Benefits Practice 4

 

Contents 1 WHAT 2 WHO 3 WHY 4 HOW 4.1 DONATING LEAVE 4.2 HOW POTENTIAL DONORS ARE NOTIFIED 4.3 APPLYING FOR TRANSFERRED LEAVE 4.4 MEDICAL DOCUMENTATION 4.5 APPROVAL OF APPLICATION 4.6 NOTIFICATION OF ELIGIBILITY 4.7 USE OF DONATED LEAVE TIME 4.8 WHEN DONATED LEAVE ENDS 5 ROLES 5.1 All Employees 5.2 Supervisors 5.3 Human Resource Representatives 5.4 Disbursement Services 5.5 Employee Service Center 6 RESOURCES 7 REVISION HISTORY

WHAT

TVA's Leave Transfer Program allows employees to donate accrued annual leave to other employees who face medical emergencies affecting themselves or family members .

This program was authorized by the Federal Employees Leave Sharing Act.

WHO

All annual TVA employees.

WHY

This program recognizes that some employees who have a serious illness or who have family members with serious illnesses may exhaust all available paid leave. Other employees may "donate" annual leave for their use to help them avoid economic hardships.

HOW

DONATING LEAVE

Employees can authorize the transfer of annual leave to any employee except their immediate supervisor whose application for transferred leave has been approved.

The minimum donation is two hours of annual leave.

In most cases, the maximum donation is half of the amount of paid annual leave the donor is eligible to accrue during the current leave year. However, employees may donate up to 240 hours of leave per year to their immediate family members. If the family member works for another federal agency, Human Resources will coordinate the donation. In this case, the maximum amount of leave the employee can donate will be determined by the other federal agency. But, the donation cannot exceed 240 hours.

HOW POTENTIAL DONORS ARE NOTIFIED

When an employee is approved to receive transferred leave, his or her human resource representative may, with the employee's consent, distribute a memo TVA-wide to all TVA bulletin boards and/or post a notice on the Employee Relations website.

The memo includes the following information:

• The leave recipient's name.
• A brief explanation of how much leave can be donated.
• Where employees can get donation forms.
• The name and phone number of a human resource representative who can answer any questions.

APPLYING FOR TRANSFERRED LEAVE

Any employee who has been affected by a medical emergency and anticipates an absence from work of at least 24 hours without available paid leave can apply for transferred leave by filling out form TVA 8336, Leave Transfer Program Application and turning it in to his or her human resource representative.

If an employee is not capable of applying for transferred leave on his or her own behalf, another employee familiar with the circumstances can apply on behalf of the potential leave recipient. A medical emergency is defined in TVA Benefits Procedure 1, Leave, Leave Transfer Program.

MEDICAL DOCUMENTATION

All applications must include medical documentation from a physician or other approved health care provider that describes the nature of the medical condition and its anticipated duration.

APPROVAL OF APPLICATION

TVA considers all applications for the program. But TVA has the right to deny approval of applications. Denials may be appropriate because of the following examples:

• Leave abuse.
• Improper documentation.
• Inadequate amount of time without available paid leave.
• Rehabilitation treatment following positive tests for drug or alcohol.

NOTIFICATION OF ELIGIBILITY

Employees will be notified whether their application for transferred leave has been approved within 10 working days of the date it was submitted. After an application has been approved, the supervisor should check with Disbursement Services regarding donations received. Donated leave taken should be reported in ATR time reporting system as DLF - Donated Leave Taken-Family or DLM - Donated Leave Taken-Personal, following ATR guidelines for reporting leave and organization requirements. Balances for donated leave are reflected in the Data Warehouse.

USE OF DONATED LEAVE TIME

Employees who have a serious illness must exhaust all of their own paid annual and sick leave before donated leave can be used. In emergencies involving a family member, employees must exhaust all available annual leave and allowable sick leave for family reasons before donated leave can be used. Donated leave may only be used for purposes related to the medical emergency. The employee's supervisor must approve his or her use of donated leave time.

While employees are using donated leave they can accrue a total of 40 hours each of sick and annual leave. The leave will be placed in a set aside leave account for use when the employee returns to work or when the employee uses all donated leave but is still absent from work because of the medical emergency. After the employee accrues a total of 40 hours each of sick and annual leave, leave accruals will end until the employee returns to work.

WHEN DONATED LEAVE ENDS

Employees are no longer eligible to use donated leave when the medical emergency ends. Donated leave also ends if the employee begins disability retirement or otherwise terminates from TVA. Any unused donated leave will be distributed to all leave donors in proportion to the amount donated. Disbursement Services should be notified immediately when participants are no longer eligible.

For detailed information, see Benefits Procedure 1, Leave, Leave Transfer Program.

ROLES

All Employees

• May apply for transferred leave if they face a medical emergency.
• May donate leave to eligible employees.

Supervisors

• Monitor employee's medical emergency.
• Approve leave requests.
• Check on leave donations.
• Report employee's leave to be charged.

Human Resource Representatives

• Make determination of an applicant's eligibility for donated leave.
• Accept applications for donated leave.
• Inform employees of opportunities to donate leave.
• Monitor employee's medical emergency.
• Notify Disbursement Services when employee's medical emergency ends.
• Coordinate leave donation waivers with federal agencies.

Disbursement Services

• Maintains official leave transfer records.
• Provides donated leave balances to participants' supervisors.

Employee Service Center

• Answers employee questions about the Leave Transfer Program.
• Maintain list of approved recipients on Employee Relations website.

RESOURCES

• Disbursement Services
• Employee Service Center - 1-888-275-8094
• Human Resource Representatives
• Supervisors
• TVA Practices list
• TVA Procedures list

REVISION HISTORY

June, 2007