UCLA Campus Catastrophic Leave Program

I. INTRODUCTION

The UCLA Campus Catastrophic Leave Program ("Program") provides temporary salary and benefit continuation for staff employees* who accrue vacation and have exhausted applicable paid leave accruals to address a personal disaster such as:

The employee's catastrophic illness or injury
Care of a catastrophically ill or injured family member
Death of a family or household member
A catastrophic loss suffered due to, for example, a terrorist attack, fire, or natural disaster including severe damage or destruction to an employee's primary residence

The Program allows employees to donate vacation leave to the Campus Central Catastrophic Leave Bank ("Central Bank"), which provides employees without sufficient paid leave accruals to meet a verifiable catastrophic circumstance. While the Program establishes a mechanism for leave transfers, participation is entirely voluntary. Donations are anonymous unless donors elect otherwise.

*In recognition of the extraordinary circumstances caused by the LA wildfires, eligible academic personnel who accrue vacation leave may temporarily participate in the program by donating or receiving Catastrophic Leave hours.

II. DEFINITIONS

A. Catastrophic Illness or Injury: a non-industrial illness or injury that is physically debilitating or life-threatening and requires the employee's absence from work when the employee has exhausted all applicable paid leave.

B. Catastrophic Casualty Loss: a situation in which a staff employee cannot report to work due to a natural disaster or emergency as covered by administrative leave for emergencies in PPSM-2.210: Absence of Work Policy.

C. Family Member: Except for purposes of Family and Medical Leave ("FML"), an employee’s spouse, domestic partner, children (including children of the employee’s domestic partner), parents, siblings, grandparents, and grandchildren. Step-relatives, in-laws, and relatives by adoption are included on the same basis as the above-listed blood relatives. If an employee was raised by persons other than their biological parents, these individuals also are included in this category. Likewise, if an employee is raising a child who is not their biological child, that child is included in this category.

D. Paid Leave Accruals: includes vacation, sick leave (applicable to illness-related Catastrophic Leave requests) compensatory time off (CTO), and blood donation paid administrative leave. Under this Program, only accrued vacation hours may be donated.

E. Recipient: an employee eligible to accrue and use vacation, has exhausted applicable paid leave accruals, and needs a temporary extension of their salary and benefits.

F. Donor: an employee donating vacation hours to an employee or the Central Bank.

III. ELIGIBILITY

Campus staff employees eligible to accrue and use vacation leave may participate in the Program. Represented employees in the following bargaining units are eligible: CX, DX, EX, HX, LX, NX, PA, RX, SX, TX, and K4. The program is non-grievable and is not subject to any arbitration policy applicable to any employee.

Vacation leave may be credited to an employee under the Program if the following conditions are met:

The recipient has submitted a Catastrophic Leave Application and applicable supporting documentation to the department head;
The department head has confirmed that the recipient is unable to work due to a catastrophic circumstance as described in sections I and II;
The recipient has exhausted (or will very shortly exhaust) all applicable paid leave accruals;
The recipient is not presently receiving disability benefits or workers' compensation payments; and
Vacation leave hours have been donated to the recipient (in cases of medical emergencies) or are available from the Central Bank.

A. A Donor (donating employee) must:

Be a staff employee* of a UCLA department
Be in a position that accrues vacation leave
Have accrued sufficient vacation leave to cover the amount of the donation to be made (leave may not be donated prior to accrual)

B. A Recipient (receiving employee) must:

Be a staff employee* of a UCLA department
Be in a position that accrues vacation leave
Have exhausted all applicable paid leave accruals

Note: An eligible employee may receive vacation leave donations due to a catastrophically ill family or household member and/or death of a family or household member, but they must first exhaust their sick leave balance, even when doing so results in exceeding the time limits imposed on the use of sick leave for family illness and bereavement by applicable personnel policies.

IV. CRITERIA

A. Department Head: The department head (or designee) shall determine the department's process for soliciting donations to the Program. Participation in the Program is strictly voluntary.

B. Recipient: Eligible employees may receive up to 80 hours of Catastrophic Leave from the Central Bank in a twelve-month period.

Employees may not receive any University-paid or employee-paid disability benefits while receiving Catastrophic Leave because the employee is considered to be on active pay status. Donated time may be applied to the recipient’s employee-paid disability waiting period.

C. Donor: Each donation by an eligible donor must be a minimum of eight hours, with any additional hours being in whole-hour increments. When the recipient is eligible to receive fewer than eight hours, donations of less than eight hours may be made. The maximum that may be donated is 50% of the donor's vacation balance or eighty (80) hours in a twelve-month period, whichever is less.**

**In light of the devastating impact of the LA wildfires, employees may donate any number of vacation hours, provided that they maintain a minimum balance of 80 hours in their personal vacation banks.

