Appendix E - Leave Sharing

GUAM MEMORIAL HOSPITAL AUTHORITY

LEAVE SHARING PROCEDURES

PURPOSE

The purpose of the Leave Sharing Program is to provide assistance to employees who need to take extended period of absence from their employment for personal reasons as defined in this procedure. Absence must be for a minimum of 10 consecutive work days for medical emergency, and a minimum of five consecutive work days for other personal reasons.

STATEMENT OF POLICY

It is the policy of the Hospital to provide assistance to employees, who need to be absent from their jobs for personal reasons, as defined in this procedure, but have exhausted their earned leave accrual. Through the generosity of other employees, annual or sick leave may be donated to those employees with legitimate needs for extended absence from work, as determined by the Administrator.

DURATION OF LEAVE:

In general participation in the leave sharing program shall not exceed ninety (90) working day.

A. GLOSSARY

1. EMPLOYEE. A person currently employed by the Hospital or any entity of the government of Guam and who is entitled to leave accrual.

2. FAMILY MEMBER. Spouse, including a so-called "common law" spouse if such spouse is 18 years old or over, and has cohabited with the employee for at least the last two consecutive years immediately preceding the request for leave donation. Other recognized family members include children and adopted children and their spouses, grandchildren and adopted grandchildren, parents and parents-in-law, in loco parentis, grandparents, brothers and sisters.

3. LEAVE DONOR. An employee whose voluntary written request for transfer of leave to a leave recipient is certified and approved by his agency payroll supervisor.

4. LEAVE RECIPIENT. A current employee for whom the employing agency has approved an application for extended absence from his employment, and is

certified to be eligible to receive leave donated by another employee of the government of Guam.

5. PERSONAL REASONS. For the purpose of this procedure, "personal reasons is defined as those defined in "medical emergency" below, adoption of a child, divorce and separation, loss of a family member, cosmetic and voluntary surgery, child care, legal commitments, education, care for family member, who is elderly or has a mental or physical disability, and other reasons as determined by the Administrator.

6. MEDICAL EMERGENCY. A medical condition of an employee or a family member that is likely to require an employee's absence from duty for a prolonged period of time, and to result in a substantial loss of income to the employee because of unavailability of paid leave.

7. SERIOUS ILLNESS OR INJRY: Means an urgent condition that is certified by the attending physician as requiring hospitalization, institutionalization, or extended home care in which the person needs the constant administration of a special medical care or support.

8. ANNUAL LEAVE. For purposes of the Leave Sharing Program, an employee may request annual leave to care for a sick family member as a result of serious illness or injury and for other personal reasons authorized by this procedure. An employee may also opt to use annual leave in lieu of sick leave for absence, because of his illness and other authorized use of sick leave.

9. SICK LEAVE. Leave which is authorized for the employee who is incapacitated to perform regular duties or available light duty, due to illness or injury; medical treatment; complications due to pregnancy; childbirth; or when the employee's presence on the job will jeopardize the health of others because of exposure to a contagious disease (requires a quarantine by medical authority).

10. IN LOCO PARENTIS. Refers to the situation of an individual who had such responsibility for the employee when the employee was a child. A biological or legal relationship is not necessary.

B. ELIGIBILITY

1. LEAVE RECIPIENT. Any employee of the Hospital, who meets the definition of family member and the intent and purpose of the Leave Sharing Program, who has used his accrual leave (annual, sick, and/or compensatory time off [CTO]), e.g. if employee is requesting sick leave, his sick leave should be used first; if employee is requesting annual leave, his annual leave should be used first before receiving leave donated by another employee. To be eligible for leave donation, the leave recipient shall be absent 10 consecutive work days or more for the medical emergency reasons, and five consecutive work days or more for other personal reasons, and must meet the criteria for annual or sick leave approval as defined in Chapter 8.

2. LEAVE DONOR. An employee of any branch of the government of Guam who has accumulated annual or sick leave in excess of one pay period, is eligible, to donate leave to another employee in any department or agency. Type of leave donated must meet the criteria for annual or sick leave defined above.

