Marywood University Policy & Procedure Information

Leave Donation Bank

Policy Statement

The Leave Donation Bank assists regular full- and part-time staff (exempt or non-exempt) who experience a hardship, serious health condition, or medical emergency and have no sick, personal or vacation time of his/her own to use.  The bank is funded by voluntary, non-coerced donations from active exempt and non-exempt staff.  The following conditions apply:

  • Donations must be voluntary, non-coercive, and not individually solicited.
  • Donations must be made in full hour increments.
  • Employees may donate up to the lesser of 70 hours or the value of two weeks leave time per fiscal year, provided that the donor has at least the value of five days remaining of his/her own combined sick, personal, and vacation days after the donation.
  • Employees who submit voluntary resignations or retirements may donate the balance of their unused personal and vacation days upon termination. 
  • Donations are made to the bank, not to a specific individual.
  • Donors are kept anonymous.
  • Donations cannot be revoked or cancelled.
  • Leave days that are allocated to an employee and not used revert to the Leave Donation Bank.

Recipients may receive up to one-third the total amount of time in the Leave Donation Bank as of the date requested, subject to eligibility requirements.

Eligibility Requirements:

Employees with less than one fiscal year of service may apply for time from the leave donation bank after 90 days of service for a maximum of the value of five (5) days in that first fiscal year, only after all vacation, personal, sick and bank leave time has been exhausted.

Employees with one or more fiscal years of service may apply for time from the leave donation bank once per fiscal year, for a maximum of the value of twenty (20) days per fiscal year, only after all vacation, personal, sick and bank leave time has been exhausted.

Documentation is required before any request will be approved.  Covered situations, examples of documentation, and the maximum approved time include:

  • Serious health condition of employee. Documentation from health care provider to include nature of condition and expected duration. Maximum approved time – value of 20 days.
  • Serious health condition of family as defined below. Documentation from health care provider:  include nature of condition, expected duration, and the rationale for the employee’s need to care for that family member. Maximum approved time – value of 20 days.
  • Hardship – fire or theft in excess of $5,000. Police, fire, or insurance report. Maximum approved time – value of 5 days.
  • Death of family member as defined below for bereavement.  Death certificate and documentation of family relationship to the employee. Maximum approved time – value of 2 days for immediate family members and value of 1 day for extended family member as defined below, in addition to the excused days allowed for bereavement.

Definitions

Covered Family members for serious health conditions of employee or family include:

  • Spouse
  • Child - biological, adopted, foster, or step child; legal ward; or “child” of a person acting in the capacity of a parent.
  • Parent – biological or person that acted in the capacity of a parent towards the employee.

Siblings and in-laws are NOT covered.

Covered Family members for bereavement time include:

  • Immediate family: spouse, biological or adoptive parent, sibling, and child or adult in a child-parent relationship
  • Extended family: in-law, grandparent or grandchild, niece or nephew, aunt or uncle


Serious health condition is an illness, injury, impairment, or physical or mental condition that involves:

  • any period of incapacity or treatment connected with inpatient care (i.e., an overnight stay) in a hospital, hospice, or residential medical care facility; or
  • a period of incapacity requiring absence of more than three calendar days from work, school, or other regular daily activities that also involves continuing treatment by (or under the supervision of) a health care provider; or
  • any period of incapacity due to pregnancy, or for prenatal care; or
  • any period of incapacity (or treatment therefore) due to a chronic serious health condition (e.g., asthma, diabetes, epilepsy, etc.); or
  • a period of incapacity that is permanent or long-term due to a condition for which treatment may not be effective (e.g., Alzheimer's, stroke, terminal diseases, etc.); or,
  • any absences to receive multiple treatments (including any period of recovery therefrom) by, or on referral by, a health care provider for a condition that likely would result in incapacity of more than three consecutive days if left untreated (e.g., chemotherapy, physical therapy, dialysis, etc.).

Ordinarily, unless complications arise, the common cold, the flu, ear aches, upset stomach, minor ulcers, headaches other than migraine, routine dental or orthodontia problems, periodontal diseases, etc. are examples of conditions that do not meet the definition of a serious health condition and do not qualify for leave donation.  

Procedures

Donors must complete a Leave Donation Form and submit it to the Human Resources Department for review and approval.  Once approved, the donated time is deducted from the donor’s leave time and applied to the Leave Donation Bank.  Human Resources will notify donors and his/her immediate supervisors once the transfer has been completed.  Donations cannot be revoked or cancelled.

Employees may request time from the Leave Donation Bank by completing a Leave Donation Request Form and submitting it along with the required documentation to the Human Resources Department for review.  Employees who request time must use all their vacation, personal, sick and bank time before applying to the Leave Donation Bank. Disciplinary and/or performance history may result in the denial of a leave donation request.

Human Resources will review each case and consult with the appropriate supervisor and vice president.  Employees will be notified in writing of the decision.

Related Policies


Related Committees


History

12/07/01 - Approved by the President of the University as recommended by the University Committee on Policy
02/19/16 – Revised to align policy with FMLA requirements and to clarify that leave time is counted in hours not days approved by the President of the University as recommended by the Policy Committee of the University.
05/09/19 - Revisions to remove unused sick time from the list of sources of leave donation upon termination and to add a sentence to ensure that disciplinary and/or performance history may result in the denial of a leave donation request was approved by the President of the University as recommended by the Employee Benefits Committee at their April 23, 2019, meeting.