5.17 - Shared Leave Policy

Policy Number - 5.17

Approved: 02/17/2026

Purpose

Shared leave is used to provide additional paid leave to eligible employees who have exhausted all their accrued leave.

Definition

Family member - the employee’s spouse, child or parent as defined in the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) regulations or a person for whom the employee serves as a durable power of attorney.

Policy Statement

Up to 160 hours of continuous shared leave may be granted to an employee only under the following serious or emergent circumstances:

The employee is experiencing a sudden, serious or extreme medical condition that requires immediate treatment.
The employee must provide care for a family member who has a sudden, serious or extreme medical condition that requires immediate treatment.
The employee is experiencing a medical emergency related to pregnancy, childbirth, or adoption, such as severe prenatal complications, miscarriage, postpartum medical crisis, or when a newborn or newly adopted child has a severe health condition that requires immediate treatment.

Employees are responsible for keeping their supervisor and Human Resources up to date on their status and anticipated return to work date. Shared leave, in and of itself, does not provide job-protected leave. Shared leave serves to keep approved employees in a paid status.

When employees donate time to the shared leave pool, the donated time will not be refunded or returned to employees. The time will remain in the bank to fund future shared leave plans as needed and approved. If the shared leave pool hours are exhausted, employees will not be approved for shared leave until the shared leave pool receives additional donated leave hours.

Employees should not request other employees to donate leave on their behalf. No employee shall be coerced, threatened, intimidated, or financially persuaded to donate shared leave. Any effort to inappropriately persuade such donations should be reported to Human Resources.

Eligibility

Employees who are appointed to a full-time position and meet the following requirements are eligible to participate as leave recipients in the shared leave program:

Have exhausted all leave (i.e., vacation, sick, personal, merit, and compensatory time).
Have not been subject to any written disciplinary action in the 12 months prior to the request for shared leave.
Are experiencing a serious health condition as defined above and have submitted the Certification of Healthcare Provider for Employee’s Serious Health Condition or family member form to Human Resources for verification.
Individuals that might not be eligible for FMLA leave may be considered for shared leave.

Eligibility to Donate Leave

Employees may donate the following leave to the shared leave pool:

An employee may donate only vacation or sick leave to the shared leave
A minimum of four (4) hours of leave must be donated at a Hours must be donated in whole numbers. Donated leave cannot be designated to be awarded to specific employees, but is donated to the shared pool.

Allocation of Leave

Employees that meet eligibility criteria may apply for donated leave from the shared leave pool with Human Resources. Eligible employees will be approved for up to 160 hours of continuous leave using the shared leave pool as long as there is available leave in the shared leave pool. If there is no leave remaining in the pool, Human Resources will notify the employees who are making a request. Individuals that require additional time outside of the 160 hours will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.

Allotments Allowed

Employees will be allowed two shared leave allotments in a 12-month period for a total of 160 hours. Once an employee has exhausted their leave allotment(s), they will not be eligible for another 12-month period following the date the leave was last used.

Leave Accrual

Employees who are approved for 160 hours or more for a consecutive period of time will not continue to accrue vacation leave while receiving leave hours from the shared leave pool.

Exclusions

An employee receiving Workers' Compensation is not eligible for shared leave.

Reference: 5.04 Family and Medical Leave

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