Catastrophic Leave

General Information | Processing Instructions | Personnel Documentation | References

Overview

The Catastrophic Leave Donation Program allows any CSU employee who accrues vacation or sick leave credits to voluntarily donate either of those credits to any other eligible CSU employee on the same campus in the event of a catastrophic illness or injury. The maximum amount of sick leave and vacation credits an employee may donate will vary based upon the respective collective bargaining agreement and CSU policy. Donated catastrophic leave credits supplements disability benefits an employee is eligible to receive, including IDL, TD and NDI. In some circumstances, an employee may be ineligible for NDI and IDL, but will be eligible for catastrophic leave. A disabled employee may participate as a recipient in the Catastrophic Leave Donation Program upon exhausting all personal leave credits and meeting the criteria developed by each campus under the guidelines set forth in the reference guides listed above. Represented and non-represented employees of the CSU may use leave credits donated by employees of the same campus to supplement benefits under these programs. Supplementation may be on a partial or full basis, but is not to exceed the employees gross monthly salary rate.

General Information

1. Prior to receiving catastrophic leave donations, an employee must exhaust all types of paid leave credits. This includes sick leave, vacation, CTO, personal holiday (refer to respective bargaining agreements and CSU policies), and any other type of leave credits that would be used to remain on active pay status. The only exception to this rule is employees on IDL, who are allowed to use vacation or sick leave credits while participating in the Catastrophic Leave program. S/he may use these credits after the date of injury or the first day of disability, if different. Refer to the reference guides listed above for further information.

2. Catastrophic leave recipients accrue leave credits at their normal rate for all qualifying pay periods. During catastrophic leave periods, the disabled employees leave credits must be used as accrued. The recipient may not use donated leave without also exhausting any newly accrued leave credits.

3. Any employee who accrues sick leave and/or vacation credits may donate leave credits to employees who are eligible to receive leave donations on the same campus, regardless of bargaining unit, represented or non-represented. The maximum amount of sick leave and/or vacation credits an employee may donate in a given fiscal year period is based upon their respective collective bargaining agreement or CSU policy in the case of non-represented employees. In determining the donation limit per fiscal year, the controlling date is when the donation is pledged, regardless of when the credits are actually used by the recipient employee.

4. Employees in student assistant, graduate assistant or other classes that do not accrue sick leave or vacation are not eligible to participate in the catastrophic leave donation program.

5. If an employee is eligible for NDI, catastrophic leave should be used only to supplement the NDI. The employee cannot waive NDI at his/her option and then apply for catastrophic leave donations. Catastrophic leave may be used by an employee who is ineligible for NDI (e.g. because he/she is part-time temporary). The campus may use discretion in allowing the use of catastrophic leave when an employee has applied for a disability benefit but that benefit is pending approval.

6. If catastrophic leave is being paid without supplementing NDI, IDL or TD, no payroll input is required; it is viewed as "regular" pay. While there are internal record keeping tasks related to the use of leave credits, there is no requirement that impacts payroll input.

7. Service credit towards retirement, service increase eligibility, seniority and other employment provisions are typically not interrupted by the use of catastrophic leave, as the donated credits are considered as regular pay.

8. Because IDL payments are already subject to retirement with the computation based on the employees "full pay," and reported to CalPERS for full service credits, any supplement to IDL is excluded from CalPERS retirement contributions. In all other cases, the employee and the CSU pay CalPERS retirement contributions based on the donated leave, the same as for regular pay.

9. Probationary employees do NOT earn credit toward permanent status while on catastrophic leave. The collective bargaining agreements usually specify that an employees probationary period is extended for periods of Workers Compensation, IDL, and NDI or paid sick leave in excess of 30 days. Refer to the respective collective bargaining agreement for detailed information. Donated leave should be treated in the same manner as paid sick leave in determining whether or not there has been a break in service for this purpose.

10. If an academic year employee supplements NDI with catastrophic leave, July and August payments (for semester campuses) would generally not require an adjustment because the employee receives full pay during the catastrophic leave period. Also, a year-end calculation (settlement) is not required unless there was a period of leave without pay or partial pay.

11. Faculty Early Retirement Program (FERP) participants who have a leave balance are eligible to donate credits at any time, even during their scheduled non-work periods. FERP participants may receive and use donations only during scheduled work periods. FERP participants may receive more donated time than their current 160 hour maximum accrual of sick leave, however, they may use donated time only during their normally scheduled work periods.

