16.1 Purpose
16.2 Guidelines16.2.1 Annual Leave Donations16.3 Resources
16.2.2 Who May Donate Leave
16.2.3 Eligibility Criteria to Receive Donated Leave
16.2.4 Qualifying Medical Conditions
16.2.5 Excluded from Eligibility
16.2.6 Required Reimbursement of Leave Sharing Payments
16.0 LEAVE SHARING
16.1 Purpose
Provides an opportunity for employees to share accrued leave with employees who otherwise would not receive pay as a result of an illness or accident. Faculty are not eligible to receive leave donations.
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16.2 Guidelines
16.2.1 Annual Leave Donations
Annual leave only may be donated. To make donations complete the donor form which can be accessed on the website http://www.hr.vt.edu/ or requested through Human Resources. Donations must be in eight-hour increments.
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16.2.2 Who May Donate Leave
- Regular full and part-time faculty
- Full and part-time staff employees
- Leave may be shared across most state agencies when sharing with a family member (defined as an employee's spouse, parents/step-parents, siblings/step-siblings, and children/step-children).
- Donated leave may only be reclaimed by the donor if it has not yet been processed by Human Resources.
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16.2.3 Eligibility Criteria to Receive Donated Leave
- Recipient must be a full or part-time salaried, classified employee. Maximum payment eligibility may not exceed percent of employment.
- Classified and university staff in VSDP receive program benefits for personal injury or illness and, therefore, are not eligible for leave donations for these reasons. However, classified and university staff in VSDP may request leave sharing if the employee experiences leave without pay due to a family member's illness or injury for which the employee is currently using approved Family Medical Leave (See Family Medical Leave Act Guidelines).
- Recipients shall have no applicable leave balance (annual, sick, family personal, compensatory, overtime, etc) and shall have been placed on leave without pay for ten consecutive workdays (80 hours) per medical condition per 365-day period prior to being eligible to receive leave from a donor.
NOTE: A chronic ongoing medical condition such as a kidney disease requiring dialysis would be considered one medical condition. Thus, an employee would have to be on leave without pay for ten consecutive days only once in a 365 day period for this condition. Thereafter, the employee immediately would be eligible for donations for this illness during the same 365-day period.- A request must be made by completing the Leave Sharing application form which is available on the website http://www.hr.vt.edu/. If an employee is unable to initiate a request, a family member or supervisor may submit the request.
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16.2.4 Qualifying Medical Conditions
Any illness or injury which, as certified by a physician, requires medical attention and requires an employee's absence without pay for a period of at least ten consecutive workdays (80 hours) after all leave balances have been exhausted.
It is the responsibility of the employee to provide the required certification from a physician. The department or Human Resources may require a second physician's certification from a physician of their choice. Such certification will be at the department or Human Resources expense. However, if the two physicians disagree whether a medical condition exists, it is within the sole discretion of the agency to determine whose opinion prevails.
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16.2.5 Excluded from Eligibility
The following are excluded from eligibility for leave sharing benefits:
- any occupational related accident or illness for which Workers' Compensation benefits have been awarded
- intentionally self-inflicted injuries
- injuries occurring in the course of committing a felony or assault
- any period of disciplinary suspensions.
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16.2.6 Required Reimbursement of Leave Sharing Payments
NOTE: Receipt of Leave Sharing Donations does not alter or affect the Leave without pay status of an employee. For all purposes, employees are still considered on leave without pay. Employees who are receiving leave sharing donations are ineligible to receive payment for any holidays occurring during their periods of absence.
- Compensation is received from another source for the same period of time the employee received leave sharing hours, such as when monies are received from the leave sharing program and subsequently workers' compensation benefits are received retroactively for that same period of time
- Determination is made that abuse has occurred. The recipient may be required to repay all donated leave, and/or may be subject to disciplinary action in accordance with State Policy 1.60, Standards of Conduct.
- Reimbursed hours will be returned to the original donor(s).
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16.3 Resources