Policy: 5406P

Section: 5000 - Personnel

Procedure - Leave Sharing

A district employee is eligible to receive donated leave if the following conditions are met:

• 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; is a victim of domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking; needs time for parental leave; is sick or temporarily disabled because of pregnancy; or has been called to service in the uniformed services;

• The staff member’s condition or circumstance has caused or is likely to cause the staff member to:

  • Go on leave-without-pay status; or

  • Terminate his/her employment;

• The staff member’s absence and the use of shared leave are justified by documentation;

• The staff member has depleted, or will shortly deplete, his or her annual leave and sick leave reserves (a staff member who is sick or temporarily disabled because of pregnancy or using parent leave does not have to deplete all annual and sick leave reserves; he or she can maintain up to 40 hours of annual leave and 40 hours of sick leave in reserve);

• The staff member has abided by district rules regarding sick leave use; and

• The staff member has diligently pursued and been found to be ineligible to receive industrial insurance benefits.

The superintendent or designee shall determine the amount of leave, if any, which a staff member may receive under this policy and procedure. 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’s absence continues beyond the current school year, the employee shall not receive a total of more than 261 days of donated leave during total district employment.

District employees may donate leave as follows:

• A staff member who has an accrued vacation leave balance of more than ten (10) days may request that the superintendent or designee 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 vacation leave balance of fewer than ten (10) days;

• A staff member who has an accrued sick leave balance of more than sixty (60) days 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 sixty (60) days. Sick leave as defined in RCW 28A.400.300 means leaves for illness, injury and emergencies;

• The number of leave days transferred will not exceed the amount authorized by the donating staff member; and

• Any leave donated by a staff member which remains unused will be returned to the donor. To the extent administratively feasible, leave transferred by more than one staff member will be returned on pro- rata basis.

Leave will be calculated on a day-donated and day-received basis.

Updated: August 2019