Longwood University      Chief Administration and Finance Officer: Human Resources        201 High Street, Lancaster 335, Farmville, VA  23909         Phone: 434.395.2074     Fax: 434.395.2666

     Policy 5221      
LEAVE SHARING

I.     PURPOSE

The purpose of this policy is to permit an employee to donate annual leave to another employee who may need additional leave as a result of an illness or accident.

II.     POLICY

Donations to recipients shall be in the form of annual leave only. Leave shall be shared intra-agency only, except in the following situations: 1) A family member (defined as an employee's spouse, parents/step-parents, siblings/step-siblings, and children/step-children) in one Executive Branch agency may share leave with another family member who works in any other Executive Branch agency; 2) Employees working in Executive Branch agencies which have Maximum Employment Levels: MEL) of seventy-five (75) or less, may share leave with other employees in Executive Branch agencies with MEL of seventy-five (75) or less.

Donors do not have to retain minimum balances of personal sick or annual leave, nor is there a limit on how many hours of annual leave they may donate. Donations to a recipient shall be made in eight (8) hour increments. Eligible recipients shall not be required to reimburse leave hours donated to them unless one of the following situations occurs: 1) 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 worker's compensation benefits are received retroactively for that same period of time; or 2) The Human Resources (HR) Office determines 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 Department of Human Resource 
Management (DHRM) Policy 1.60, Standards of Conduct. If repayment is required, leave payment shall be made at the current salary rate of the recipient, not the donor. Reimbursed leave hours will be returned to the original donor(s). Leave given by a donor can be reclaimed by the donor only if the Donor Form has not yet been processed.

III.     PROCEDURE

A. Donating:

1. Donors shall complete a Donor Form when contributing leave and submit it to the Human Resources (HR) Office.

B. Eligibility Criteria and Procedures for Recipient Application:

1. All full-time Classifed employees shall be eligible to become recipients.

2. Once an employee becomes eligible for leave sharing, they will be contacted by the HR Office regarding the initiation process. The HR Office then will communicate the request to all potential donors, but will not reveal the identity of the requesting employee unless the employee gives his or her permission.  In the event that an employee is physically or mentally unable to initiate a request through the HR Office, a family member or the agency may file the request.

3. For all purposes other than the receipt of salary, employees receiving donations through the Leave Sharing policy shall be considered on leave without pay status (e.g., no accrual of annual or sick leave).

4. Recipients shall have no balance of personal leave (annual, sick, compensatory, overtime) and shall have been placed on leave without pay for ten (10) consecutive workdays (80 hours) per medical condition per three hundred sixty five (365) day period prior to being eligible to receive leave from a donor.

5. Use of leave under the program shall be for medical conditions defined as follows: 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. (See Section IV for those medical conditions for which leave may not be donated.)

6. It is the responsibility of the employee to provide the required certification from a physician. The HR Office may require a second physician's certification from a physician of the HR Office's choice. Such certification will be at the agency's expense. However, if the two (2) physicians disagree whether a medical condition exists, it is within the sole discretion of the agency to determine whose opinion prevails.

C. Exclusions:

1. Medical conditions resulting from the following will be excluded from eligibility for leave sharing benefits:

a. any occupationally-related accident or illness for the period for which Worker's Compensation benefits have been awarded;

b. intentionally self-inflicted injuries; or

c. injuries occurring in the course of committing a felony or assault.

2. Employees are ineligible to use donated leave during the period of any disciplinary suspensions.

Revised and approved by the Board of Visitors, September 7, 2002.

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