Crisis Annual Leave Program Policy

Policy Statement

To manage a crisis leave pool whereby classified employees donate annual leave to a crisis leave pool for the purpose of assisting other classified employees who, through no fault of their own, have insufficient appropriate paid leave balances to cover their absence from work due to their own serious health condition or the serious health condition of an eligible family member as defined by the Family or Medical Leave Act. This policy is subject to Civil Service Commission approval and must be in accordance with Civil Service Rule (11.34).

Eligibility Requirements

An employee shall meet all the below requirements in order to be eligible to request annual leave from the crisis leave pool:

1. Be a full-time permanent employee eligible to earn and use annual leave;
2. Have completed at least one year of service (12 months) with the University;
3. Have used all of his/her sick leave (if for own personal serious health condition), annual leave (if for own personal serious health condition or if for eligible family member’s serious health condition), and compensatory leave before requesting crisis leave;
4. Employee or employee’s eligible family member must suffer from a serious health condition as defined by the Family or Medical Leave Act;
5. Employee must have a good attendance record (no documented history of leave abuse) and is not absent from work due to disciplinary reasons; and
6. Employee must have appropriate documentation from a licensed medical service provider as defined by the Family or Medical Leave Act.

Donation Procedures

Contributions to the crisis leave pool are strictly voluntary. No employee shall be coerced or pressured to make contributions to the crisis leave pool. An employee donating to the crisis leave pool may not designate a particular employee to receive donated leave. Donations are accumulated in the pool on a calendar year basis. Donations are awarded on a first-come, first-served basis to eligible employees as defined above. If donations are to continue, they must be renewed on an annual basis. Donations are limited to the following terms:

1. An employee may donate a minimum of four hours of annual leave and a maximum of 240 hours of annual leave per fiscal year (no sick or compensatory leave);
2. Donations are made in whole-hour increments; and
3. The donor must have a balance of at least 120 hours of annual leave remaining after the contribution.

The employee must complete the Donation to Crisis Annual Leave Pool form and submit to the Office of Human Resources and Student Employment. Payroll will adjust all leave records accordingly before the next scheduled pay cycle.

Request Procedures

An eligible employee may request annual leave from the crisis leave pool by submitting a letter with appropriate documentation from a licensed medical service provider, as defined by the Family or Medical Leave Act, to the director of human resources and student employment. The director of human resources and student employment will review to ensure that the employee is eligible for crisis leave. All requests for crisis leave are treated as confidential and will be submitted to the Crisis Leave Committee marked as confidential.

Each request shall be date stamped with the time and day upon receipt by the director of human resources and student employment and handled on a first-come, first-served basis. The request should be submitted at least ten (10) days before the crisis leave is needed, when possible. 

The director of human resources and student employment will immediately call for a meeting with the Crisis Leave Committee to review the request and determine availability of leave at the time of need. 

The Crisis Leave Committee will review the request and either approve all or part of the leave request or deny the request. The director of human resources and student employment will issue an approval or denial in writing to the employee.

The committee’s decision to approve or deny the crisis leave request is final and not subject to appeal.

Limitations on Crisis Leave Use

The Crisis Leave Committee will determine the amount of crisis leave granted for each serious health condition. The amount of leave granted will generally reflect the recommendations of a licensed medical service provider subject to the following limitations:

1. A maximum of 240 hours may be requested by an employee in one fiscal year;
2. Crisis leave may not be granted to an employee to extend paid leave status beyond a total time in leave status of 12 weeks; and
3. The value of annual leave granted as crisis leave may not exceed 75% of the employee’s pay received in a regular workweek. The remaining 25% shall be leave without pay.

Crisis leave can only be used on a continuous basis. It is not to be used on an intermittent basis.

Change in Status Affecting Crisis Leave

Crisis leave should only be used for the purpose for which it was originally requested. If any change in the nature or severity of the serious health condition occurs, or any other factor on which the approval was based, the employee must provide documentation describing the change to the director of human resources and student employment for review. The employee may request an extension of a previously approved request; however, extensions are not automatic and documentation to justify the extension must be provided at the time of request. 

The use of crisis leave that is not in accordance with the procedures and requirements outlined in this policy may constitute payroll fraud and will be dealt with accordingly.

Compensation and Benefits

Crisis leave will be awarded hour for hour regardless of the giving or receiving employee’s rate of pay.

An employee being paid from crisis leave will be considered in partial pay status and will continue to receive benefits as appropriate.

In accordance with the Louisiana Department of Civil Service Rule 11.5(a), an employee on crisis leave shall not accrue annual or sick leave while using donated leave from the crisis leave pool. All leave balances will be adjusted accordingly. The decision to donate leave is irrevocable once the adjustment is made in the Banner system.

Communication

This policy is distributed via the Administrative Advisory Council and the University Policies webpage.