[Adopted 8-2-1995]
A.
The intent of the leave donation program is to provide a means to
assist employees who, because of long-term personal illness or injury,
have exhausted their leave benefits, vacation time, compensatory time
and other accruals and would otherwise be subject to a severe loss
of income during a continuing absence from work. It is the intent
of the City to have both union and nonunion employees eligible to
participate in the leave donation program. It is not, however, the
intent of this policy to conflict with or to supersede any collective
bargaining unit agreements.
B.
The program is not intended to provide supplemental income which
would result in compensation levels exceeding normal wages for employees
who have other sources of substitute income, such as that provided
by disability insurance programs.
B.
An employee may donate a total of 10 sick days every six months as
long as the individual donor has a sick leave balance of at least
10 days after making the donation.
C.
Donations must be made in full-day (7.5 hours) units, regardless
of the work schedule or percentage of employment of the donor or the
recipient. The work schedule or employment percentage of the intended
recipient is not a factor in determining the minimum units of donation.
D.
The identity of donors may not be disclosed by the City. All donations
must be made through the use of a signed consent form.
E.
An employee who has submitted his/her resignation or retirement or
who has received notice of termination of employment can only donate
10 days' credit.
A.
In order to receive donated leave credits, an employee must meet
the following eligibility criteria:
(1)
The employee must be a full-time employee or otherwise eligible to
earn leave credits.
(2)
The employee must have completed at least one cumulative year of
service.
(3)
The employee must be absent due to a nonoccupational personal illness
or disability for which medical documentation satisfactory to management
is submitted as required.
(4)
The employee must be expected to be absent for at least two biweekly
payroll periods following exhaustion of leave credits, vacation time,
compensatory time and other accruals.
(5)
The employee must have donated sick leave time to the sick leave
program.
B.
The requirement that a person donate sick credits to the sick leave
program shall not become effective until one year from the effective
date of this article. The eligibility of an employee to participate
in this program shall be approved by the Common Council. There is
no maximum number of days which a recipient employee may accept; provided,
however, that donated credits cannot be used to extend employment
beyond the point it would otherwise end by operation of law, rule
or regulation. Similarly, there is no maximum number of donors from
whom an eligible employee may accept donations.
C.
An employee's continuing eligibility to participate in this program
must be reviewed by the Common Council at least every 30 days and
more frequently if appropriate. Current standards as to what constitutes
medical documentation satisfactory to management for purposes of determining
medical disability continue to apply.
A.
Time donated to the sick leave program will be distributed equally
until such time as all leave donated to the program is exhausted.
B.
Donated credits may be used only after exhaustion of all leave credits,
vacation time, compensatory time and any other accrued time of the
recipient.
C.
When the employee requests to use donated credits after exhaustion
of leave credits, vacation time, compensatory time and any other accruals,
the donated credits must be used in full-day units based on his/her
work schedule.
D.
Normally, donated credits are only available for periods of continuous
absence which are expected to continue for at least two biweekly payroll
periods following exhaustion of leave accruals. However, in certain
cases of intermittent absence in connection with catastrophic illness,
the Common Council may waive the two biweekly payroll period continuous
absence requirement. The Common Council may also take into account
reoccurrence of illness and disability in determining an employee's
eligibility. In no event may any exception be granted to the requirements
that all leave credits, vacation time, compensatory time and any other
accruals be exhausted.
A.
Recipient employees are deemed to be on leave without pay status
for attendance and leave purposes while charging donated leave credits.
They do not earn biweekly leave accruals or observe holidays nor do
they receive personal leave or vacation bonus days if their anniversary
dates fall while they are using donated leave credits. In such cases,
the personal leave anniversary date changes to the date of return
to work, and personal leave is granted on the adjusted anniversary
date.
B.
In some cases, donations may be received on an intermittent basis.
For example, in the first payroll period of participation in the program,
the employee may receive donations of four days, in the second payroll
period, two days and so on. Credits which have been donated must be
used each pay period prior to placing the employee on leave without
pay for the balance of that pay period.
C.
While charging donated credits, the employee continues to have health
insurance premiums, retirement contributions and other payroll deductions
withheld from his or her paycheck, so long as the paycheck is of an
amount sufficient to cover these deductions.
D.
Employees using donated leave continue to receive retirement service
credit for days in pay status.
The City may not solicit donations on the employee's behalf.
While the City is expected to cooperate with those soliciting on an
employee's behalf with respect to responding to inquiries concerning
an employee's eligibility to participate in the program, the City
may not release any medical information.
