Policy

Full-time faculty, managerial, professional and classified staff shall be eligible to receive donated sick or vacation leave

Reason for Policy

To provide additional paid time off to managerial, bargaining unit (AFT), and professional employees who have exhausted all accumulated time off and/or have an immediate family member that suffers from a catastrophic health condition or injury .

To Whom Does the Policy Apply

Full-time faculty, managerial, professional and classified staff

Related Documents

Procedure

Contacts

Human Resources
(201) 684-7506

Eligibility

Full-time faculty, managerial, professional and classified staff shall be eligible to receive donated sick or vacation leave if the employee:

1. Has completed at least one year of continuous State service;

2. Has exhausted all accrued sick, vacation and administrative leave, all sick leave injury benefits, if any, and all compensatory time off;

3. Has not, in the two-year period immediately preceding the employee’s need for donated leave, been disciplined for chronic or excessive absenteeism, chronic or excessive lateness, or abuse of leave; and

4. Either:

• suffers from a catastrophic health condition or injury;

• needs to provide care to a member of the employee’s immediate family who is suffering from a catastrophic health condition or injury; or

• requires absence from work due to the donation of an organ (which shall include, for example, the donation of bone marrow).

Requesting Leave

Both request for and donation of donated time must be submitted in writing to the People Operations and Employee Resources Department to participate in the Donated Leave Program. With the employee’s knowledge, the employee’s supervisor may make such a request on behalf of the employee for his or her participation in the program as a leave recipient.

1. The employee or supervisor requesting the employee’s acceptance as a leave recipient shall submit to the People Operations and Employee Resources Department medical verification from a physician or other licensed health care provider concerning the nature and anticipated duration of the disability resulting from a serious health condition or injury, or donation of an organ.
2. When the People Operations and Employee Resources Department has verified eligibility of an employee as a leave recipient, the People Operations and Employee Resources Department shall, with the employee’s consent, post or circulate the employee’s name along with those of other eligible employees in a conspicuous manner to encourage the donation of leave time, and shall provide notice to all negotiations representatives. If the employee is unable to consent to this posting or circulation, the employee’s family may consent on his or her behalf.

Leave Recipient

A leave recipient must receive at least five sick days or vacation days or a combination thereof from one or more leave donors to participate in the donated leave program.

1. A leave recipient shall receive no more than 260 sick days or vacation days, and shall not receive any such days on a retroactive basis.
2. While using donated leave time, the leave recipient shall accrue sick leave and vacation leave and be entitled to retain such leave upon his or her return to work.
3. Any unused, donated leave shall be returned to the leave donor or donors on a prorated basis upon the leave recipient’s return to work, except that if the proration of leave days results in less than one day per donor to be returned, that leave time shall not be returned.
4. Upon retirement, the leave recipient shall not be granted supplemental compensation on retirement for any unused sick days which he or she had received through the leave donation program.

Leave Donor

1. A leave donor shall donate only whole sick days or whole vacation days and may not donate more than 30 such days to any one recipient.
2. A leave donor shall have remaining at least 20 days of accrued sick leave if donating sick leave and at least 12 days of accrued vacation leave if donating vacation leave.
3. A leave donor shall not revoke the leave donation.
4. A leave donor shall be a Ramapo College employee.

Prohibition

An employee shall be prohibited from threatening or coercing or attempting to threaten or coerce another employee for the purpose of interfering with rights involving donating, receiving or using donated leave time. Such prohibited acts shall include, but not be limited to, promising to confer or conferring a benefit such as an appointment or promotion or making a threat to engage in, or engaging in, an act of retaliation against an employee.

Definitions

Catastrophic health condition or injury:

• a life-threatening condition or combination of conditions; or

• a period of disability requiring the care of a physician who provides a medical verification of the need for the employee’s absence from work for 60 or more work days, or the need for the family member’s care by the employee for 60 or more work days.

Immediate family member:

spouse, same-sex domestic partner/civil union, child, legal ward, grandchild, foster child, father, mother, legal guardian, grandfather, grandmother, brother, sister, father-in-law, mother-in-law, and other relatives residing in the employee’s household..