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06.71 SICK LEAVE SHARING

06.71 SICK LEAVE SHARING

Great Plains Technology Center has established a sick leave sharing plan for employee use of sick leave days donated from other employees of the district.

The plan permits the use of donated sick leave by an employee who is:

  1. Pregnant or is recovering from childbirth.
  2. Suffering from or who has a relative or household member who is suffering from an extraordinary or severe illness, injury, impairment, or physical or mental condition, which has caused or is likely to cause the employee to take leave without pay or to terminate employment.

In order for an employee to participate in the shared leave program, the employee must:

  1. Meet the criteria described in this regulation.
  2. Have abided by district policies regarding the use of sick leave.

An employee may donate sick leave to another employee only pursuant to the following conditions:

  1. The receiving employee, relative, or household member of the employee must have a severe or extraordinary illness, injury, impairment, or physical or mental condition. Included within the definition of a severe or extraordinary condition is any temporary disability resulting from pregnancy, miscarriage, childbirth, or recovery there from.
  2. The condition must have caused, or is likely to cause, the employee to take leave without pay or to terminate employment.
  3. Donated sick leave will not be available until the employee requesting donated sick leave exhausts all leave available to them.
  4. An employee may donate current fiscal year sick leave only and must maintain a minimum of 10 days in their sick leave account. Employees may not donate excess sick leave that the donor would not be able to otherwise take. Donations of sick leave will only be accepted on the prescribed form.
  5. Employees will not be eligible to receive incentive pay for donated sick leave days unless the days are returned to the donor because they were unused by the receiving employee.

An employee may request consideration for donations of sick leave if they meet the requirements listed above. The employee (or relative acting on behalf of the employee) must present the request to the superintendent, in writing, accompanied by a medical certificate from a licensed physician or health care practitioner verifying the severe or extraordinary nature and expected duration of the condition. If the

Superintendent/CEO or his/her designee approves the request, all eligible employees will be notified of the request to donate sick leave. Participation in Sick Leave Sharing is strictly voluntary. No employee shall be coerced, threatened, intimidated, or financially induced into donating sick leave for the purposes of this policy.

When using donated sick leave, the receiving employee shall be paid the regular rate of pay normally paid to the receiving employee. Employees absent from work while using donated sick leave will not be eligible to accrue additional leave (sick, personal, or annual). The maximum total number of donated sick leave days that may be used by any employee is 60 per request. An employee shall not be determined to be eligible for further donations unless a written request is submitted and approved by the Board of Education.

Shared sick leave records will be maintained separately from regular sick leave records. Shared or donated sick leave may be used only by the recipient for the purposes specified in this policy and may not be used if the employee has been notified of a pending reduction in force or employment termination affecting the employee.

Upon return to work, any shared sick leave not used by the recipient during each occurrence of shared sick leave use shall be returned to the donating employee. If more than one employee donated sick leave to the recipient and not all the donated sick leave was used, the remainder will be prorated to the credit of the donating employees and its original value (based on donor’s rate of pay) shall be restored.

For the purposes of this policy, the following definitions shall apply:

  1. “Relative of the employee” means spouse, child, stepchild, grandchild, grandparent, stepparent, or parent of the employee.
  2. “Household member” means those persons who reside in the same home and who have duties to provide financial support to one another. The term includes foster children and legal wards even if they do not live in the household.
  3. “Severe” or “extraordinary” means serious, extreme, or life threatening, including temporary disability resulting from pregnancy, miscarriage, childbirth, and recovery there from as determined by the Superintendent/CEO or his/her designee acting on behalf of the Board.
  4. “Employee” means any full-time employee of Great Plains Technology Center