POLICY     

In compliance with the requirements of Title 3, Chapter 25 of the Virgin Islands Code (VIC) Section 583b Donated Leave Program, the University of the Virgin Islands has implemented the Donated Leave Program to alleviate hardship caused to an employee if a catastrophic illness or a prolonged illness or injury, forces the employee to exhaust all accrued leave.

DEFINITIONS

1. A castastrophic or prolonged illness or injury is a severe conditionor combination of conditions affecting the mental or physical health of the employee, requiring the services of a licensed practitioner for a prolonged period of time lasting 20 or more consecutive calendar days, and taking  the time off will create a financial hardship for the employee because he or she has exhausted all accrued sick, annual, compensatory and nay other paid leave times to which the employee is entitled.

2.  A prolonged period is defined as 20 or more consecutive calendars days in duration.  Days the employee is actively at work will not be counted as illness or injury time.

3.   Medical Certification  is defined as medical documentation provided by a licensed physicain certifying the nature of the catastrophic or prolong illness or injury.  The documentation must include the following information:

    a.    The nature of the catastrophic illness or injury.
    b.    The prognosis of the condition.
    c.     The estimated date the employee is expected to return to                 work.

4.   Accrued leave is defined as paid leave including accrued sick, annual, compensatory and/or any other paid leave times to which the employee is entitled.

 Eligibility

Eligibleemployees incude all full-time regular employees who are eligible to accrue sich or annual leave.  An eligible employee may participate either as a donor or as a recipient of donated leave under the conditions outined in the Program.

A.   Eligible Recipients

An eligible recipient must meet all of the following criteria:

    1.    The employee  must be employed on a full-time basis.

    2.    The employee must have completed at lease one year of                  continuous  cmployment with the University.

    3.    The employee must be suffering from a catastrophic or                    prolonged illness or injury as defined above and have                      medical certification from a licensed physician.

    4.    The employee must have exhaused all accrued leave.

        Note:  Employees from other qualifying Government                       departments and instrumentalities who have been approved by         their respective employer to participate in the Program. 

Note: An employee becomes eligible only after being incapacited or 20 or more calendar days, i.e. employee becomes eligible for Donated Leave benefits on the 21st day, provided all other conditions for eligibility have been met.

B.    Eligible Donors

An eligible donor must meet all of the following criteria:

    1.    The employee must be employed on a full time basis.

    2.    The employee must have completed at least one year of                  continuous employment with the University.

    3.    Employees from other qualifying Government departments              and instrumentalities who have been approved by their                    respective employer to participate in the Program.

    4.    The employee must have 20 days accrued sick leave and at             least 12 days of accrued annual leave remaining after                       donating leave.

C.  Ineligible Recipients

Ineligible donors include:

    1.    Employees employed less than full time, seasonal,                            temporary or probationary employees;

    2.    Employees with less than 20 days accrued sick leave days              and less than 12 days of accrued annual leave remaining                  after donating leave.

PROCEDURES

A.  Application to participate as Recipient

    1.   The applying recipient must obtain a Request for Donated               Leave form from the Human Resources Office.

    2.     The applying recipient must complete the form and submit it             along with the Medical Certification (See definition cited             earlier) to the Human Resources Office.  All documentation             must be submitted at the same time in order for the                         application to be complete.   Incomplete applications will                 not be submitted to the Committee for final review and                   approval.

    3.    The Human Resources Office will verify that the recipient is            eligible to participate  in the Donated Leave Program and                forward the request to th Donated Leave Committee for                  final review and approval.

    4.    The Human Resources Office will communicate the decision            of the Committee to the applicant within five (5) work days              of the receipt of the completed application.

    5.    Leave benefits will begin immediatley upon approval of the              request by the Committee, provided all of the employee's                leave has been exhausted.

B.  Pre-qualification

A recipient may pre-qualify to minimize loss in compensation, if the prolonged illness or injury is at least 20 days more than the recipient's accrued sick, annual or compensatory leave balance.

