| Brevard County (Florida) |
| Administrative Procedures |
1420 - SICK LEAVE TRANSFER
Statute
F.S. 1012.61 provides that "Each district school system must provide a policy under which a district employee may authorize his or her spouse, child, parent, or sibling who is also a district employee to use sick leave that has accrued to the authorizing employee. In developing the policy, the district school board must provide that the recipient may not use the donated sick leave until all of his or her sick leave has been depleted, excluding sick leave from a sick leave pool, if the recipient participates in a sick leave pool. Donated sick leave under this paragraph shall have no terminal value as provided in 1012.61."
Overview
During the 2001 legislative session changes were made to F.S. 1012.61 that provided conditions to allow the use of employees' sick leave by their family members who were also District employees. The language provided restrictions regarding the definition of family members, required the receiving employee to deplete all leave prior to using the leave from their family member, and did not allow such transferred leave to be included in any retirement pay.
The sick leave transfer procedure provides that:
| A. | staff may only transfer leave to their spouse, child, parent, or sibling who is also a District employee; | |
| B. | sick leave may be transferred only if it has been earned ("upfront days or escrowed days" may not be transferred); | |
| C. | staff must use all available paid sick leave prior to using any leave transferred under this policy; | |
| D. | requests for the transfer of leave will not be processed retroactively; | |
| E. | leave will be transferred in no less than blocks of five (5) days; | |
| For purposes of this procedure, day is defined as the number of regular work hours specified by the transferring employee's contract or assignment. | ||
| F. | leave will be limited to the maximum number of scheduled workdays in a fiscal year for the receiving employee and may be submitted annually; | |
| G. | transferred leave may only be used for personal illness or the illness of immediate family members as verified by a Florida licensed medical practitioner; | |
| H. | unused transferred leave will not be returned to the transferring employee except in the event of retirement or death of the receiving employee; | |
| I. | transferred leave shall not be used for personal leave charged to sick purposes; | |
| J. | the use of sick leave transfer shall prohibit the participation in the sick leave buy-back program for the year in which the sick leave transfer is used. |
Procedures
The purpose of this procedure is to provide information and instructions relative to the transfer of sick leave to a family member.
Transfer of Sick Leave to another Employee who is a Family Member
An employee may transfer earned and credited sick leave to his/her spouse, sister, brother, parent, or child who is also employed by the District. Sick leave transfer between employees is provided for the purpose of extending paid sick leave time in the event of a personal illness or the illness of an immediate family member (as defined by the statute and verified by a Florida licensed medical practitioner).
To transfer leave:
| A. | The employee who is transferring the leave must initiate the process by completing and submitting Form 1420 F1 - Request for Transfer of Family Member Sick Leave. | |
| B. | Form 1420 F1 - Request for Transfer of Family Member Sick Leave must be completed in all areas. Special attention should be made to the number of hours transferred. Hours must be transferred in no less than blocks of five (5) days. | |
| For example: The receiving employee works six (6) hours per day. The transferring employee will transfer thirty (30) hours of sick leave (5 days x 6 hours = 30 hours). The maximum number of sick leave days that may be transferred shall be limited to the number of remaining workdays in the current fiscal year of the receiving employee. Additional leave may be transferred in subsequent fiscal years by making annual transfer requests. | ||
| C. | The employee who is transferring the leave must also submit documentation verified by a Florida licensed medical practitioner. Please contact your school/department secretary for assistance and further explanation/information. | |
| Submit properly completed forms to your school/department administrator or designee. Your school/department administrator or designee will process all requests within ten (10) working days of receipt of the completed documents. Credit of transferred sick leave will only be processed prospectively from the date of the receipt of the documents in the Payroll Department. Requests shall not be processed retroactively. | ||
| The school/department administrators or designees must forward the request for leave transfer to payroll no less than ten (10) days prior to the intended use of the transferred leave. The Payroll Department will complete the appropriate sections of Form 1420 F1 - Request for Transfer of Family Member Sick Leave and properly adjust the sick leave balances for each employee. Copies of the completed forms will be sent to the transferring and receiving employees and the respective school/department administrator or designee. |
| 1. | Earned and credited sick leave shall be defined as sick leave hours added to the employee's sick leave balance at the end of each payroll period in which the leave is earned. (This excludes the use of "upfront or escrow" days.) | ||
| 2. | "Upfront or escrow" days are defined as sick leave days credited to employees before they are earned. Typically these days are the days that would normally be earned in February, March, April, and May for instructional staff and March, April, May, and June for support staff. Typically these days are those which are credited annually to the employee's first month of employment as provided in F.S. 1012.61. | ||
| 3. | Sick leave will be transferred in no less than blocks of five (5) days. Days will be converted to hours that are proportional to the number of hours the receiving employee works per day. (Example: The receiving employee works six (6) hours. The transferring employee will transfer thirty (30) hours of sick leave (5 days x 6 hours = 30 hours).) |
The administrator or designee of the receiving employee is responsible for ensuring that the leave transferred is used consistent with the provisions/restrictions of Board policy.
| A. | The sick leave will be available for use upon approval of a properly completed request for transfer and depletion of all of the receiving employee's leave. | |
| B. | Sick leave transfer between employees is provided for the purpose of extending paid sick leave time in the event of a personal illness or the illness of an immediate family member (as defined by Board policy and verified by a Florida licensed medical practitioner). The documentation provided by a Florida licensed medical practitioner is required and will accompany the sick leave transfer request (Form 1420 F1) to document the personal illness or the illness of a family member. | |
| C. | Transferred sick leave shall only be reinstated to the transferring employee in the event of the death or termination of the receiving employee. Requests for reinstatement of unused sick leave shall be made through the Payroll Department. |
Appeals Process:
The Sick Leave Bank Committee, which comprises members of the bargaining and non-bargaining units, shall serve as the final authority for all matters pertaining to the appeals process for sick leave transfer. Decisions and actions of the committee shall not be subject to any grievance procedure. An employee who wishes to request the committee to review its decision may submit such request in writing to the committee within fourteen (14) calendar days following the employee's notification of such decision. Such written request shall set forth the employee's reasons why such decision should be altered. A decision, if reviewed, shall not be reviewed a second time.
Approved 11/03