Description

An employee who is a member of his or her agency's voluntary leave bank, may receive annual leave from the leave bank if the employee experiences a personal or family medical emergency and has exhausted his or her available paid leave.  The agency's leave bank board operates the leave bank and determines how much donated annual leave an employee may receive from the leave bank.  Any unused donated annual leave is returned to the leave bank.

Leave Bank Member

To become and remain a leave bank member, an employee must donate each leave year not less than the amount of annual leave he or she normally accrues in a pay period (i.e., 4, 6, or 8 hours).  

Leave Recipient

A potential leave recipient's employing agency must determine that the full-time employee's absence from duty without available paid leave because of the medical emergency is (or is expected to be) at least 24 hours.  For part-time employees or employees on uncommon tours of duty, the period of absence without paid leave is prorated.  An employee may receive donated annual leave when he or she becomes an approved leave recipient.

Minimum and Maximum Limitations on Leave Donations

In any leave year, an employee may donate not more than one-half of the amount of annual leave he or she would accrue during the leave year.  For employees with "use or lose" annual leave, the employee may donate the lesser of one-half of the annual leave he or she would accrue in a leave year or the number of hours remaining in the leave year for which the employee is scheduled to work and receive pay.

Set-Aside Accounts

While using donated leave, a leave recipient may accrue no more than 40 hours of annual leave and 40 hours of sick leave in "set-aside accounts."  The leave in the set-aside accounts will be transferred to the employee's regular leave accounts when the medical emergency ends or if the employee exhausts all donated leave.