CONTENTS
Eligible Washington state employees who accrue leave can donate some of their accrued annual leave, sick leave, and/or personal holiday hours to a co-worker or other state employee who will need to take leave without pay or separate from employment for the reasons listed below under Receiving Shared Leave. "Shared Leave" is the term used to describe this donated leave.
All requests to donate and receive shared leave are subject to the supervisor's or administrator's approval.
In addition to to direct donations of leave, eligible employees may request to donate shared leave hours to the state's Uniformed Services Shared Leave Pool (USSLP). Eligible state employees who are called to active duty in one of the United States uniformed services may request to receive shared leave from the USSLP. To be eligible to receive shared leave from the pool the following requirements must be met:
An employee is eligible to receive shared leave if he or she meets one of the criteria listed below:
| Personal Serious Health Condition | |
|---|---|
| Qualifying Condition | The employee has a severe, extraordinary, or life-threatening illness or injury and has used or is about to use all of the employee’s eligible annual and sick leave |
| Forms to be Completed |
|
| Workers Compensation | Shared leave cannot be used for job-related illness or injury that is covered by workers compensation. |
| Caregiver for a Relative or Household Member | |
|---|---|
| Qualifying Condition | The employee has caregiver responsibilities for a relative or a household member with a severe, extraordinary, or life-threatening illness or injury, and the employee has used or is about to use all of the employee’s eligible annual and sick leave. |
| Forms to be Completed |
|
| Victim of Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault or Stalking | |
|---|---|
| Qualifying Condition | The employee is a victim of domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking and has used or is about to use all of the employee’s eligible annual and sick leave. |
| Form to be Completed | Shared Leave Request because of domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking (pdf) |
| Verification | Confer with you Human Resources Consultant to determine when and what type of verification may be appropriate. |
| Called to Duty in a Uniformed Service of the United States | |
|---|---|
| Qualifying Condition | The employee is called to serve in the uniformed services and has used or is about to use all of the employee’s eligible annual and paid military leave. |
| Form to be Completed | Shared Leave Request because of Military Service Approved Emergency Work (pdf) |
| State Military Shared Leave Pool | Uniformed Services Shared Leave Pool request (pdf) (Eligible employees who have been called to active duty in one of the uniformed services of the united states use this form to request to withdraw shared leave from the state's Uniformed Services Shared Leave Pool.) |
| Service as an Approved Emergency Worker | |
|---|---|
| Qualifying Condition | The employee is serving as an approved emergency worker, and has used or is about to use all of the employee’s eligible annual leave. |
| Form to be Completed | Shared Leave Request because of Military Service Approved Emergency Work (pdf) |
| Verification | Employee may be required provide proof of having volunteered to provide services for governmental agency or a nonprofit organization engaged in humanitarian relief in an area of the United States where a state of emergency has been declared, and proof that a governmental agency or nonprofit organization has accepted the employee's offer of service. |
A state employee may receive and use a maximum of 261 days of shared leave during their lifetime of state employment.
Employee donations of shared leave must meet the following requirements specific to the type of leave being donated:
| Type of Leave | Leave Donation Requirements |
|---|---|
| Annual Leave | Employees may donate four (4) or more hours, as long as they retain an annual leave balance of at least ten (10) days after the donation is deducted. Classified employees may not donate any annual leave hours accrued in excess of the 240-hour maximum if they would otherwise not have had sufficient time to use the hours before their next anniversary date. |
| Sick Leave | Employees may donate four (4) or more hours, as long as they retain a sick leave balance of at least 176 hours after the donation is deducted |
| Personal Holiday | Employees may donate four (4) or more hours of the personal holiday. Any personal holiday hours not donated must be used at one time within the current calendar year. |
An employee continues to accrue sick leave and annual leave if he or she is not off the payroll for more than ten (10) working days in a month. Timekeepers should apply monthly leave accruals as they are earned before applying shared leave. However, an employee who receives shared leave may retain up to 32 hours of shared leave to use over a four (4) month period, at eight (8) hours per month, specifically for the purpose of retaining insurance benefits.
Any unused shared leave must be returned at its original value to the shared leave donor(s) when the leave is no longer needed, or will not be needed in the future. Before unused shared leave for illness or injury is returned, the UW must receive a statement from the doctor of the employee who received the shared leave, verifying that the illness or injury is resolved.
Shared leave donated to the Uniformed Services Shared Leave Pool is done so irrevocably and is never returned to a donating employee.
A shared leave donation is a monetary transfer between budgets; managers should understand how these charges will affect the employing department’s finances. Employee leave donations across departments are transfers of salary and benefit load from one department’s budget to another's. The budget number that is entered on the donation form is charged the dollar value of the hours donated. The budgetary transactions are processed by the shared leave accountant in the Payroll office.
Human Resources calculates the dollar amounts and the Payroll Office prepares the cost transfers.
The posting of salary and benefit transfers will appear on the Transaction Summary of MyFinancial.desktop (Budget Activity Report) as follows:
Grant and Contract Accounting and Internal Audit have determined that shared leave donated as annual, sick leave, or a personal holiday is an allowable cost to grants and contracts.
Shared leave ends when an employee returns to work, separates from employment, or a medical condition improves to the point where it no longer qualifies for shared leave. If the employee’s medical provider recommends a gradual return to work, additional shared leave use may be approved according to the individual situation.
When the receiving employee is able to return to work the employee will need to take the following steps to resume regular work status:
Unused shared leave hours donated to an individual employee will be returned to the donors on a pro rata basis. If personal holiday hours are returned, they may only be used or re-donated in the calendar year accrued.
Shared Leave Topics
View shared leave information presented for employees by going to the Employee Leave/Holidays web page, selecting an employment program, then selecting the "Shared Leave" link in the page's right side navigation.