Does anyone currently have a Leave Donation Policy? We are exploring setting up a system where employees could donate their annual leave to other employees in need (for medical or emergency situations) and would love to hear what other orgs are doing.
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Katie,
Here is MNA’s policy:
DONATING VACATION LEAVE
MNA recognizes that employees may have a family emergency or personal crisis that results in a need for additional time off, beyond the time accrued by the employee. To address this, eligible employees are allowed to voluntarily donate accrued vacation leave from their unused balance to their co-workers in need in accordance with the policy outlined below.
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Employees who donate vacation leave hours must be employed at MNA for at least 6 months before they can donate time to a co-worker.
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Employees who would like to request to receive donated time from their co-workers must have a situation that meets the following criteria:
a. Family Health Related Emergency- Critical or catastrophic illness or injury of the employee or an immediate family member that poses a threat to life and/or requires inpatient or hospice health care. Immediate family member is defined as spouse, domestic partner, child, parent or other relationship in which the employee is the legal guardian or sole caretaker.
b. Other Personal Crisis- A personal crisis of a severe nature that directly impacts the employee. This may include a natural disaster impacting the employee’s primary residence such as a fire or severe storm.
- Employees who donate vacation leave from their unused balance must adhere to the following requirements:
a. The donation minimum will be 4 hours.
b. The donation maximum will be 32 hours.
c. Employees must have sufficient time in their balance to donate leave, and must maintain 32 hours in their account after donated time has been removed. In short, employees are not permitted to exhaust their own account balances, or borrow against future vacation leave to donate.
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Employees who receive donated vacation leave may receive no more than 480 hours (15 weeks) within a rolling 12-month period.
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Employees who are currently on an approved leave of absence cannot donate vacation leave hours.
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Procedure:
a. Employees who would like to request to receive vacation leave must make a request to the Executive Director in writing, which includes authorization to present the request to the employees of MNA for the sole purpose of soliciting donations.
b. Employees who wish to donate vacation leave to a coworker in need must complete a Donation of Vacation Leave Form.
c. All forms should be returned to the Executive Director
d. Hours will be donated on an hour-to-hour basis without regard to rates of pay.
- Approval
a. Requests for donations of vacation leave must be approved by the Executive Director.
b. If the recipient employee has available vacation leave in their balance, this time will be used prior to any donated leave. Donated leave may only be used for time off related to the approved request. Leave donated that is in excess of the time off needed will be returned to the donor.
Katie, also important note for our calculations of total time–we have a 4 day (32 hour work week).
This is super helpful, thank you!
Donating leave can be complex…especially when you have to book unused PTO as a liability based on the wage of the employee that earned the leave. So we instituted an Emergency Leave Grant Benefit that allows employees that meet the eligibility to apply for leave to be used for qualifying reasons. Here’s the details:
Eligibility
Must be employed with MFBN for at least six (6) months to be eligible to receive an Emergency
Leave Grant.
Guidelines
Employees who would like to request assistance for an Emergency Leave Grant must have a
situation that meets one of the following reasons, any other reasons will be made by the Chief
Executive Officer (CEO) on a case-by-case basis. Additionally, the prolonged leave of absence
will result in a substantial loss of income to the employee due to exhaustion of PTO.
- Extensive illness or accident
o An illness, injury, or quarantine that makes the employee unable to perform the
essential functions of their job for ten (10) or more consecutive working days.
-Pregnancy or Pregnancy-Related Conditions
o Maternity and Partner Leave Policy (MFBN Handbook Section 9.2)
-To care for an immediate family member with an extended illness or accident until
professional or other assistance can be obtained
o Immediate family member is defined as the employee’s spouse/partner and any
member of the employee’s household, children, parents, guardians, mother-inlaw,
father-in-law, siblings, grandparents, or spouse’s/partner’s children,
grandparents, and grandchildren.
Requesting paid leave from the Emergency Leave Grant Benefit
To request an Emergency Leave Grant the employee must submit in writing using the
Emergency Leave Grant Request form to ensure accurate payroll processing and audit
compliance.
Request for an Emergency Leave Grant must be approved by the CEO of MFBN.
If the employee has available PTO, this will be exhausted before using any Emergency
Leave Grant. The Emergency Leave Grant will be added on an as-needed basis at the
end of each pay period.
Emergency Leave Grant will be paid on an hourly basis at the employee’s normal rate of
pay.
All paid leave granted under these guidelines is subject to appropriate tax withholding.
The employee must not be receiving any short or long-term disability or worker’s
compensation payments.
Employee must have completed the probationary period.
Employee cannot be in a disciplinary process.
Employee must not be on a leave of absence without pay for reasons unrelated to the
extensive illness or accident.
Employee cannot be on a layoff or no-pay status.
When requested, provide medical verification.
Employee may receive a maximum of up to 240 hours during any twelve (12) month
period, calculated from the first day the employee uses paid leave from the Emergency
Leave Grant benefit.
Protected health information (PHI) will remain confidential.