave not used by the leave
recipient will be returned to the donor(s). (See next question).
What happens to my donated leave if the recipient doesn’t use it; for example,
if the medical emergency doesn’t last as long as anticipated or the recipient
leaves the University before using all donated leave?
Unused donated hours will be returned to the donor(s). If you receive a return
of donated leave, the Office of Human Resources will send a notification of
returned leave to you (and a copy to your department).
If my employment with the University is coming to an end (retirement, changing
jobs, etc.) and I have some unused leave, may I donate my unused leave to
another employee?
You may not
donate more hours than you could use during the remainder of your employment.
For example, if you have 10 working days until retirement, you may donate only
80 leave hours (8 hours x 10 days).
FAQ’s Section 2
How do I request
donated leave?
Please read the policy & procedures above
Who is eligible to request donated leave?
If you are a regular ABAC benefit-eligible employee who:
· Has completed your probationary period and
· Has a life-threatening or emergency medical condition and do not have sufficient leave to cover your anticipated absence and
· Has exhausted or will soon exhaust all sick and annual leave due to your own life-threatening or emergency medical condition and
· During the resulting absence, will not receive any other monetary benefits based on employment at ABAC (worker’s compensation lost wages benefits, disability, etc.)
you may submit your request for donated shared leave up to ten working days prior to the time you will exhaust all leave.
How much leave may I request?
· You may request up to 160 hours of leave per application (pro-rated for part-time employees)
· You may apply up to three times per calendar year
What’s the first step?
You should ask your physician to complete a Physician’s Certification of Emergency or Life Threatening Medical Condition form. You should then complete a Shared Leave Request form and deliver both the Physician’s Certification form and the Shared Leave form to the Shared Leave Certification Committee at the Office of Human Resources, Room 23, Tift Hall, ABAC, 2802 Moore Hwy., Tifton, GA 31793-2601. If you are unable to complete this process, a representative having your documented power of attorney may complete the process on your behalf.
How will I know I have received donated leave?
The Office of Human Resources will send you a Leave Receipt Confirmation form (and a copy to your department.)
Does an employee who is using donated leave continue to accrue sick or annual leave during the time they are missing work and using donated leave?
If you are using donated leave, you will continue to accrue sick and annual leave at the same rate you would have accrued leave had you been using your own, original leave during an absence from work. Your own accrued leave will be applied to your absence before any donated leave is applied to the absence.
What happens to any transferred leave I don’t use, for example, if the medical emergency doesn’t last as long as I anticipated or I leave ABAC before using all donated leave?
Your unused hours will be returned to the leave donor(s). The Office of Human Resources will send a notification of returned leave to the donor and a copy to the donor’s department.