Voluntary Shared Leave

Contact Information

Human Resources and Talent Management 
919-536-7244
humanresources@durhamtech.edu

Procedure

Durham Technical Community College’s (Durham Tech’s) voluntary shared leave program allows employees to donate leave to employees who have been approved to receive leave through the program due to a medical condition or required quarantine during a communicable disease emergency.

Employees in need of additional leave may apply or be nominated to receive shared leave. Shared leave may be used when a medical condition is affecting the employee or a family member, or when the employee is required to quarantine.

Limits on Program Participation

• The use of annual, sick, or bonus leave on a shared basis for any purpose other than the purpose specified by this procedure is prohibited.
   
• The establishment of a "leave bank" for use by unnamed employees is expressly prohibited.
   
• The employee donating leave cannot receive compensation for the leave donated.
   
• Participation in this program is strictly voluntary. Any action by an employee to coerce another employee or interfere in any way with employees donating, receiving, or using leave under this program shall be grounds for disciplinary action up to, and including, dismissal.
   

Solicitation of Leave

• Only Human Resources and Talent Management may solicit donations of annual, bonus, or sick leave on behalf of an employee approved for participation in the voluntary shared leave program. This solicitation of leave will be made via College-wide email. Employees who wish to request leave must complete the Voluntary Shared Leave Program Application for Participation form (available via the Human Resources subfolder of the Employees shared folder).
   

• An employee may solicit family members for leave donations; however, they may not otherwise solicit leave donations on their own behalf or on behalf of another employee. Employees who solicit leave donations from non-family members will be subject to disciplinary action.
   

Confidentiality

Individual leave and medical records are maintained confidentially. Employees reserve the right to reveal their donation or receipt of leave at their own discretion. The College does not reveal to employees the names of shared leave donors.

Eligibility and Participation Requirements for Recipients

• Recipients must be permanent full-time employees in a leave-earning status (including probationary employees and trainees to permanent appointments).
   

• An employee may apply for shared leave when evidence is available to support the need for leave beyond twenty (20) working days or beyond the employee's accumulated leave balance. Leave donated under the program may be used to cover any associated absence from work.
   

• An employee must deplete all annual, bonus, and sick leave, and accrued compensatory time to become eligible to use donated leave. Leave accrued while the employee is absent will be deducted from their leave balance before shared leave donations are applied.
   

• Participation in this program is limited to 1,040 hours either continuously or, if for the same condition, on a recurring basis. However, the President may grant employees continuation in the program, on a month-by-month basis, for a maximum of 2,080 hours if they would otherwise have granted leave without pay.
   

• To determine initial or continuing eligibility for participation in the shared leave program, the College may initially or periodically require verification from the employee's attending physician (or the employee's family member's attending physician) as to the current or continuing nature of the medical condition.
   

• An employee on the Disability Income Plan of North Carolina or on workers' compensation leave should contact Human Resources and Talent Management for further information regarding participation in the voluntary shared leave program.
   

Donation Guidelines

Annual or Bonus Leave Donations

Any full-time employee in a leave-earning status may donate annual or bonus leave provided the employee does not reduce their annual leave balance below one-half the annual leave accrual rate.  For example, a full-time employee with five (5), but less than ten (10), years of state service earns 136 hours of leave annually. This employee may contribute four (4) or more hours of leave but must not reduce their annual leave balance to fewer than sixty-eight (68) hours.

Sick Leave Donations

Employees may donate sick leave to an immediate family member. An employee donating sick leave to a qualified family member under this program may not reduce their sick leave balance to fewer than forty (40) hours.

Employees may donate no more than five (5) days of sick leave per year to any one non-family member. The combined total of sick leave donated to a recipient from non-family member donors shall not exceed twenty (20) days per year. 

The minimum amount of annual or sick leave that may be donated is four (4) hours. Additional amounts may be donated in one-hour increments. The maximum amount of sick leave that may be donated is 1,040 hours, but the donation must not reduce the donor’s sick leave balance to fewer than forty (40) hours.

Donated sick leave may not be used for retirement purposes. Employees who donate sick leave shall be notified in writing of the state retirement credit consequences of donating sick leave. 

Treatment of Unused Donated Leave

If the recipient employee separates from the College while participating in the program, the following guidelines apply:

• The recipient’s sick leave balance may not exceed forty (40) hours, and their annual leave balance will be zero (0).
   
• Any additional unused donated leave beyond forty (40) hours will be returned to the donor(s) on a prorated basis in increments of five (5) minutes. Amounts less than one (1) hour or increments fewer than five (5) minutes shall not be returned to individual donors and will be forfeited.
   
• Donated leave that would have been forfeited by the donor at the end of the calendar year (any amount above the 240 hours maximum allowable carryover) will not be returned to the donor.

In the case of the recipient employee’s death, unused donated leave will be returned to the donor(s) on a prorated basis in the increments described above. 

Participation in the Voluntary Shared Leave Program – Recipients 

Employees who wish to receive shared leave must apply or be nominated by a fellow employee. Employees who are eligible for Family and Medical Leave must complete an FMLA request through Human Resources and Talent Management. Employees who are not eligible for Family and Medical Leave must request participation in the voluntary shared leave program by providing the following information to Human Resources and Talent Management:

• Name; 
   
• Employee ID Number
   
• Department/Division
   
• Estimated length of time needed to participate in the program (i.e., the estimated time the employee expects to be absent); 
   
• A physician's statement or diagnosis certification of the medical condition and the anticipated length of illness. Please note: Each approved medical condition shall stand alone. If an employee already approved for the shared leave program for one illness subsequently develops another medical condition while in the program, they will have to reapply to remain eligible for the program. All medical information will remain confidential.
   

Approval and Leave Reporting

Human Resources and Talent Management will inform employees in writing of the final decision regarding the acceptance or rejection of their request. Employees approved to participate in the program will be notified in writing of the leave amounts donated to their leave balance. Recipients of shared leave must report their leave via the leave system. 

Leave transferred under this program will be available for use on a current basis or may be retroactive up to sixty (60) calendar days. Leave may be used to cover the initial twenty (20) days of illness. All donated leave, whether it is sick, annual, or bonus leave; will be credited to the recipient's sick leave balance.

Participation in the Shared Leave Program – Donors

An employee who wishes to donate annual, sick, or bonus leave must submit the Voluntary Shared Leave Program Donating or Transferring Leave form (available via the Human Resources subfolder of the Employees shared folder) to Human Resources and Talent Management. 

Human Resources and Talent Management approval to donate annual, sick, or bonus leave is intended only to ensure participation requirements are met and that donated leave is accurately reported.

Definitions

Communicable Disease Emergency – Circumstance caused by biological agents, including organisms such as bacteria, viruses, or toxins with the potential for significant illness or death in the population

Full-Time Employees – College employees who work at least thirty (30) hours per week. Full-time employees who work thirty (30) to thirty-nine (39) hours per week earn leave on a prorated basis; all other benefits are the same for all full-time employees regardless of time worked each week.

Immediate Family Member – A spouse, domestic partner, child, stepchild, mother, father, stepmother, stepfather, mother-in-law, father-in-law, brother, brother-in-law, stepbrother, sister, sister-in-law, stepsister, grandparent, grandchild, aunt, uncle, niece, or nephew

Working Days – Days when the College is open and operating under a normal schedule. This excludes weekends, closings due to adverse conditions, and holidays.