19-711 LEAVE TRANSFER PROGRAM

This Regulation governs the manner in which employees may voluntarily donate sick or annual leave into a leave transfer pool for use by other employees, who have been approved as leave recipients under personal emergency circumstances.

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1. Each agency shall establish two separate leave transfer pool accounts, a sick leave transfer pool and an annual leave transfer pool.
   

2. Records and Forms

Each agency shall maintain the following records: (S.C. Code Ann. § 8-11-770)

1. Donation Request Form - The Donation Request Form shall include:

1. The employee's name;
   

2. The employing agency;
   

3. The employee's State title;
   

4. The employee's hourly rate of pay;
   

5. The number of days/hours of the leave donor's earned sick or annual leave;
   

6. The number of days/hours of sick or annual leave the employee wishes to donate to the appropriate leave transfer pool;
   

7. The date of the donation; and
   

8. The leave donor's signature.

2. Recipient Request Form - The Recipient Request Form shall include:

1. The employee's name;
   

2. The employing agency;
   

3. The employee's State title;
   

4. The employee's hourly rate of pay; and
   

5. A brief description of the nature, severity, and anticipated duration of the medical, family, or other hardship situation affecting the employee. (S.C. Code Ann. § 8-11-710)

3. Leave Restoration Form - The Leave Restoration Form shall include:

1. The name of the leave recipient;
   

2. The type of leave transferred (sick or annual);
   

3. The amount of transferred leave used;
   

4. The date the leave recipient's personal emergency or employment terminates; and
   

5. The amount of transferred leave (sick or annual) being restored to the respective pool.

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19-711.02 ANNUAL REPORTING (S.C. Code Ann. § 8-11-770)

Each agency having any donation or approved requests for leave transfer in a calendar year shall submit the following information to the Office of Human Resources (OHR):

1. Sick Leave - Total hours and cost of:

1. Sick leave donated;
   

2. Sick leave used by recipient(s); and
   

3. Sick leave restored, if any.

2. Annual Leave - Total hours and cost of:

1. Annual leave donated;
   

2. Annual leave used by recipient(s); and
   

3. Annual leave restored, if any.

3. Any additional information requested by OHR needed to evaluate the desirability, feasibility, and cost of the leave transfer program.
   

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1. An employee donating sick or annual leave to either the sick or annual leave transfer pool must do so prior to the end of the calendar year.
   
2. An employee may donate no more than one-half of the sick or annual leave he earns within a calendar year to the appropriate pool leave account for that calendar year. (S.C. Code Ann. § 8-11-730)
   
3. An employee’s leave, once transferred to a pool account, must not be restored or returned to the leave donor. (S.C. Code Ann. § 8-11-730)
   

4. Sick Leave - An employee with more than 15 days in his sick leave account may transfer sick leave to the agency’s sick leave pool if he retains a minimum of 15 days in his own sick leave account. An employee with less than 15 days in his sick leave account may not transfer any sick leave to the agency's sick leave pool. (S.C. Code Ann. § 8-11-730)
   

5. Annual Leave - An employee may voluntarily request by completing the employing agency's Donation Request Form, that a specified number of hours of his earned annual leave be transferred from his annual leave account to his employing agency's annual leave transfer pool. (S.C. Code Ann. § 8-11-730)

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An employee with a personal emergency may request sick or annual leave from the appropriate pool account by completing the employing agency's Recipient Request Form. (S.C. Code Ann. § 8-11-710) While there is no limit to the number of separate requests that an employee may submit to the employing agency, each separate request shall be limited to no more than 30 workdays.

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Under guidelines established by the Budget and Control Board, the agency head of the employing agency may, upon receiving a completed request, review all necessary information and approve recipients from within the agency to participate in the leave transfer program. Unless the personal emergency involves a medical condition affecting the leave recipients, the employing agency may consider the likely impact on morale and efficiency within the agency in approving a leave recipient to use transferred leave. (S.C. Code Ann. § 8-11-720)

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The decisions of the agency head of the employing agency are final, and there is no administrative or judicial appeal of the decisions. (S.C. Code Ann. § 8-11-720)

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1. Leave taken under this Section may qualify for the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and, if so, will run concurrently.
   

2. Under guidelines established by the Budget and Control Board, the employing agency may transfer all or any portion of the sick leave in the pool account to the sick leave account of the leave recipient, and all or any portion of the annual leave in the pool account to the annual leave account of the leave recipient. (S.C. Code Ann. § 8-11-730)
   

3. Upon approval of a request, an employee may use sick or annual leave from the appropriate pool account in the same manner and for the same purposes as if the employee had earned the leave in the manner provided by law. (S.C. Code Ann. § 8-11-740)
   

4. Sick or annual leave earned by the leave recipient must be used before using any leave from a leave transfer pool. (S.C. Code Ann. § 8-11-740)
   

5. Sick or annual leave transferred under this program may be substituted retroactively for periods of leave without pay or used to liquidate indebtedness for advanced sick leave. (S.C. Code Ann. § 8-11-740)

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1. The personal emergency affecting a leave recipient terminates when either the employing agency determines that the personal emergency no longer exists or either the leave recipient separates from employment. (S.C. Code Ann. § 8-11-750 (A))
   

2. The employing agency shall monitor continuously the status of the personal emergency affecting the leave recipient and establish procedures to ensure that the leave recipient is not permitted to receive or use transferred sick or annual leave from a pool account after the personal emergency terminates. (S.C. Code Ann. § 8-11-750)
   

3. When the personal emergency terminates, the employing agency may not grant further requests for transfer of leave to the leave recipient's leave account. (S.C. Code Ann. § 8-11-750)  When the personal emergency affecting a leave recipient terminates, any transferred sick or annual leave remaining must be restored to the appropriate pool account by completing a Leave Restoration Form. (S.C. Code Ann. § 8-11-760)
   

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Transferred sick or annual leave from a pool account remaining when the leave recipient separates from employment must be restored to the appropriate pool account by the completion of a Leave Restoration Form. Upon separation from employment, transferred leave from a pool account must not be transferred to another employee, included in a lump sum payment for earned leave, or included in the leave recipient's total service for retirement computation purposes. (S.C. Code Ann. § 8-11-740)

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