Pooled Sick Leave Reserve

 

Purpose

To positively impact employee health and retention by providing a vehicle to supplement exhausted leave accruals for persons experiencing significant health-related challenges.

 

Statement

Bargaining Unit Employees

Compensation provisions for bargaining unit employees are subject to their respective collective bargaining agreements and shall be governed by those agreements.

Administrative Provisions

• Eligibility to Contribute to the Reserve
  • Annually renewable management, exempt, and confidential employees with paid leave balances in excess of eighty (80) hours, may contribute up to fifty (50) hours of paid leave time to a pooled reserve to be used as sick leave by the recipient. The donor must retain a balance of at least eighty (80) hours of paid leave accrual after making a donation.
• Eligibility to Draw from the Reserve
  • The pooled reserve shall be available to annually renewable management, exempt, and confidential employees who:
    1. Have been absent from work with a physician’s certification for at least 80 hours of work (for initial qualification), in a given three calendar months as a result of a particular illness or injury; or
    2. Have been absent for 80 hours of work due to OPFML/FMLA parental leave; or
    3. Have been absent for 80 hours of work due to OPFML/FMLA leave related to the serious illness/injury of a family member, and
    4. Have exhausted their existing sick leave and paid leave accruals.
    5. Exceptions to provisions a. through d. above may be made with the expressed approval of the applicable vice president or executive director, and/or the President.
  • Eligibility to draw hours from the pool will end:
    1. For those using the reserve for their own illness and injury, when the employee becomes able to fully return to work, or the employee has received two months of benefits under the long-term disability insurance plan, whichever occurs first. Once an employee becomes eligible for the Long-Term Disability (LTD) benefit, the employee’s benefit under the pool will be limited to the number of hours required to make up the difference between their LTD benefit and their regular rate of pay.
    2. For those using the reserve for OPFML/FMLA parental leave or an OPFML/FMLA illness of a family member, when the OPFML/FMLA leave ends, or when they have received 40 hours of pooled hours, whichever occurs first.
       
       

Pooled Reserve Limitations

The total number of hours held in the pooled reserve shall not exceed 1,500 hours. If offers of hours exceed the need to stock or replenish the pooled reserve, offered hours will be accepted from employees in order of those employees with the highest leave balances. Hours donated to the pooled reserve cannot be reclaimed.

Soliciting Donations

Human Resources, in consultation with leadership, shall develop and publish procedures to implement the pooled reserve process to assure transparency and consistency of administration. The developed procedures shall require Human Resources to provide an annual notice to qualifying employees of their option to donate to the pooled reserve. To meet individual needs that may arise, Human Resources may opt to solicit and accept donations that otherwise comply with this Administrative Rule at times other than the posted semi-annual times, but Human Resources is not required to advertise or solicit donations more than once per calendar year.

 

 

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