Appendix III – UCLA Campus Catastrophic Leave Program

I. INTRODUCTION

The UCLA Campus Catastrophic Leave Program ("Program") provides temporary salary and benefit continuation for a staff employee who accrues vacation and who has exhausted all 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; or
A catastrophic casualty loss suffered due to, for example, a terrorist attack, fire, or natural disaster.

The Program allows employees to donate vacation leave to the Campus Central Catastrophic Leave Bank ("Central Bank") or to staff employees who do not have sufficient accumulated 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.

II. DEFINITIONS

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

B. Catastrophic Casualty Loss: a situation in which a staff employee is unable to 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 sick leave, vacation, compensatory time off (CTO), and blood donation paid administrative leave. For purposes of this Program, only accrued vacation hours may be donated.

E. Recipient: an employee who is eligible to accrue and use vacation, has exhausted all paid leave accruals, and is in need of extending their salary and benefits temporarily.

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

III. QUALIFYING SITUATIONS

A. The Donor (donating employee) must:

Be an 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. The Recipient (receiving employee) must:

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

NOTE: An eligible employee may receive vacation leave donations for the purpose of 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 methodology for soliciting donations to the Program. Participation in the Program is strictly voluntary.

B. Recipient: Generally, eligible employees may receive a maximum of 160 hours of Catastrophic Leave in a twelve-month period, up to 80 hours of which may come from the Central Bank.

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 (8) hours, with any additional hours being in whole-hour increments. When the recipient is eligible to receive fewer than eight (8) hours, donations of less than eight (8) 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. Donations may be made to individual employees or to the Central Bank.

V. ELIGIBILITY

All campus staff employees who are eligible to accrue and use vacation leave are eligible to participate in the Program. Exclusively represented employees who meet the criteria may participate in the program to the extent provided in the applicable collective bargaining agreements. 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 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 or are available from the Central Bank.

VI. METHOD OF DONATING VACATION HOURS

Designated Donation: 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 head is responsible for coordinating the solicitation for leave donations (if applicable).
• The department is responsible for processing adjustments to the donor's and recipient's accrual balances.

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

• 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.

VII. PROCESS, VERIFICATION AND APPROVAL

In order to receive any donated vacation leave hours, the employee must provide appropriate verification of illness or injury from a licensed health care provider, or documentation of the catastrophic casualty loss suffered due to death, fire, or natural disaster to their department head.

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

B. The recipient’s department will verify that proper documentation from a licensed health care provider, or pertinent information validating the catastrophic casualty loss, is submitted. The department will also verify that the intended recipient has exhausted (or will very 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.

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

VIII. 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.

IX. 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 May 12, 2023
Program Outline	The UCLA Catastrophic Leave Program provides temporary salary and benefit continuation for a staff employee who accrues vacation and who has exhausted all 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	All UCLA staff employees who accrue and are eligible to use accrued vacation. The contributing and receiving employees may be from the same department or from different departments. Additionally, employees may contribute 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	The maximum that may be donated is 50% of their 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 a maximum of 160 hours vacation in each twelve-month period, up to 80 hours of which may come from the Campus Central Catastrophic Leave Bank.
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.