The university’s current shared leave program provides employee-donated leave to UGA employees who are experiencing critical illnesses or life-threatening injuries. In the program procedures, employees may donate sick or annual leave to other employees in need of leave for certain health-related reasons.
In response to recent changes in the University System of Georgia shared leave program, UGA has made changes to its program and more are to come. Effective Jan. 1:
• Shared leave may be received for eligible “serious medical conditions” as defined by the Family Medical Leave Act. As an example, routine childbirth qualifies as a serious medical condition.
• Shared leave can be used to care for family members, as defined by FMLA rules: spouse, child or parent.
• The FMLA medical forms will be used by the shared leave program to determine shared leave eligibility for employees or their family members.
Effective July 1, UGA will transition to a donated leave “pool,” instead of the current requirement to name a specific recipient for donated leave. New rules will apply to all facets of the program and will be posted for review no later than May 1.
Significant additional changes to the program effective July 1:
• Participation in the new shared leave program will require a minimum eight-hour donation of sick leave during the annual open enrollment period, to receive shared leave in the future.
• Eligible employees may receive up to 480 hours (pro-rated for part-time employees) of shared leave per calendar year.
• Sick leave only may be donated; annual leave cannot be donated.
The revised Jan. 1 program guidelines are posted at http://www.hr.uga.edu/shared-leave.
Questions may be directed to benefits@uga.edu or 706-542-2222.