Compassionate leave: One employee helping another

By Sharon Demers, Human Resources

The question is often asked, “May I donate some of my leave to a coworker in need?” The answer to this question will soon be yes.

As a result of the initiative of the Operating Staff and PAT Councils, the university soon will implement a Compassionate Leave program on a pilot basis. Over the years, employees have approached council representatives and Human Resources staff about donating accrued leave time to a colleague who is on unpaid leave due to a serious medical condition.

The purpose of the program is to provide a method by which one employee may donate annual leave or earned time to another employee who needs extended time off from work due to his or her own serious health condition, or that of an immediate family member, and who has exhausted or will exhaust all applicable time off. Compassionate Leave is donated directly to an individual in need; it is not donated to a common leave bank. The program is not a benefit per se, rather it’s an opportunity to “be compassionate” to another employee in a hardship situation.

A working group comprised of representatives of the Operating Staff and PAT councils and Human Resources submitted a proposal, which was approved by USNH Human Resources and the President’s Council. Compassionate Leave applies to all full-time or part-time status staff members, as well as fiscal year faculty not covered under the collective bargaining agreement.

Some highlights of the program are:

• Compassionate Leave is not intended to apply to incidental, routine, or short-term medical conditions. The health condition must be serious and must qualify under Family and Medical Leave (FMLA).
• Eligibility for participation depends upon there being a medical condition that will cause an employee to be absent from work for a minimum of 30 calendar days, five days of which would be unpaid leave.
• Participation in compassionate leave, either as a donor or recipient, is subject to limitations:
  • Only earned time and annual leave is subject to Compassionate Leave donations. Sick time / sick pools are not eligible for donations.
  • Receipt of compassionate leave donations limited to 20 days per 12-month period.
  • The donating employee must have a minimum balance of one week (e.g., 40 hours/5 days) of earned time/annual leave after donating leave.
• The total number of donated earned time/vacation hours/days shall not exceed 12 work days per fiscal year. Time may be donated to more than one individual provided the total amount of time donated does not exceed 12 days. The maximum amount of time donated is pro-rated for part-time appointments.
• Leave may be donated between employees in different university departments and different employee types (e.g., OS, PAT, EE, non-AAUP Faculty).
• All requests and donations shall be coordinated through Human Resources.

The program is due to begin April 1. Further details on Compassionate Leave are available on the Human Resources web site at www.unh.edu/HR under “Policies,” or by calling 2-0501.