Voluntary Catastrophic Leave Sharing Program
See also: Voluntary Catastrophic Leave Sharing Program--Responsibilities and Procedures
PURPOSE
Regular status career employees and non-faculty academic personnel who accrue vacation may donate accrued vacation leave to another regular status career or non-faculty academic employee when a catastrophic illness or injury occurs to that employee or because that employee is needed to care for a seriously ill family member. The leave sharing program is campus-wide across all fund sources. Nothing in this program is intended to change current policy and practice regarding vacation or sick leave.
DEFINITIONS
Catastrophic Illness or Injury
A serious debilitating illness or injury which incapacitates the employee or an employee’s family member and which causes a loss of income, due to the employee having exhausted all paid leave accruals, and is not currently receiving payment of temporary disability benefits.
A catastrophic illness or injury is defined as a serious illness, injury, impairment, or physical or mental condition that is present for a minimum of seven calendar days, and that
involves:
A period of illness or injury or treatment connected with inpatient care (e.g., an
overnight stay) in a hospital, hospice, or residential medical care facility; or
A period of illness or injury requiring absence of more than seven calendar days from work, and that also involves continuing treatment by (or under the supervision of) a licensed health care provider; or
A period of illness or injury (or treatment) due to a chronic serious health condition (e.g., asthma, diabetes, epilepsy, etc.); or
A period of illness or injury that is long-term due to a condition for which treatment may be ineffective (e.g., stroke, terminal disease, etc.); or
An absence to receive multiple treatments (including any period of recovery there from) either for restorative surgery after an accident or other injury, or for a chronic condition, i.e., cancer or kidney disease.
Eligible Leave
Only accrued vacation credits may be donated. The minimum donation an employee may make is eight (8) hours and the maximum is forty (40) hours for a continuous period of illness or injury. The total amount of time an employee may remain off work on donated leave is six (6) continuous or non-continuous months within a twelve (12) month period.
Family Member
The employee’s spouse, domestic partner with whom the employee has executed a domestic partnership agreement, parent, child, sibling, grandparent, or grandchild; in-laws and step-relatives in these relationships; and other persons residing in the employee’s household.
Non-Faculty Academic Personnel
This definition does not include the following faculty series: Ladder ranks, In-Residence faculty, Professor of Clinical “X”, Clinical Professor, and Adjunct Professor.
ELIGIBILITY
Regular status career employees and non-faculty academic personnel who accrue vacation leave may donate accrued vacation hours to eligible recipients. An eligible recipient is an employee who:
- has achieved career status and completed a probationary period (?regular? status), if one was required;
- has been granted a leave of absence in relation to a catastrophic illness or injury;
- has exhausted all UCSF paid leave accruals and is not receiving disability or Workers’ Compensation payments; and
- requests and receives donated leave due to catastrophic illness or injury prior to the termination of the leave.
TRANSFER OF LEAVE
For the purpose of simplicity and auditable recordkeeping, accrued vacation credits shall be transferred hour for hour, regardless of differing pay scales.
The maximum donation credited to a recipient’s leave account shall be the amount necessary to ensure continuation of the employee’s regular salary during the employee’s period of approved catastrophic leave. Donations will be voluntary, confidential, and irrevocable.
An employee needing leave will complete a Leave Donation Request Form and submit it to the Department Head for a signature of support.
Upon determination that an employee is eligible to receive leave donations, the Department may communicate the need to other staff in a manner agreeable to the employee, e.g., word-of-mouth or distribution of a flyer. Employees wanting to make donations will submit an Authorization
for Donation form to the Department Head for a signature of support.
Adjusted vacation balances will be recorded on the time benefits roster for both the donor and recipient’s Departments.