V. DONATION PROCESS

Designated Donation: In the case of a medical emergency, an employee may donate vacation hours to an eligible individual employee by completing a Catastrophic Leave Donor Form and submitting it to their department head.

• The department is responsible for coordinating the solicitation of leave hours.
• The department is responsible for processing adjustments to the donor's and recipient's accrual balances in UCPath.

Undesignated Donation: Employees may donate accrued vacation hours to the Central Bank by completing a Donor Form and submitting it to their department head or HR representative.

• The department head authorizes the department timekeeper to reduce the employee's vacation leave balance.
• The donation form is submitted to CHR Staff Personnel Policy.

To receive donated vacation leave hours, an employee must provide appropriate verification of illness or injury from a licensed healthcare provider, or documentation of a catastrophic casualty loss suffered due to death, fire, or natural disaster, to their department.

A. The Recipient may initiate the process by submitting a Catastrophic Leave Application to their department head or HR representative. The employee must request, and the department head must approve, a leave for a specified period. Approved leaves may not be open-ended.

B. The Recipient’s department will verify that proper documentation from a licensed healthcare provider, or pertinent information validating the catastrophic casualty loss, is submitted. The department will also verify that the Recipient has exhausted (or will shortly exhaust) all paid leave accruals, and determine the number of hours necessary for the remainder of the approved catastrophic leave.

C. The Donor may also initiate the donation process by submitting a Donor Form to their department head or HR representative.

D. The department must submit the signed Recipient Application, and Donor Form(s) if applicable, to CHR Staff Personnel Policy for review and approval.

VI. TRANSFER OF VACATION LEAVE HOURS

Donations are irrevocable once the donor signs the form authorizing a deduction from their vacation leave balance, unless the designated recipient becomes ineligible to receive the donation. The department head or designee will ensure that donations meet the eligibility criteria and will deduct the donated vacation hours from the leave balance of the donor. The leave balance should be reduced using the Description of Service (DOS) code VLC so that the department does not receive a credit from the financial leave reserve account.

VII. EFFECT ON FAMILY AND MEDICAL LEAVE (FML)

Participation in the Program does not affect a recipient employee's right to FML. Time paid through this Program will be considered FML if the employee meets the eligibility requirements, and the leave has been designated as FML.

UCLA CAMPUS CATASTROPHIC LEAVE PROGRAM
Description Summary

Implementation Date	March 1, 1999 Modified January 22, 2025
Program Outline	The UCLA Catastrophic Leave Program provides temporary salary and benefit continuation for a staff employee who accrues vacation and has exhausted all applicable paid leave accruals to address a personal disaster such as a catastrophic illness or injury, care of a catastrophically ill or injured family member, the death of a family or household member, or a catastrophic casualty loss suffered due to, for example, a terrorist attack, fire, or natural disaster.
Eligibility	Eligible UCLA staff employees who accrue and can use accrued vacation. The contributing and receiving employees may be from the same department or from different departments. Additionally, employees may contribute to and receive hours from the Central Bank, which is managed by CHR Staff Personnel Policy.
Eligible Leave Credits	Accrued vacation time. Sick leave credits may not be transferred.
Minimum Donations	Each donation must be a minimum of eight (8) hours, with any additional hours for that donation in whole-hour increments. Donations of less than eight (8) hours may be made only when the recipient is eligible to receive fewer than eight (8) hours.
Maximum Donations	Generally, the maximum that may be donated is 50% of an employee's vacation balance or eighty (80) hours of accrued vacation leave in a twelve-month period, whichever is less.
Maximum Receipt of Donations	An employee may receive up to 80 hours of Catastrophic Leave from the Central Bank in a twelve-month period.
Pay Level of Donating or Receiving Employees	Contributions can be made to employees at a higher or lower pay level because donations are transferred on an hour-for-hour basis (and not on a dollar-for-dollar basis).
Department Head's (or Designee's) Responsibilities	The department head is responsible for: determining if the applicant (with appropriate verification) is eligible to participate in the Program. submitting appropriate documentation upon request to support applications made to the Central Bank; verifying that all paid leave has been exhausted; assuring that only the hours that are needed by a recipient are actually credited (as an hour-for-hour addition to his/her leave balance) and assuring that all hours granted to the recipient are used within the period specified on the request form; and ensuring that all unused hours are returned to the appropriate donor (or Central Bank).
Employee's Responsibilities*	The employee is responsible for: obtaining the appropriate verification; completing the Recipient Application and attaching the necessary documentation; and assuring that all credits requested are used within the period specified on the request form. *If the recipient is incapacitated, the Recipient Application can be completed by a department representative, a family member, or a member of the employee's household.

Campus Human Resources, Staff Personnel Policy
Phone: (310) 794-0843