Sharing the Abundance: Staff Donate Vacation Time

LEXINGTON, Ky. (May 3, 2010) – Every year there are University of Kentucky staff employees who, due to prolonged illness or other adverse circumstances, exhaust the paid leave time allotted to them.

In 2007 the UK Staff Senate and UK Human Resources collaborated to create a way fellow employees can help.  Throughout the month of May, staff members may donate accrued vacation time to the UK Staff Shared Leave Pool.

Since its inception, more than 350 employees have donated more than 8,400 hours of accrued vacation leave to the Staff Shared Leave Pool, and employees in need have used more than 6,300 hours of that donated time.

In May of each year, UK staff employees may donate up to five days of their unused vacation leave to the pool. Time must be donated in units of one full day of vacation leave.

Donated time does not expire. Instead, it remains as part of the pool until someone in need uses it.

Certain eligibility criteria apply to those university employees applying to use leave time in the Staff Shared Leave Pool. Regular status employees with an assignment of 0.5 FTE or greater who have exhausted all their paid leave because of a catastrophic illness or injury are eligible to apply for the benefit. Other criteria may also apply.

To request this benefit, employees must complete an application form, which is available on the Staff Shared Leave Pool website. Applications are reviewed by a dedicated Shared Leave Pool committee of staff representatives.

For complete details, including application, eligibility criteria and donation forms, visit: http://www.uky.edu/HR/emprel/SharedLeavePoolOverview.html.

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