C. VOLUNTARY TRANSFER OF LEAVE

An active employee who has accrued leave balance in excess of one pay period may submit a formal written request to his payroll supervisor to make available for transfer, annual or sick leave of a minimum of eight hours at any one time, to another named employee authorized to receive leave under this procedure. The employee donating the leave may not request a transfer of an amount of annual or sick leave that would result in reducing his sick or annual leave balance to less than one pay period.

D. RECEIPT OF SICK/ANNUAL LEAVE

The leave recipient must exhaust all his respective personal accrued annual leave or sick leave (if applicable) or earned CTO before he may be eligible to use the leave donated by another employee.

E. CONDITIONS FOR APPROVAL OF LEAVE TRANSFER FOR MEDICAL EMERGENCY

The Administrator may permit an employee of the Hospital to receive donated leave based on the provisions of this procedure. The Administrator will conduct periodic audits on all donated leave transactions processed and approved by department head/division managers, and will repeal and take corrective actions on those approved actions which are not in compliance with this procedure. Employees found to have abused or committed fraudulent acts relative to the use of donated leave, shall be required to pay back the government for the full amount of his salary paid, as a result of the use of the donated leave. The Administrator may approve requests for donated leave subject to the following conditions:

1. The employee, or a member of his family suffers from a medically certified incapacitation due to illness, injury, impairment, or physical or mental condition which has caused, or is likely to cause, the employee to go on leave for a minimum of 10 consecutive work days. An employee who is medically certified to be incapacitated for duty shall use sick leave, annual leave and CTO earned to his credit prior to receiving leave donation An employee who needs to care for a family member with a serious illness or injury shall use his annual leave and CTO earned and sick leave prior to receiving leave donaton.

2. The employee's need to be absent from work is certified by a licensed practicing physician.

3. The employee must exhaust their sick, annual and CTO before the donated leave is used.

4. The employee has complied with the Hospital’s policy concerning the request and approval of sick leave, annual leave and CTO.

DURATION OF LEAVE (meets leave transfer for medical emergency):

Employee is required to submit a certification from the attending medical doctor that the recipient of the leave needs additional time for medical treatment or recovery from a medical illness and is physically unable to return to work due to the medical illness.

An additional ninety (90) working days may be granted upon similar certification from the attending medical doctor is made within two (2) weeks of the first ninety (90) day period. A final period of thirty (30) working days may be granted upon an additional certification from the attending medical doctor that additional time is needed for recovery. (Pursuant to Public Law 28-68.

F. CONDITIONS FOR APPROVAL OF LEAVE TRANSFER FOR OTHER PERSONAL REASONS

The department head may submit a request for leave transfer, for reasons other than "medical emergency," for an employee in his department to the Administrator for final approval. The Human Resources Division will review and process all requests for donated leave, for non-medical reasons, on a case-by-case basis upon the approval of the Hospital Administrator. The following are some of the more common non-medical reasons which employees may use to justify requests for a donated leave. However, these reasons do not, in and of themselves, become an authorization for personal reasons.

1. Adoption of a child, or to place a child up for adoption.

2. The employee is undergoing divorce or separation proceedings.

3. Loss of a family member.

4. Cosmetic and voluntary surgery.

5. Child care.

6. Legal commitments. (ie. Military reserves called to active duty in excess of fifteen (15) working days)

7. Education.

8. To care for an elderly or physically/mentally disabled member of the family.

G. PROCEDURES

It is the responsibility of the employee requesting for donated leave to obtain proper leave authorization from his supervisor and the Administrator. The approved Leave Application Form (FCN 2-0-1), must be accompanied by the attached request for leave transfer forms (medical emergency and other personal reasons), endorsed by the donating employee, payroll supervisor and the Administrator. The following officials are authorized to give final approval for leave transfer requests based on personal reasons:

1. Department Head of the recipient employee may approve all requests for medical emergency, subject to audit and repeal by the Administrator upon finding of non-compliance to established policy and procedures.

2. The Administrator has the final approval authority for all leave transfer requests submitted by the department head of the recipient employee for all other personal reasons authorized by this procedure.

3. The payroll supervisor of both donor and recipient must ensure appropriate action is taken to accommodate the request in a timely manner.

All salary payments made to an employee while on leave transferred under this procedure shall be made by the agency/department employing the person receiving the leave. The leave recipient will continue to accrue annual and sick leave for as long as he is on a pay status.

