5406P: Leave Sharing

1. The staff member suffers from, or has a relative or household member suffering from, an extraordinary or severe illness, injury, impairment or physical or mental condition or who has been called to service in the uniform services which has caused, or is likely to cause, the staff member to:
   1. Go on leave-without-pay status; or
   2. Terminate his/her employment;
2. The staff member’s absence and the use of shared leave are justified by documentation;
3. The staff member has depleted, or will shortly deplete, his/her annual leave and sick leave reserves;
4. The staff member has abided by district rules regarding sick leave use; and
5. The staff member has diligently pursued and been found to be ineligible to receive industrial insurance benefits.

The superintendent or designee shall determine the amount of leave, if any, which a staff member may receive under this policy. However, a staff member shall not receive more leave than the number of contracted days remaining in the current school year. In the event that the condition requiring the employee’s absence continues beyond the current school year, the employee shall not receive a total of more than 261 days of donated leave during total district employment.

1. A staff member who accrues annual leave and sick leave may request that the superintendent or designee transfer sick leave to a person authorized to receive shared leave, or to the districts shared leave pool. A donating staff member must retain a minimum of 176 hours of sick leave after the transfer;
2. A staff member who does not accrue annual leave but who has an accrued sick leave balance of more than twenty-two (22) days may request that the superintendent or designee transfer a specified amount of sick leave to another person authorized to receive such leave, or to the district’s shared leave pool. A staff member may not request a transfer that would result in an accrued sick leave balance of fewer than twenty-two (22) days. Sick leave as defined in RCW 28A.400.300 means leaves for illness, injury and emergencies;
3. The number of leave days transferred will not exceed the amount authorized by the donating staff member; and
4. Any leave donated by a staff member that remains unused will be returned to the donor. To the extent administratively feasible, leave transferred by more than one staff member will be returned on pro-rata basis.