To pre-qualify the recipient must:

    1.    Verify their accrued sick, annual, compensatory and  any                other paid leave times to which the employee is entitled with            the Human Resources Office.

    2.    Follow all the procedures under section A of Procedures

    3.    Submit the complete package at least ten (10) work days                before the expiration of accrued leave to allow sufficient                  time for the Committee to review the application for                       approval.

Program Administration

A.   Guidelines

    1.    An employee is not eligible to  receive donated leave until all            accrued leave has been exhausted.

    2.    A leave recipient shall not recieve donated days on a                      retroactive basis.

    3.   Only whole sick days or whole annual days shall be donated           to any one recipient.

    4.    A leave recipient must receive at least five sick days, annual            leave days or a combination thereof from one or more                   donors to participate in the Program.

    5.    A leave recipient shall not receive more than 180 sick or                 annual days, or any combination thereof.

    6.    A leave recipient continues to accrue sick and annual leave             while using donated leave time and and shall be entitled to               retain such leave upon return to work

    7.    Any unused donate leave shall be returned to the donor (s)             on a pro-rata basis.  Unused leave resulting in less than one             day per donor shall not be returned.

    8.    Upon retirement, the leave recipient shall not be granted                  supplemental compensation for any unused leave received              through the donation Program.

B.  Donated Leave Committee

The Donated Leave Dommittee is comprised of the Human Resources Manager, Benefits Coordinator and two other members appointed by the President of the University of the Virgin Islands.  The Committee has the following responsibilities:

    1.    Interprets the Donated Leave Policy.

    2.    Ensures that the process and conditions of the program are              followed.

    3.    Approves or denies the request for donated leave based on                information received.

    4.   Ensures that contributions and withdrawals are conducted                 according to policy.

C.  Human Resources Office

The Benefits Coordinator acts as the donated leave administrator and has the following responsibilities:

    1.    Communicates donated leave procedures to employees.

    2.     Reviews the documentation submited by the employee                     recipient.

    3.    Informs donor or recipient of potential policy infractions.

    4.   Serves as liaison between employees and Donated Leave               Committee.

    5.    Maintains all documentation relative to the donated leave                program for all employees.

    6.    Ensures the eligibility of donor and or recipient and that the            donor has sufficient balance or available sick and annual                leave to transfer as donated Leave

    7.    Maintains liaison with the Program Coordinator of the Virgin            Islands Department of Finance who coordinates the                        donated  leave program for the Virgin Islands Government,            and program coordinators for all other participating                         Government instrumentalities.

    8.    Ascertains from the Department of Finance and other                    participating Governmnt instrumentalities that outside donors            and outside recipients are eligible to participate in the                    program.

    9.     Provides quarterly reports of donated leave activity to the             Donated Leave Committee.

    10.   Transfers donated leave hours to and from employees of                 other agencies upon approval by the Department of                         Finance of the eligibility of employees of other                                 Governmental agencies to donate or receive leave from a             University donor.

    11.   Performs the appropriate calculations converting donor's                 hours contributed into dollars and applies the converted                 dollars into recipient hours.

    12.   Informs participating donors and recipients as to the                     disposition of their requests.

Transfer of Donated Leave

A.  Internal Leave Transfers

Transfer of donated leave within the University shall be made in hours.  The donated leave to be credited to the recipient shall be calculated  based on the salary ration of donor to recipient.

The number of days to credit the recipient shall be calculated as follows:

Calculate the hourly earnings of the recipient and the donor based on the number of hours worked per day.

• Hourly earnings of donor divided by hourly earnings of the recipient = earning ratio.
• Number of days to be credited = Earnings ratio X number of days donated.
• Donated leave will be rounded to the nearest 1/4 hour.

• Recipient applies for donated leave and earns $18,200 per year.
• The recipient works a 35 hour workweek and a 7 hour workday.

• Donor wished to transfer 5 annual leave days and earns $26,000 per year.  
• The donor works a 40 hour workweek and and 8 hour workday.

• Recipient

• Donor