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<br /> <br />City of Elk River <br />REQUEST FOR COUNCIL ACTION <br />Agenda Section Meeting Date <br />Administration March 6, 2006 <br />Item Description <br />Sick Leave Donation Polic <br /> <br />Item Number <br />6.6. <br /> <br />Prepared by <br />Lori ohnson, Ci Administrator <br />Reviewed by <br /> <br />Introduction <br />The City does not have a leave donation policy that allows employees to donate leave to another <br />employee who is off work due to a serious illness or accident and has exhausted all of his/her leave time. <br />Employees have been asking about donating leave to a city employee seriously injured recendy in an <br />accident who will be exhausting his leave time before he is able to return to work. <br /> <br />Discussion <br />This question has come up before including the last time the personnel policy was revised. However, it <br />has never come before the Council for consideration. There are a very few instances when the policy <br />would apply; unfortunately, now is one of those times which is why the question is being raised by <br />employees now. <br /> <br />Many cities have a policy that allows employees to donate either sick, vacation, or compensatory time to a <br />fellow employee who has experienced a catastrophic accident or major illness. Some cities pay for long <br />and or short term disability for their employees in lieu of or in conjunction with a leave donation <br />program. <br /> <br />Elk River does not pay for long or short term disability insurance for its employees. Instead, it is made <br />available at employee expense on a voluntary basis through group plans offered by the City. The long <br />term disability policy does not start until 90 days after the disability. <br /> <br />If the Council agrees that a leave donation policy is needed, there are many ways to structure it. Some <br />cities require employees to donate equal amounts of vacation and sick leave, some only allow vacation <br />time, while others allow just sick time. Each employee is allowed to donate a maximum number of hours, <br />and the employee receiving the donation is allowed to receive a maximum number of hours. For <br />instance, each employee could donate eight hours of sick leave and the employee receiving the donation <br />could receive a maximum of 240 hours. The leave runs simultaneously with Family and Medical Leave <br />Act leave. Employees need to have used all of their leave time including vacation, compensatory time, <br />eligible holiday, and sick time before becoming eligible for donated leave. The hours donated are paid to <br />the recipient at his/her current rate of pay. <br /> <br />Financiallmoact <br />There is an expense to this program because the City would be paying for leave time that may not <br />otherwise be paid. If vacation and compensatory leave is donated, there will be no additional expense. <br />Since only a small portion of sick leave is paid at termination to long term employees, most sick leave <br />donated would be an expense to the City that would not otherwise be incurred. <br /> <br />S:\Council\Lori\2006\Sick Leave Donation Policy.doc <br />