12. The monthly rate of compensation will be based upon the salary rate of the employees regular position. Additional or overtime employment, such as teaching extension, summer session, or an extra quarter assignment is not considered part of the regular monthly rate of compensation for this purpose.

Processing Instructions

The following provides PIMS transaction completion guidelines. Specific inquiries should be directed to the SCO Disability Unit.

1. Nonindustrial Disability Leave (NDI)

A.   To NDI Sick Leave or Vacation Subsidy

Refer to Transaction S49. All requirements apply, but note the following:

Item 957 = Code 40

The presence of this code on the S49 is the SCO authorization to pay the subsidy. The code remains on the employees record whether or not there is enough donated time to cover the entire period of disability.

Item 215 = NDI-SUBSIDY

B.   Partial Return to Work

Refer to Transaction A57. All requirements apply, but note the following:

Item 215 = NDI-SUB 957-22 (Required if still receiving NDI benefits.)

Item 405 = Time base that employee is to work. If unknown how the employee will be working (e.g., may work staggered hours each week), enter INT and change Item 310 to H.  

Item 957 = Code 40

The presence of this code on the A57 is the SCO authorization to pay the subsidy. The code remains on the employees record whether or not there is enough donated time to cover the entire period of disability.

C.   Full Return to Work

When the employee returns to work full time, see A57 Transaction. When an academic year employee is to be reinstated in a month with no academic calendar, time must be entered per the state pay period calendar. If NON is entered, no pay will issue. All requirements apply, but note the following:

Item 957 = Code 41

D.   NDI/Catastrophic Leave Extended

Refer to Transaction 645 .  All requirements apply, but note the following:

Item 210 = Same as Item 645 on S49 Transaction.

Item 215  = EXTNDI 957=22 (because only one code is allowable in Item 957)

Item 957 = Code 40

E. CRO, General Salary Increase, Service Related Increase

CSU Audits will post GEN and CRO transactions to employees with Item 957, Code 40.Campuses are responsible for processing MSA transactions for employees eligible for a service related increase. CSU Audits will notify the campus when a service related increase is due, based on the employees Anniversary Date (Item 330). If the employee has enough qualifying time to receive a service related increase, process the MSA Transaction, with Item 957, Code 40. If the employee does not have qualifying time, process a Transaction 715 to change the Anniversary Date (Item 330) with Item 957, Code 40 and enter N mm/yy in Item 715. If the service related increase is to be denied, process a Transaction 330 with Item 957, Code 40.

NOTE: If the campus enters a CRO, GEN or MSA, Item 957=40 must be entered.

2. Industrial Disability Leave/Temporary Disability (IDL - TD)

A.   To IDL/TD Sick Leave or Vacation Subsidy

Refer to Transaction 565. All requirements apply, but note the following:

Item 957 = Code 40

The presence of this code on the Transaction 565 is the SCO authorization to pay the subsidy. The code remains on the employees record whether or not there is enough donated time to cover the entire period of disability.

Item 215 = "IDL-SUBSIDY" or "TD-SUBSIDY" as appropriate.

B.   Return from IDL/TD

Refer to Transaction 565 . All required items apply, but note the following:

Item 957 = Code 41

Personnel Documentation

The primary systemwide goal is to ensure an accurate record of solicited and donated time, keeping required paperwork to a manageable minimum. Sample Solicitation Petition and Election forms are provided at the end of this section, and they are to be considered official Personnel documents. Campuses may reformat or add additional information to the form if needed.

1.   Solicitation Petition Form

This form is signed by the donor. The donors social security number (SSN) is requested on the petition. However, in the event the donor does not wish to indicate his/her SSN on the circulated petition, the donor may opt to file an individual petition with the Personnel or Payroll office, as appropriate.

2.   "ELECTION" Form

This form is signed by the recipient to acknowledge receipt of the donated time and to specify how the time should be distributed. One copy of the recipients election should be filed with the petition; a second copy should be filed with other pertinent NDI/IDL/TD forms.

3.   Leave Accrual Records

These records contain information recorded from the petition and the election forms for both the donor and the recipient. The symbol for recording donated leave is "DT". Donated credits must be distinguished from personally used sick leave or vacation credits of the donor, and the donors sick leave or vacation balance is reduced accordingly.

