Policy Number: 4.500
BACKGROUND/HISTORY
Catastrophic Leave Bank Program
General Information
Act 678 of 2003 requires National Park College (NPC) to establish a Catastrophic Leave Bank Program for its permanent employees similar to that in Arkansas Code 21-4-214.
AUTHORITY
The Catastrophic Leave Bank is administered by the Human Resources Office. The Associate Vice President for Human Resources serves as Chairman of the Catastrophic Leave Committee. All Catastrophic Leave is approved by the committee and final approval is granted by the President.
DEFINITION OF TERMS
Catastrophic Illness means a medical condition of an employee or the spouse or parent of the employee, or a child of the employee who may be claimed as a dependent under Arkansas Income Tax Act of 1929, as certified by a physician (or other individual as provided in Arkansas Code Annotated 21-4-201 et seq.), which requires an employee's absence from duty for a prolonged period of time and which results in a substantial loss of income to the employee because of the exhaustion of all earned sick, annual, holiday, and compensatory leave time.
Catastrophic Leave means paid leave which is transferred to a leave recipient from the College's Catastrophic Leave Bank. Catastrophic Leave may be granted only in eight-hour increments. While a leave recipient is on Catastrophic Leave, he or she will receive normal benefits such as College contributions to insurance and retirement.
Catastrophic Leave Bank means a pool of accrued annual and sick leave voluntarily donated by employees which may be approved by the College for use by other employees who meet the eligibility requirements for medical emergency due to illness/injury and/or for maternity purposes.
Catastrophic Leave for Maternity Purposes: An eligible female employee may receive up to four (4) consecutive weeks of paid leave within the first twelve (12) weeks after the birth of the employee’s biological child or placement of an adoptive child in the employee’s home.
Catastrophic Leave Committee means a committee who represent a relative demographic cross-section of the College's workforce and who review applications from employees for Catastrophic Leave and make recommendations to the President relating to such leave.
Employee means a person who is regularly appointed or employed in a regular position by the College who is compensated on a full-time basis. [A person who works less than full-time (40 hours per week) is excluded from this definition, and as such, is not eligible to participate as a donor or recipient in the Catastrophic Leave Bank Program.]
Leave Donor means an employee whose voluntary written request to donate accrued annual or sick leave to the National Park College's Catastrophic Leave Bank has been approved. No employee shall be allowed to be a leave donor if such donation will reduce that employee's accrued sick and annual leave to less than 160 hours. (Exception: an employee who is terminating employment may donate all accrued leave time and is not required to maintain the 160-hour leave balance.)
Medical Condition means a personal emergency limited to catastrophic and debilitating medical situations, severely complicated disabilities and severe accident cases of the employee or a qualifying family member, which causes the employee or qualifying family member to be incapacitated and requires a prolonged period of recuperation and which requires the employee's absence from duty as documented by a physician (or other individual as provided in AA.C.A. 21- 4-201 et seq." Routine disabilities or disabilities resulting from elective surgery do not qualify for catastrophic leave.
For maternity purposes, the birth of the employee’s biological child or placement of an adoptive child in the employee’s home is the medical condition. Approved catastrophic leave will be granted for the birth of the employee’s biological child effective the date of the birth or after, or the placement of an adoptive child in the employee’s home effective the date the child is placed in the home or after, but both within the first twelve (12) weeks after the birth or placement.
Prolonged Period of Time means a continuous period of time whereby a medical condition prevents the employee from performing the employee's duties. The period of time may be continuous or intermittent, except for maternity purposes, which must be continuous.
Substantial Loss of Income means a continuous period of time where the employee will not have otherwise been compensated by NPC due to a medical condition and the exhaustion of all earned sick, annual, holiday, and compensatory leave. This requirement does not apply for maternity purposes
POLICY STATEMENT
I. Catastrophic Leave Committee
NPC's Catastrophic Leave Policy Committee will be comprised of appointed departmental representatives to include faculty, contract, and classified employee representation.
II. Record Keeping
The records for the Catastrophic Leave Program will be maintained in the Human Resources Office. Records will reflect the amount of leave donated, date, amount of Catastrophic Leave awarded, date, and name of each recipient.
III. Implementation
Eligible donors will be notified annually to participate in the Catastrophic Leave Bank Program based on leave balances at the end of the calendar year and upon termination from the college. Eligible employees wishing to voluntarily donate annual or sick leave to the program may complete a donation form and return to the Human Resources Office.
IV. Prohibition of Coercion
It is the policy of NPC not to intimidate, threaten or coerce any employee for the purpose of interfering with an employee's decision to donate, receive, or use annual or sick leave.
V. General Policies
A. Accrued annual leave and/or sick leave may be donated to the Catastrophic Leave Bank.
B. Catastrophic Leave with pay may be granted to an employee when such employee is incapacitated for the performance of the employee's duties due to a catastrophic illness.
C. Eligibility Qualifications
- The employee has been employed by NPC for at least one (1) year in a regular, full-time position.
- 2. The employee, at the onset of the illness or injury, had to his or her credit at least eighty (80) hours of combined sick and annual leave and has exhausted all such leave unless an exceptional circumstance waiver is granted by the President. For maternity purposes, the eighty (80) hours of combined sick and annual leave credit is not required at the time of application for catastrophic leave.
