As outlined in Board Policy 6Hx-18-5.031, the Sick Leave Pool is designed to aid participating employees who have exhausted all of their own accrued sick leave, during times of extended personal illness. The purpose of this program is to provide protection to participants from the loss of income due to illness or injury. It is a voluntary option that permits eligible employees to donate accrued sick hours to the Sick Leave Pool as outlined in the procedures below. Complete and submit the Sick Leave Pool Donation & Request Form to the Office of Human Resources.

1. Any full-time employee is eligible to join the Sick Leave Pool during an announced enrollment period provided the employee has been employed with the college for twelve months and has accumulated 40 hours of unused sick leave after the employee’s donation to the Sick Leave Pool. Open enrollments are normally held prior to July 1st of each year. As deemed appropriate, the President may authorize open enrollment periods for all eligible employees. In order to begin implementing the Sick Leave Pool Program, a minimum of forty five employees must join.

2. The initial contribution required from an employee’s accumulated sick leave to join the Sick Leave Pool is as follows: sixteen hours for non-unit employees who work 40 hours per week; 14 hours for non-unit employees who work 35 hours per week; and 10.5 hours for bargaining unit members who work a 168-day contract. Bargaining unit members who work more than a 168 day contract (librarians and counselors) will make an initial contribution of 16 hours. All employees who join the Sick Leave Pool must have a balance of 40 hours of unused sick leave after the initial donation to the Sick Leave Pool. For the purpose of calculating sick leave pool donations and balances of administrators hired before July 1, 1995, “Pot 2” will be utilized first, and “Pot 1” (frozen sick leave) will be utilized second. Refer to Board Policy 6Hx-18-5.021, page 5-3, Terminal Vacation Leave Pay and Sick Leave Pay for Full-time Employees.

3. The Sick Leave Pool will be assessed in January each year to ensure that the balance in the Sick Leave Pool does not fall below thirty days. All participants are required to share equally in the replenishment of the Sick Leave Pool and replenishments will be made within ten days of written notification to all participants. If a member’s individual sick leave balance falls below eight hours at the time of assessment, the participant shall contribute the balance of his/her share of the replenishment upon accrual of additional sick leave.

4. A Board of Directors, consisting of four elected representatives, one from each campus if available and willing, and a representative from the Office of Human Resources will administer the Sick Leave Pool. Except for the representative from the Office of Human Resources, participants will elect Board members at the annual Sick Leave Pool Meeting in May of each year. Board members will serve for a twelve month period and may be re-elected for additional terms. If at all possible, Board of Directors should always have at least two members who have one year prior experience on the Sick Leave Board. Board members shall be required to sign a confidentiality oath agreeing to keep all employee medical information confidential. Sick Leave Pool members may submit procedural recommendations to the Board of Directors, who will present them to members of the Sick Leave Pool for consideration. Procedural changes must receive the majority vote of the members.

5. A Sick Leave Pool member who is not satisfied with the decision of the Board of Directors regarding the granting of leave from the Sick Leave Pool may appeal the decision to the Director of Human Resources. The decision of the Director of Human Resources regarding the granting of leave from the Sick Leave Pool is final.

6. An employee participating in the program can request time from the Sick Leave Pool if he/she cannot return to work because of a serious health condition, as defined under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), and the employee has exhausted all individual paid sick leave benefits.

7. A contractual employee is limited to drawing time from the Sick Leave Pool in accordance with his/her contract. For example, a faculty member cannot use the Sick Leave Pool during the summer terms.

8. Participants receiving worker’s compensation or disability payments are not eligible to receive sick leave days from the Sick Leave Pool for the purpose of increasing any compensation paid to them under worker’s compensation.

9. All members shall place hours contributed to the Sick Leave Pool in a single account for use. No contribution for the benefit of a specific individual, illness or position will be accepted.

10. Any sick leave drawn from the Sick Leave Pool by a member must be used for the member’s own personal illness, accident or injury. Pregnancy is an eligible disability for withdrawing leave from the Sick Leave Pool, but only for such period of time that the employee is certified by a physician as physically unable to work. Sick leave may not be withdrawn from the Sick Leave Pool for the purpose of childcare or the care of other family members. The Sick Leave Pool does not cover cosmetic or reconstructive surgery unless it is the result of an injury or congenital defect. Elective surgery is excluded from usage of the Sick Leave Pool.

11. Sick leave may not be advanced for the purpose of contributing to the Sick Leave Pool. No individual may join the Sick Leave Pool while on sick leave.

12. A member of the Sick Leave Pool may withdraw a maximum of sixty days during any twelve month period in increments of twenty days or less. The twelve-month period will commence on the day an employee first draws from the Sick Leave Pool. The maximum number of days a member may withdraw from the pool is ninety days within any three consecutive years of employment

13. In the event the Sick Leave Pool is disbanded, all days remaining at the time of said action shall be distributed to the members of the Sick Leave Pool equally, without regard to length of membership or previous use of the Sick Leave Pool.

14. Members who would like to withdraw sick leave from the Sick Leave Pool must complete the Request Form and provide medical documentation to the Office of Human Resources. Upon receipt of the information, the Board of Directors will review the requests, and the employee will be informed of the decision within five working days. If necessary the Board of Directors may require further medical documentation. If an employee requests additional increments from the Sick Leave Pool, the Board of Directors may also request further medical documentation.

15. A participant’s use of sick leave from the Sick Leave Pool shall terminate and any remaining balance of donated leave returned to the reserve under the following conditions: the recipient is medically released to return to work; the recipient’s employment terminates; or the recipient fails to provide medical documentation as required under FMLA.

16. An employee utilizing the Sick Leave Pool will continue to accrue sick and annual leave. Once accrued, the sick leave must be exhausted before additional days from the pool are used.

17. Termination of membership will occur upon termination of employment or upon a written request to the Director of Human Resources to withdraw from the Sick Leave Pool. Withdrawal will be effective within twenty days from the time the request is received. Upon termination from the program, a participant will not be eligible to withdraw any sick leave already contributed to the Sick Leave Pool.

18. An employee may donate to the Sick Leave Pool up to 16 hours of unused or unpaid sick leave from his/her sick leave balance at the time of retirement or termination from the College.

19. The Board of Directors will investigate alleged abuse of the Sick Leave Pool. If there is a finding of wrongdoing, the offending member will be required to repay all sick leave credits drawn from the Sick Leave Pool and will be subject to removal from the Sick Leave Pool by the Board of Directors and may be subject to further college disciplinary action.