• For the recipient, the total amount of donated time is recorded separately and is reduced each month by the number of hours used to generate financial augmentation.

• It is not necessary to record donated time on the Absence Request (F634) or other attendance reports. Once the leave credits have been donated, they lose their identity as "sick" versus "vacation" time.

4.   Calculating Subsidy and Donated Hours

The maximum subsidy and number of hours required for full subsidy will vary, depending upon (1) the number of calendar days in a month, (2) the number of days in the pay period, (3) the employees salary rate, (4) whether or not the employee is entitled to regular pay, and (5) the number of days on NDI/IDL/TD when the effective dates will not coincide with the beginning or end of a pay period. General instructions are based upon a full pay supplementation:

1. Multiply the daily NDI/IDL/TD rate by the number of approved NDI/IDL/TD days in the calendar month. The amount, rounded to two decimals, is the maximum amount available for subsidy for that specific pay period. If "regular" time is included in the pay period, compute the gross pay and subtract the NDI/IDL/TD benefit from the gross pay. The result is the "reduced" subsidy amount available for that specific pay period.

2. Determine the hourly rate of pay. Divide the monthly salary rate by the number of hours in the pay period and round to two decimals. For non-academic employees, there will be 168 or 176 hours in a given pay period, depending on whether the pay period is 21 or 22 days, respectively. For academic employees, multiply the number of days in the academic pay period by 8 to determine the number of hours (8 hours is used as the generic number of hours within a given work day for subsidy purposes).

3. Divide the amount of the subsidy by the hourly rate and round to two decimals. The result, rounded to the nearest whole dollar, is the number of hours the employee would be paid as a subsidy to NDI/IDL/TD benefits and the number of hours to be deducted from the donated balance. For payroll reporting purposes, the SCO requires that hours be converted to days/hours based upon an eight-hour workday.

Example 1, Part 1:

March 2002 is a 21 day pay period (168 hours), 31 calendar days; NDI rate is $35.71429 per calendar day, based on $250.00 per week ($250/7). The three employees are in bargaining units 1, 2, 5, 7 or 9. NDI is authorized for the full month.

Example 1, Part 2:

April 2002 is a 22-day pay period (176 hours); 30 calendar days; NDI rate is $35.71429 per calendar day. NDI is authorized for the full month for the same three employees.

Example 1, Part 3:

Assume the six month period of disability has three 31 calendar days per month, (21 day pay periods), and three 30 calendar days per month (22 day pay periods). The number of donated hours required for full subsidy would be:

Employee A: (3 x 65) + (3 x 71) = 408 hours

Employee B: (3 x 109) + (3 x 116) = 675 hours

Employee C: (3 x 123) + (3 x 130) = 759 hours

If a fewer number of hours have been donated, the employee may elect to receive the maximum subsidy until the donated time is exhausted, then revert to straight NDI payments; OR s/he may elect to be paid a reduced monthly subsidy over the (six month) period of disability to maintain a consistent income. For example, if only 500 hours are donated to Employee B, s/he could opt to be paid either the maximum amount for the first three months, the unused balance during the fourth month, then revert to straight NDI for the remainder of the disability period, OR appropriate approximately 83 hours per month for the entire period.

Example 2:

When an employee on NDI subsidy returns to work on a part-time basis, the NDI amount and actual wages earned should be subtracted from the monthly salary rate to determine the maximum subsidy, which is then divided by the hourly rate to determine the number of donated hours needed for the subsidy:

Example 3 - Academic Year Employees:

There are 31 calendar days for the month. The NDI rate is $125.00 per week, $17.85714 per calendar day. NDI is authorized for the full month.

5.  Estimating The Amount Of Donated Time Required For Full NDI/IDL/TD Subsidy

A separate calculation to determine the number of hours needed for each pay period is required as described above. Once the calculations have been made for each pay period, add the number of hours required for each pay period. The total is the number of hours to be entered on the recipients Election form and the donors Petition form.

References

Collective Bargaining Agreements

Technical Letter HR/Benefits 92-19 and applicable updates

CSU NDI and IDL Administrative Guidebooks

SCO Payroll Procedures Manual, Section E

Last Updated: November 17, 2008