HR Policy #60-125

Purpose

This policy is intended to provide a formal means whereby an eligible employee may donate accumulated medical leave to the Medical Leave Bank for the purpose of assisting employees who have exhausted their accumulated medical leave due to a prolonged or catastrophic/life threatening illness or injury. The receipt of donated medical leave is a privilege and not a guaranteed right.

Definitions

Donor - An eligible employee who meets the criteria established by this policy and who is qualified to receive paid medical leave from the Medical Leave Bank.

Donor Eligibility

In order to donate medical leave to the Medical Leave Bank, the donor must be a regular full-time benefits eligible employee who participates in the University's Medical Leave benefit program. A donor may not donate time to the Medical Leave Bank if his/her personal accumulated medical leave balance is less than thirty (30) days (225 hours) except upon separation from employment as set forth in General Guidelines, Section B.

Recipient Eligibility

In order to be the recipient of any donated medical leave, an employee must meet the following criteria:

A. The employee must have worked for the University in a full-time benefits eligible position for eighteen (18) consecutive months immediately prior to becoming eligible to receive paid leave under this policy.

B. The employee suffers from a medically certified catastrophic/ life-threatening illness, injury or impairment which has caused the employee to be absent from work for at least thirty (30) consecutive working days (225 hours). Note: The thirty (30) consecutive working day qualifying period shall be considered as running concurrently with the employee's own paid leave and any unpaid leave.

C. The employee's need for absence is certified by a licensed practicing physician.

D. The employee must have exhausted all of his/her accumulated medical and vacation leave prior to receiving leave from the Medical Leave Bank.

E. The employee must be in good standing and must have complied with University policies and procedures governing the use of vacation and medical leave.

General Guidelines

A. An employee may donate up to five (5) days (37.5 hours) per calendar year to the Medical Leave Bank. Accumulated medical leave must be donated in full day (7.5 hours) increments. Once an employee donates time to the Medical Leave Bank, the donation becomes property of the Medical Leave Bank and cannot be withdrawn by the donor.

B. Should an employee elect to donate leave at the time of his/her separation of employment from the University, the established five (5) day maximum calendar year donation rule shall apply as set fourth in Section A.

C. A qualified recipient is eligible to receive up to thirty (30) days of paid leave from the Medical Leave Bank in a rolling twelve (12) month period.

D. Leave awarded to a recipient from the Medical Leave Bank will be credited to the recipient's medical leave account only after all required documentation is in place and final approval is provided by the Department of Human Resources.

E. Leave from the Medical Leave Bank shall be awarded to eligible employees on a first come first serve basis and only to the extent of the Medical Leave Bank's available balance. The University shall not be obligated to provide paid leave as set forth in this policy at any time when the Medical Leave Bank is deficient of donated leave.

F. Once an employee qualifies and receives donated medical leave under this policy, it will be used on a continuous uninterrupted basis. However, after an employee has used donated leave on a continuous uninterrupted basis, he/she is eligible to use donated leave intermittently for follow-up care and recurrence of the same condition or event. Any donated time not exhausted will be returned to the Medical Leave Bank.

G. The use of donated medical leave will count toward any absence which qualifies as leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993. Eligibility for FMLA does not necessarily constitute eligibility for Shared Medical Leave.

H. Employees receiving any of the following payments are not eligible to receive benefits under the policy and shall not be granted paid leave from the Medical Leave Bank: University workers’ compensation lost time payments; University long-term disability payments; University retirement system payments; or, Social Security disability payments.

I. A recipient of donated medical leave will accrue vacation and medical leave while using any donated medical leave. Vacation and medical leave accruals will follow the specific provisions of established University policy.

J. Nothing in this policy is intended to modify, provide additional benefits, or reduce benefits under the University's Medical Leave Policy.

K. Should the Medical Leave Bank be discontinued, donated medical leave shall remain in the Medical Leave Bank until all donated days are exhausted or the remaining balance is pro-rated back to contributing employees.

Donation Procedures

The Department of Human Resources shall be responsible for soliciting donations to the Medical Leave Bank on an annual basis and at other designated times. Click here to access a donation form.

Funding

The employing department/unit of the recipient shall be responsible for funding any additional paid leave authorized by this policy.