Any leave transferred under this procedure for a specific request which remains unused, shall be returned to the leave donor. Any employee, who needs additional time off for reasons authorized by this procedure, may submit a new request for leave donation. All approved requests for leave transfers will be used for one time only.

H. LIMITATIONS

Transfers of leave are subject to the following restrictions:

1. No transfer may be made by any employee to his or her supervisor or to any person above him or her in the supervisory chain, or to a member of the supervisor's or such supervisory person's immediate family.

2. Leave may not be transferred to another employee if, as leave recipient, he intends to use it for credit towards retirement or accumulated leave.

3. Donated leave shall not be converted to cash or retirement credit by the leave recipient.

4. Annual or sick leave donated by an employee is understood to be a donation and shall not be sold or loaned to the recipient.

5. No employee shall directly or indirectly intimidate, threaten, coerce, or attempt to intimidate, threaten, or coerce any other employee for the purpose of interfering with the employee's right to voluntarily contribute leave when authorized under this procedure. For the purpose of this procedure, "intimidate, threaten, or coerce" shall include, without being limited to, the promise to confer or the conferring of any benefit or effecting or threatening to effect any reprisal.

GUAM MEMORIAL HOSPITAL AUTHORITY

INSTRUCTIONS FOR COMPLETING FORM

SICK/ANNUAL LEAVE DONATION REQUEST

FOR MEDICAL EMERGENCY REASON

1. Enter employee names, the Recipient first and then the Donor.

2. Enter the social security numbers for both employees.

3. Enter the classifications of the employees and the associated pay grade for each.

4. Enter each employee's Agency and Division.

5. Enter the dates for which the donated leave is to be used.

Note:These dates must not be for a prior period of time as the request must be approved before leave can be taken. Also, enter the total hours and leave type to be used during this period of time (hours of leave donated).

6. Explain the appropriate reason (medical emergency) for which this leave will be used. The recipient employee must sign and date the form.

7. To receive leave, the requesting employee (recipient) must obtain certification from his agency payroll supervisor on his leave account.

8. The donating employee must certify this request by signing and dating the form. In addition, the donor employee must obtain certification from his payroll supervisor indicating the donor has accrued the amount of leave to be donated in addition to the required one pay period leave which must remain in the donor's leave account.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR RECIPIENT ON THE REQUIRED DOCUMENTATION

A. The recipient shall attach a copy of the medical certification by a licensed practicing physician.

B. Attach a copy of the approved Request for Leave (Form FCN 2-0-1). Note: Absence must be for a minimum of 10 consecutive work days for medical emergency reasons.

9. Recipient's Administrator certification.

GUAM MEMORIAL HOSPITAL AUTHORITY

INSTRUCTIONS FOR COMPLETING FORM

ANNUAL LEAVE DONATION REQUEST FOR

PERSONAL REASONS

1. Enter employee names, the Recipient first and then the Donor.

2. Enter the social security numbers for both employees.

3. Enter the classifications of the employees and the associated pay grade for each.

4. Enter each employee's Agency and Division.

5. Enter the dates for which the donated leave is to be used.

Note: These dates must not be for a prior period of time as the request must be approved before leave can be taken. Also, enter the total hours to be used during this period of time (hours of leave donated).

6. Explain the appropriate personal reason (reasons authorized by leave sharing procedures) for which this leave will be used. The recipient employee must sign and date the form.

7. The donating employee must certify this request by signing and dating the form.

8. To receive leave, the requesting employee (recipient) must obtain certification from his agency payroll supervisor and the approval of the Administrator indicating the request meets all guidelines, and is approved for acceptance of the donated leave.

9. To donate leave, the donor employee must obtain certification from his payroll supervisor indicating the donor has accrued the amount of leave to be donated, in addition to the required one pay period leave, which must remain in the donor's leave account.

10. Final approval for donated leave requests for personal reasons is the Hospital Administrator. Upon approval/disapproval of the request, a copy will be forwarded to the payroll supervisors of the recipient and donor, and the appointing authorities of both employees.

11. The recipient shall attach some form of proof (notarized affidavit or certification) to prove validity of request.

12. Attach a copy of the approved Request for Leave (Form FCN 2-0-1).

Note: Absence must be for a minimum of five consecutive work days for personal reasons.