Catastrophic Leave Sharing Program

Donor’s Department

Once a written request has been submitted by a prospective donor, the donor’s department should:

Review the Qualifying Situations to ensure that the donating employee meets the four criteria.

Call the receiving employee’s home department to verify that the employee actually needs donations and to notify them of the proposed transfer.

Obtain the Catastrophic Leave-Sharing Vacation Hours Transfer Form (http://payroll.vcbf.berkeley.edu/Forms/payroll/CatastrophicLeave.doc).

Complete the form by providing the donor’s name, donor's Employee ID#, donated vacation hours, and the receiving employee’s name.

Sign the bottom of the form and forward it to the receiving employee’s home department.

Notify the donor in writing when the debit has taken place.

Process: The Payroll Office will prepare the appropriate adjustments directly against employee balances. The financial impact will only be seen at the time of usage. Both the Recipient’s and the Donor’s Home Department will see changes to the vacation leave accrual on the Time/Benefits Roster. Be sure to check the monthly Time/Benefits Roster to confirm when the transaction has taken place.

Questions: Questions about the application of this program should be directed to the department’s assigned Employee Relations Specialist in Human Resources, to the Academic personnel Office, or, for those departments which have one, to the Department Personnel Manager. Questions about how to complete the form may be directed to payhelp@berkeley.edu

Recipient’s Department

When you receive the Catastrophic Leave-Sharing Vacation Hours Transfer Form from a donating department:

Review the Qualifying Situations to ensure that the receiving employee meets the five criteria as listed at: http://hrweb.berkeley.edu/Policy/Lvshare.htm

Verify that the receiving employee’s absence is due to one of these reasons:

• the employee’s own medically certified serious health condition as defined by the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (for definitions see the campus implementing procedures on the website at: http://hrweb.berkeley.edu/Policy/Lvshare.htm )
• the medically certified “serious health condition” of the employee’s spouse, parent, child, sibling, grandchild (or in-law or step-relative in one of these relationship); or
• the medically certified “serious health condition” of a member of the employee’s household.

Verify that the receiving employee has exhausted all paid leave as earned pursuant to the applicable personnel policies or collective bargaining agreement provisions covering vacation, sick leave, and compensatory time off.

[Note: An eligible employee who wishes to receive vacation leave donations for the purpose of caring for a catastrophically ill person must first exhaust his/her accrued sick leave balance, even when doing so results in exceeding the 30-day limit imposed by applicable personnel policies and collective bargaining units.]

Notify the intended recipient of the intent to donate leave, but not the name of the donor.

Tell the intended recipient that only vacation leave hours sufficient to cover the approved catastrophic leave will be transferred on an as-needed basis month to month. (At this point, if the recipient wishes to decline the donation for any reason [such as potential impact on taxes or benefits], the process should be terminated).

Explain to the recipient that s/he has sole responsibility for assessing potential impact on taxes and benefits. The Benefits Unit of Human Resources is available to answer questions regarding benefits.

If the recipient approves, complete the Catastrophic Leave-Sharing Vacation Hours Transfer Authorization Form and forward it to: Payroll Office, 171 University Hall, MC 1104, or send as an email attachment to: payhelp@berkeley.edu.

Notify the recipient in writing when the credit has taken place.

Process: The Payroll Office will prepare the appropriate adjustments directly against employee balances. The financial impact will only be seen at the time of usage. Both the Recipient’s and the Donor’s Home Department will see changes to the vacation leave accrual on the Time/Benefits Roster. Be sure to check the monthly Time/Benefits Roster to confirm when the transaction has taken place.

Questions: Questions about the application of this program should be directed to the department’s assigned Employee Relations Specialist in Human Resources, to the Academic personnel Office, or, for those departments which have one, to the Department Personnel Manager. Questions about how to complete the form may be directed to payhelp@berkeley.edu

Prospective Donor

If you are thinking about donating vacation leave to a staff or academic employee, you should:

Review the Qualifying Situations to ensure that you meet the criteria: http://hrweb.berkeley.edu/Policy/LvShare.htm

Initiate the process by submitting a written request to your department head or designee, indicating the number of hours to be donated (8 hours or more for an initial donation) and the name and department of the intended recipient. Include in your request a statement that you understand that the donation is voluntary and that only vacation leave sufficient to cover the eligible recipient’s unpaid absence during the approved catastrophic leave will be transferred.

If the transfer goes through, Payroll will notify your department of the transaction. The department should then notify you in writing that the debit has taken place.

Questions: Questions about the application of this program should be directed to the department’s assigned Employee Relations Specialist in Human Resources, to the Academic personnel Office, or, for those departments which have one, to the Department Personnel Manager. Questions about how to complete the form may be directed to payhelp@berkeley.edu

Intended Recipient

If you are notified that someone wants to donate vacation time to you, please consider the following:

You must meet the criteria as described in the Qualifying Situations posted at this web site: http://hrweb.erkeley.edu/Policy/LvShare.htm

You must have exhausted all of your paid leave earned pursuant to the applicable personnel policies or collective bargaining agreement provisions covering vacation, sick leave, and compensatory time off. (Note: An eligible employee who wishes to receive vacation leave donations for the purpose of caring for a catastrophically ill person must first exhaust his/her accrued sick leave balance, even when doing so results in exceeding the 30-day limit imposed on the use of sick leave for family illness by applicable personnel policies and collective bargaining units)

Only vacation leave hours sufficient to cover the approved catastrophic leave will be transferred on an as-needed basis month to month.

You will have the sole responsibility for assessing potential impact on taxes and benefits. The Benefits Unit of Human Resources is available to answer questions regarding benefits.

If you approve, notify your department to complete the Catastrophic Leave- Sharing Vacation Hours Transfer Authorization Form and forward it to Payroll.

Payroll will notify your department when the transfer has been made. Your department should notify you in writing when the credit has taken place.

Questions: Questions about the application of this program should be directed to the department’s assigned Employee Relations Specialist in Human Resources, to the Academic personnel Office, or, for those departments which have one, to the Department Personnel Manager. Questions about how to complete the form may be directed to payhelp@berkeley.edu