A. A district employee is eligible to receive donated leave if:
- The staff member suffers from, or has a relative or household member suffering from, an extraordinary or severe illness, injury, impairment or physical or mental condition or who has been called to service in the uniformed services which has caused, or is likely to cause, the staff member to:
a. Go on leave-without-pay status; or
b. Terminate his/her employment;
2. The staff member鈥檚 absence and the use of shared leave are justified by documentation;
3. The staff member has depleted, or will shortly deplete, their paid leave reserves;
4. The staff member has abided by district rules regarding leave use; and
5. The staff member has diligently pursued and been found to be ineligible to receive industrial insurance benefits.
The superintendent shall determine the amount of leave, if any, which a staff member may receive under this policy. However, a staff member shall not receive more leave than the number of contracted days remaining in the current school year. In the event that the condition requiring the employee鈥檚 absence continues beyond the current school year, the employee shall not receive a total of more than 522 days of donated leave during total district employment.聽 Staff members shall reapply for shared leave if they need to use shared leave in subsequent school years.
B. District employees may donate leave as follows:
- A staff member who has an accrued annual vacation leave balance of more than ten (10) days may request that the superintendent transfer a specified number of days to another person authorized to receive shared leave. A staff member may not request leave to be transferred that would result in an accrued annual vacation leave balance of fewer than ten (10) days;
- A staff member who accrues annual vacation leave and sick leave may request that the superintendent transfer sick leave to a person authorized to receive shared leave, or to the district鈥檚 shared leave pool. A donating staff member must retain a minimum of 176 hours of sick leave after the transfer;
- A staff member who does not accrue annual vacation leave but who has an accrued sick leave balance of more than 176 hours may request that the superintendent transfer a specified amount of sick leave to another person authorized to receive such leave. A staff member may not request a transfer that would result in an accrued sick leave balance of fewer than 176 hours. Sick leave as defined in RCW 28A.400.300 means leaves for illness, injury and emergencies; and
- The number of leave days transferred will not exceed the amount authorized by the donating staff member.
C. Calculation of Shared Leave
Leave share shall be calculated on a day-donated and day-received basis, as follows:
聽1. Employees may donate leave on one (1) day increments, a 鈥渄ay鈥 equaling the number of hours in the donor鈥檚 shift, e.g.
a. A full-time teacher who donates one (1) day will be donating seven and聽one- half (7.5) hours;
b. A half-time teacher who donates one (1) day will be donating three and聽three-quarter (3.75) hours;
c. A full-time, non-certificated employee or a certificated administrator who聽donates one (1) day will be donating eight (8) hours; and
d. A part-time instructional assistant who is assigned to work three (3) hours聽per day who donates one (1) day will be donating three (3) hours, etc.
2. The number of hours donated will be credited to the leave recipient鈥檚 shared leave balance without regard to the donor鈥檚 rate of pay or the dollar value of the donated leave. Thus, a seven and one-half (7.5) hour 鈥渄ay鈥 donated will be credited to the leave recipient鈥檚 balance as seven and one-half (7.5) hours times聽the hourly rate of pay of the leave recipient.
D. Transfer of Donated Leave
Upon receipt of completed shared leave donation forms, the district will determine the eligibility of donors and will rank the eligible donors in the order their donation forms are received. Shared leave will be charged as needed against each donor鈥檚 leave balance, beginning with the first donor on the list and proceeding consecutively through all donors such that each donor shall be charged one day at a time. If additional leave is required and there is donated leave remaining, the cycle shall be repeated until shared leave is no longer needed or donated leave is exhausted. Leave donors will be notified if their donations are not needed by the designated leave recipient, and such excess donations will not be charged against the donor鈥檚 leave balance.