MEDICAL LEAVE ASSISTANCE PROGRAM

Purpose: The purpose of a medical leave assistance bank is to provide additional benefit time (Medical Paid Time Off: MPTO) to eligible employees who have suffered a serious non-work related illness or injury and who have exhausted all their sick and PTO time. The leave bank, however, is not intended to cover all types of absences for which an employee has insufficient leave.

Eligibility to Donate: Participation in the Program is available to full time and part time regular employees,who accrue PTO.

Donation Process: An employee wishing to donate PTO will complete a Medical Leave Assistance Donation Form. PTO must be donated in hour-increments and will be processed the last pay period of each month or during a specific period of request for donations. There is no limit as to how much time an employee may donate but the employee must retain a balance of 20 hours of PTO after donation. Donations are voluntary and will not be returned.

Eligibility to receive donations: A full time or part time regular employee who:

1)Has exhausted sick time and PTO and is not receiving short term disability or long term disability benefits; and

2)Hashis/her own serious, non-work related illness or injury requiring inpatient care or continuing treatment of a health care providerthat meetsFMLA criteria; and

3)Is in good standing, i.e. does not have a written or final written warning in file for the last 6 months.

Bank PTO time will not be used for:

  1. Routine Maternity/Paternity leave following childbirth
  2. Elective surgery
  3. Intermittent leave or short term illness

Request Process by Eligible Employees:

  1. An employee must complete a Request for Medical Leave Assistance Form and submit to Human Resources.
  2. In the event that an employee is not able to complete said Request Form due to the severity of his or her non-work related illness or injury, a designee may complete the form.
  3. All requests must be accompanied by a completed Certification of Health Care Provider for Employee’s Serious Health Condition
  4. Requests must be made by the employee or designee no later than ten working days after all accrued benefit time has been exhausted.
  5. The number of MPTO hours an employee may request should equal the number of hours of their regular work week up to a maximum of two work weeks within a 12 month period, i.e. an employee who is regularly scheduled to work 32 hours may request 32 hours of MPTO or, if necessary, 64 hours of MPTO. A 40-hour per week employee may request 40 hours up to a maximum of 80 hours.

How Requests will be Processed

  1. Requests will be processed in the order in which they are received.
  2. The Human Resources Manager or designee will review a request to ensure it meets all eligibility criteria and will sign off on the form indicating whether it has been approved and notify the employee.
  3. If HR determines that the number of hours in the bank is insufficient, an email notice will be sent letting employees know that there has been an approved request to the Bank and that the agency is accepting PTO donations. No specific names or situations will be shared. Employees may not use agency resources, such as postings, email or phone lines to solicit PTO donationsfor themselves or other employees consistent with MHA’s No Solicitation Policy.
  4. If the recipient returns to work sooner than expected and therefore does not need to use the full amount of MPTO approved, the MPTO will remain in the Bank.

Granting requests for MPTO time is dependent on availability in the Bank. MHA cannot guarantee donations, but every effort will be made to maintain an adequate number of hours in the Bank.

MHA is committed to offering this program for two years. Its feasibility and utilization will be assessed within one year of implementation to determine the need for any changes. After two years, it will be assessed again to determine if it will continue. MHA reserves the right to amend language of this policy as needed for clarification purposes.

SHRMedical Leave Assistance Program032013