- The "80-hour requirement" for a medical emergency due to illness/injury may be waived for an otherwise eligible employee if an “extraordinary circumstance" is declared by the President due to the applicant providing documentation that one of the following conditions has occurred:
- The employee applying for catastrophic leave had, during the previous one (1) year period, another medically documented illness or injury which was not compensated under an approved Catastrophic Leave Bank Program, but was documented under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) as a qualifying event, and caused the exhaustion of all sick and annual leave, or
- The employee applying for catastrophic leave had, during the previous one (1) year period, exhausted his or her sick and annual leave as a direct result of supplementing workers' compensation benefits, which were received as a result of an on-the-job illness or injury with the State of Arkansas
- The employee has not received a documented disciplinary action for leave abuse during the past one (1) year period from the date of application. This requirement does not apply for maternity purposes.
- An employee is eligible for approved catastrophic leave due to injury/illness for a maximum of six (6) months (1,040 hours) within a five (5) year period. This requirement does not apply for maternity purposes.
- The combination of catastrophic leave for the stated medical conditions, due to illness/injury or for maternity purposes, received by an employee may not exceed six hundred forty (640) hours in a calendar year (480 hours for illness/injury and 160 hours for maternity purposes).
D. Any employee on Catastrophic Leave will continue to accrue leave in accordance with existing state leave policies and will receive normal benefits such as NPC contributions to insurance and retirement. Catastrophic Leave will not change an employee's salary increase eligibility date. Any leave earned while an employee is on Catastrophic Leave must, as a condition of voluntary participation in the program, be assigned to the Catastrophic Leave Bank, and any restrictions concerning the maintenance of minimum leave balances shall not apply to such assignment.
E. Any unused Catastrophic Leave will be returned to the program in the event the employee is terminated, retires, or returns to work prior to the expiration of the previously approved Catastrophic Leave period. An employee may be dismissed if such employee fails to report to work promptly at the expiration of the period of approved catastrophic leave. Nothing, however, shall prevent NPC from accepting satisfactory reasons provided by the employee in advance of the date the employee is scheduled to return to work, and from granting leave without pay status to an employee prior to and after the expiration of such Catastrophic Leave if such action is warranted.
F. Accrued leave may only be donated to the Catastrophic Leave Program in eight-hour increments. Catastrophic Leave may be granted only in eight-hour increments. Unused hours of awarded Catastrophic Leave will be returned to NPC Catastrophic Leave Bank. No employee shall be allowed to donate leave to NPC's program if such donation will reduce that employee's combined accrued sick leave and annual leave balance to less than 160 hours.
G. The Catastrophic Leave Bank Program does not create any expectation or promise of continued employment.
RESPONSIBILITIES
VI. Committee Guidelines
The Catastrophic Leave Committee shall meet as needed to review all catastrophic leave requests. The Human Resources Office staff will be responsible for submitting to the Committee only those requests that meet minimum qualifications. The Committee shall utilize the following guidelines to review catastrophic leave requests:
A. If the illness or injury is that of an employee and is covered by worker's compensation, the compensation based on catastrophic leave when combined with the weekly worker's compensation benefit received by the employee shall not exceed the compensation being received by the employee at the onset of the illness or injury.
B. An employee shall not be approved for catastrophic leave for a medical emergency unless that employee has provided an acceptable medical certificate from a physician or other appropriate health care provider supporting the continued absence and setting forth that the employee is, and will continue to be unable to perform the employee’s duties due to a catastrophic illness/injury of the employee or a qualifying family member. The employee is responsible for providing information regarding his/her assigned job duties to the physician in order to have a more accurate medical certification. This requirement does not apply for maternity purposes.
C. An employee shall not be approved for catastrophic leave for a maternity purpose unless the employee has provided acceptable proof of the birth or placement. For the birth of an employee’s biological child, acceptable proof includes a hospital announcement with the mother’s name and/or the biological child’s name, hospital discharge papers with the mother’s name and the biological child’s name, or a birth certificate of the biological child. For the placement of an adoptive child in an employee’s home, acceptable proof includes a formal document from the placement entity with the mother’s name and the child’s name or legal guardianship papers with the mother’s name and the child’s name.
D. The Catastrophic Leave Bank Committee shall not grant an employee catastrophic leave beyond the date certified by a physician or other appropriate healthcare provider for the employee to return to work
E. Catastrophic Leave which would result in a negative balance in NPC's Catastrophic Leave Bank shall not be approved.
F. Determinations by the Catastrophic Leave Committee shall be reviewed by the President of NPC.
G. The decision of the President shall be final and binding. Nothing shall prevent the President from taking into account the impact on the College's operation in granting or denying Catastrophic Leave or in modifying previously approved Catastrophic Leave if, in the judgment of the President, such approved leave would seriously impact the College's operation. In exceptional circumstances, the President may allow catastrophic leave that does not conform to all applicable policies.
H. Applications for Catastrophic Leave shall be reviewed on a first-filed basis.
PROCEDURES/RELATED DOCUMENTS AND FORMS
Catastrophic Leave Applications/Documents are available through Human Resources.