Leave Donation Policy

Policy Statement

[Company Name] recognizes that employees may have a family medical emergency or be affected by a major disaster, resulting in a need for additional time off in excess of their available sick/personal time. To address this need, all eligible employees will be allowed to donate accrued paid sick or personal leave hours from their unused balance to their co-workers in need of additional paid time off, in accordance with the policy outlined below. This policy is strictly voluntary.

Eligibility

Employees must be employed with [Company Name] for a minimum of one year to be eligible to donate and/or receive donated sick/personal time.

Guidelines

Employees who would like to make a request to receive donated sick/personal time from their co-workers must have a situation that meets the following criteria:

Medical emergency, defined as a medical condition of the employee or an immediate family member that will require the prolonged/extended absence of the employee from duty and will result in a substantial loss of income to the employee due to the exhaustion of all paid leave available. An immediate family member is defined as a spouse, child or parent.

Major disaster, defined as a disaster declared by the president under §401 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (the Stafford Act), or as a major disaster or emergency declared by the president pursuant to 5 U.S.C. §6391 for federal government agencies. An employee is considered to be adversely affected by a major disaster if the disaster has caused severe hardship to the employee or to a family member of the employee that requires the employee to be absent from work.

Donation of Sick/Personal Time

• The donation of sick/personal time is strictly voluntary.
• Donated sick/personal time will go into a leave bank for use by eligible recipients.
• Recipient identity will not be disclosed to donating employees.
• The donation of sick/personal time is on an hourly basis, without regard to the dollar value of the donated or used leave.
• The minimum number of sick/personal hours that an eligible employee may donate is 4 hours per calendar year; the maximum is 40 hours or no more than 50 percent of the employee's current balance.
  
• Employees cannot borrow against future sick/personal time to donate.
• Employees will be given the opportunity to donate sick/personal time annually during benefits open enrollment. The donated sick/personal time will be transferred from the donor to the leave pool on December 31st.
• Employees who are currently on an approved leave of absence cannot donate sick/personal time.

Requesting Donated Sick/Personal Time

Employees who would like to request donated sick/personal time are required to complete a Donation of Sick/Personal Time Request Form and submit it to human resources.

Requests for donations of sick/personal time must be approved by human resources, the employee's immediate supervisor and a designated senior leader of [Company Name] (e.g., president, vice president, regional vice president).

If the recipient employee has available sick/personal time in his or her balance, this time will be used prior to any donated sick/personal time. Donated sick/personal time may only be used for time off related to the approved request.

Employees who receive donated sick/personal time may receive no more than 480 hours (12 weeks) within a rolling 12-month period. 

Nothing in this policy will be construed to limit or extend the maximum allowable absence under the Family and Medical Leave Act.