The Voluntary Shared Leave Program allows a state employee to assist another state employee affected by a personal or immediate family member's condition.
Recipients
- Have a prolonged medical condition (or that of a member of the employee’s immediate family) that requires the employee’s absence for a prolonged period of time (20 or more consecutive workdays),
- Apply for or be nominated to participate in the program,
- Produce medical evidence to support the leave of absence, beyond available leave, and
- Receive approval from the University Benefits Office and the employee’s supervisor to participate in the program.
Donor Information
- Be an active employee (not separated)
- Be in a position that earns leave
- Have sufficient leave balances as defined in policy, working at least half-time (20 or more hours a week) in permanent, probationary or trainee status
Note: 9-month Faculty are not able to donate Voluntary Shared Leave.
- A non-family member may donate the following leave to a non-family member:
- Vacation/bonus leave to another employee in any State agency (does not include public schools or community colleges)
- Vacation/bonus leave to a coworker's immediate family who is an employee in a public school or community college. The employee and coworker must be in the same agency. This includes non-family members on leave without pay.
- Sick leave to members of state agencies as permitted in the following limits chart.
Limits
Minimum | Maximum | |||
Leave Type | Family or Non-family | Family | Non-family | |
Sick | 4 hours | Any amount not to exceed the total combined limit, as long as 40 hours of sick leave is remaining after donation |
No more than 40 hours per year to any one non-family member, as long as the donor has at least 40 hours of sick leave remaining after donation Special Notes:
|
|
Vacation | 4 hours | Any amount that does not exceed the donor’s annual vacation accrual rate, and reduce the donor’s vacation leave balance below one-half of their vacation leave accrual rate (i.e., an employee who accrues 11 hours a month can donate up to 132 hours as long as their vacation leave balance is 66 hours or more after the donation) | ||
Bonus | 4 hours | Any amount not to exceed total combined limit | ||
Combined Total |
Cannot exceed:
|
Process
- Discuss the situation with their supervisor.
- Complete the Extended Leave of Absence Resources Guide (12 month FMLA) or the Voluntary Shared Leave Application.
- Return the form along with the required doctor's statement to the Benefits Office.
Confidentiality
Leave donations shall be kept confidential. Only individual employees may reveal their donation or receipt of leave. Employees desiring to participate in the program as recipients of shared vacation/sick/bonus leave may indicate their confidentiality preference of the medical condition in the release agreement of the Extended Leave of Absence Guide or the Voluntary Shared Leave Application.
Intimidation or coercion
Intimidation or coercion regarding employee rights for donating, receiving or using voluntary shared leave are prohibited, and shall be grounds for disciplinary action up to and including dismissal on the basis of personal conduct.
Authority
Authority is delegated to the Associate Vice Chancellor for Human Resources to approve or deny voluntary shared leave requests or nominations.
The Benefits Office is delegated to review and process voluntary shared leave requests.
Resources
UNC Charlotte Policy Statement 101.14 Voluntary Shared Leave Program
OSHR Voluntary Shared Leave Program Policy
UNC Charlotte Family and Medical Leave Act