St. Ambrose University

Crisis Leave Policy

 

Crisis Leave Policy
43.800

St. Ambrose University Crisis Leave pool serves as a depository into which employees may donate accrued paid time off leave time for allocation to other employees. The purpose of this pool is to lessen the hardship caused by catastrophic illness or injury which forces employees to exhaust their paid time off and all of their reserve sick days time. Employees may apply for up to 80 hours/10 days Crisis Leave time per 12 month period. If an employee needs more time, allocation of additional days/hours from the Crisis Leave pool will be determined on a case by case basis. Crisis Leave may be used intermittently, but unused time must be returned to the Crisis Leave pool once the employee is released from a physician’s care or when the situation that caused the employee to request Crisis Leave has been resolved.

Crisis Leave records are maintained as confidential records by St. Ambrose University. Employees receiving donated leave shall not be informed of the names of employees who have donated leave. Further, the nature of an employee’s medical condition will not be made public by the University.

Donation of Leave
43.801

Full-time employees who earn paid time off leave may donate up to 24 hours/3 days accumulated PTO days per calendar year to the Crisis Leave pool. The Human Resources Director may identify exceptional circumstances under which greater amounts, not to exceed 40 hours/5 days per calendar year, may be donated to the Crisis Leave pool. Full-time employees may only donate time when they maintain at least 40 hours/5 days within their own paid time off bank.

Employees may not personally solicit the donation of Crisis Leave on their own behalf or on behalf of another employee. Only the Human Resource Director may, under certain circumstances, solicit the donation of leave on behalf of an employee approved for participation in the Crisis Leave program.

Special Donations to the Crisis Leave Pool

If an employee wishes to donate more than 40 hours/5 days of their PTO time, or Reserve Sick Days (RSD) the donation may be accepted if:

The employee is within 16 hours/2 days of the maximum (1040 hours) allowed Reserve Sick Days. The President has authorized the donation.

Requesting Crisis Leave
43.802

To assure consistent administration of the policy the following procedures must be followed:

  1. Requests for use of donated Crisis Leave and the anticipated time period of absence must be reported on the Request for Crisis Leave Time Form. Employees will be required to submit medical certification from a treating physician or other licensed health care provider.
  2. Requests for Crisis Leave will be evaluated on these criteria:
    1. Appropriateness of the leave under the Crisis Leave Policy;
    2. Availability of leave within the Crisis Leave Pool;
    3. Completion of at least one year of full-time employment; and
    4. Lack of accrued leave for the individual employee. All leaves (Paid Time Off and Reserve Sick Days) have been or will be exhausted during the crisis period.
  3. Crisis Leave requests require the consent of the requesting employee’s immediate supervisor and must also be approved by the appropriate Vice President, Dean or Director.
  4. Request forms are then forwarded to the Human Resource Director for consideration and approval or disapproval.
  5. Crisis Leave received, but not used upon return to work, will be returned to the Crisis Leave pool.
  6. Denials of Crisis Leave or limitations on the amount of Crisis Leave given will not be grievable events under the University’s Grievance Policy.

Granting Crisis Leave
43.803

Full-time employees (those who have worked at least 12 months for the employer and worked at least 1250 hours in the previous 12 months) are eligible to request Crisis Leave when their paid time off and all reserve sick days time have been exhausted. (FMLA criteria must be met to be eligible for Crisis Leave)

Crisis Leave may be requested for:

  1. Serious illness of the employee or the employee's spouse;
  2. Serious illness of an immediate family member (i.e. the employee's child or parent, or a person bearing the same relationship to the employee's spouse);

For the purpose of this policy St. Ambrose University intends to provide a pool of available leave for those employees with serious medical hardships or catastrophic illnesses or injury including conditions, which immediately and severely impact the health of the employee and/or the employee’s immediate family and require absence from work. These conditions must also meet the definitions of a Serious Health Condition under the Family Medical Leave Act. Some examples may include but are not limited to:
Cancer
Major surgery
AIDS
A serious accident
Heart attack
Stroke
Other serious or life threatening illnesses

“Serious illness” generally does not include cosmetic treatments, minor conditions such as the common cold, earaches, headaches, the flu, routine doctor’s appointments, or treatment with over-the-counter medications.

Policy Administration and Interpretation

The Human Resource Director has been assigned the responsibility for the administration and interpretation of this policy.

Forms for requesting Crisis Leave or for donating time to the Crisis Leave pool may be obtained by contacting Human Resources Department or down loading the form from the SAU website.

The Human Resource Director will retain the original copies of the Request for Crisis Leave Time form and the Donation of Paid Time Off Leave to the Crisis Leave Program forms in the employee’s medical human resource file.

Additional Definitions
43.804

“Child” is a biological, adopted, or foster child, a stepchild, a legal ward, or a child of a person with day-to-day responsibilities to care for and financially support the child. The “child” must be either under age 18, or age 18 or older and still considered a dependent or a child who is incapable of self-care because of a mental or physical disability. St. Ambrose University will require certification of condition of the child.

“Immediate family” is defined as spouse, children, stepchildren, parents, step-parents, or persons bearing the same relationship to the spouse.

“Parent” is defined as a biological parent, or an individual who had the day-to-day responsibilities to care for the employee and financial responsibility when the employee was a child or a person bearing the same relationship to the employee’s spouse.