Any employee of Jackson State University may donate a portion of his or her earned personal leave or major medical leave to another employee of the University who is suffering from a catastrophic injury or illness, or to an employee who has a member of his or her immediate family who is suffering from a catastrophic injury or illness. Immediate family members under this policy are defined as spouse, parent (includes spouse), brother, sister, child, step-child, step-parents (includes spouse).
As defined in the MS Code § 25-3-91, Catastrophic injury or illness means a life threatening injury or illness of an employee or a member of the employee's immediate family which totally incapacitates the employee from work, as verified by a licensed physician, and forces the employee to exhaust all leave time earned by that employee, resulting in the loss of compensation from the state for the employee. Chronic illnesses or injuries, such as cancer or major surgery, which result in intermittent absences from work and are long-term in nature and require a long recuperation period may be considered catastrophic. Conditions that are short-term in nature, including, but not limited to, common illnesses such as influenza and the measles, and common injuries, are not catastrophic.
Recipient Employee Information:
In order for a Jackson State University employee to be eligible to receive donated leave (recipient employee), the employee must:
- Have been employed for a total of at least 12 months on the date on which the leave is donated
- Have been employed for at least 1250 hours during the previous 12 months
- An employee must have exhausted all of his or her earned personal leave and medical leave before he or she will be eligible to receive any donated leave by another employee
Before an eligible employee may receive donated leave, he or she must provide Human Resources with a physician’s statement that includes the following:
- The beginning date of the catastrophic injury or illness
- A description of the injury or illness
- A prognosis for recovery
- The anticipated date that the recipient employee will be able to return to work.
Employees may not use donated leave in lieu of disability retirement nor may they use donated leave for a period in excess of ninety (90) days without resuming work. Donated leave in excess of ninety (90) days or in excess of the anticipated return to work date will be returned to the donor employee. Unused donated leave will be pro-rated back to donor employees. Employees should have returned to work for at least 6 months before the employee is eligible to receive donated leave again.
Donor Employee Information:
The employee donating the leave (the “donor employee”) shall designate the employee who is to receive the leave (the “recipient employee”) and the amount of earned personal leave and/or major medical leave that is to be donated, and shall notify the donor employee’s immediate supervisor or the department head of his or her designation by completing and submitting the Donor/Recipient Leave Request Form. The donor and recipient shall sign the appropriate form and secure signature approval from both the donor and recipient supervisors.
Employees who are donating leave (donor employee) to another employee may not:
- Donate personal leave in an amount that would result in the donor employee having less than seven (7) days of personal leave
- Donate more than 50 percent of their (donor employee) earned major medical leave balance
- Donate less than twenty-four (24) hours of leave
- Donate leave to any employee of an agency (other than JSU) that has more than 500 employees
- Donate leave after they have tendered notice of separation and/or termination.
Jackson State University employees may also donate leave to approved recipients of other Mississippi state agencies if such agency has fewer than 500 employees.