PRINTER'S NO. 510
No. 473 Session of 2001
INTRODUCED BY WOZNIAK, LAVALLE, COSTA, TARTAGLIONE, MUSTO,
M. WHITE, BOSCOLA, SCHWARTZ, MELLOW, RHOADES, WILLIAMS AND
STACK, FEBRUARY 15, 2001
REFERRED TO LABOR AND INDUSTRY, FEBRUARY 15, 2001
AN ACT
1 Providing for the creation of voluntary leave pools for
2 employees of the Commonwealth.
3 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
4 hereby enacts as follows:
5 Section 1. Short title.
6 This act shall be known and may be cited as the Commonwealth
7 Catastrophic Leave Pool Act.
8 Section 2. Findings and declaration of policy.
9 (a) Findings.--The General Assembly finds and declares as
10 follows:
11 (1) Catastrophic life events involving personal illness
12 or family-related emergencies have a significant impact
13 within the workplace.
14 (2) Public and private entities have found success in
15 the creation of programs allowing employees to donate leave
16 time to colleagues who have exhausted all of their leave time
17 as a result of illness or family event.
1 (3) Congress has enacted legislation enabling Federal
2 employees to voluntarily contribute leave time to fellow
3 deserving employees.
4 (4) Under a variety of configurations, 17 states have
5 established leave pool policies to assist employees.
6 (b) Policy.--It is hereby declared to be the policy of this
7 Commonwealth to promote the health, welfare and quality of life
8 of the individuals employed by the Commonwealth by authorizing
9 the creation of catastrophic leave pools for employees in need.
10 Section 3. Definitions.
11 The following words and phrases when used in this act shall
12 have the meanings given to them in this section unless the
13 context clearly indicates otherwise:
14 "Employee." An individual employed by a State agency for a
15 minimum of one year.
16 "Immediate family." The employee's spouse, child, stepchild,
17 grandchild, grandparent or parent.
18 "Leave pool." A catastrophic leave pool established to
19 accumulate and disburse voluntarily and irrevocably contributed
20 leave time from State employees for the purpose of providing
21 sick leave to eligible employees.
22 "Pool administrator." The individual appointed by the
23 governing body of the State agency to administer the agency's
24 leave pool.
25 "State agency." Any commission, committee, council or
26 department of the executive or legislative branches of the State
27 government.
28 Section 4. Establish catastrophic leave pool.
29 (a) Transfer of leave.--The governing body of a State agency
30 shall, through the establishment of a program, allow an employee
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1 to voluntarily transfer to a leave pool annual, sick or personal
2 leave earned by the employee.
3 (b) Administration.--The pool administrator shall administer
4 the leave pool.
5 Section 5. Contribution to leave pool.
6 (a) Request.--An employee of a State agency may request in
7 writing that a specified number of hours of the employee's
8 accrued annual, sick or personal leave be transferred to the
9 leave pool.
10 (b) Restriction.--An employee may not transfer to the leave
11 pool any hours of leave if the balance of the employee's annual
12 and personal leave after the transfer is less than 120 hours.
13 (c) Credit.--The pool administer shall credit the leave pool
14 with the amount of time contributed by an employee and deduct a
15 corresponding amount of time from the employee's earned annual,
16 sick or personal leave as if the employee had used the time for
17 personal purposes.
18 (d) Restoration.--Any hours of annual, sick or personal
19 leave which are transferred from any employee's time to the
20 leave pool may not be returned or restored to the originating
21 employee. This subsection does not prevent the employee from
22 receiving time from the leave pool if eligible.
23 Section 6. Eligibility for receiving time from leave pool.
24 (a) Criteria.--An employee is eligible to use time
25 contributed to the leave pool of the State agency if the
26 employee has exhausted the balance of annual, personal and sick
27 leave because of:
28 (1) A catastrophic illness or injury that incapacitates
29 the employee and requires a lengthy convalescence or is life
30 threatening.
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1 (2) A catastrophic illness or injury that incapacitates
2 a member of the employee's immediate family and requires a
3 lengthy convalescence or is life threatening.
4 (3) A death in the employee's immediate family.
5 (b) Additions.--The pool administrator at the direction of
6 the governing body of the State agency may adopt further
7 criteria.
8 Section 7. Withdrawal of time from leave pool.
9 (a) Application.--An employee may apply in writing to the
10 pool administrator for permission to withdraw time from the
11 leave pool.
12 (b) Contents.--The request must include:
13 (1) The employee's name, title and classification.
14 (2) A statement providing sufficient information
15 regarding the illness or event resulting in the need for
16 supplemental leave time, which may include a written
17 statement from the licensed practitioner who is treating the
18 employee or the employee's immediate family.
19 (3) The anticipated duration of leave required to cope
20 with the event.
21 (c) Limitation.--An employee may not withdraw time from the
22 leave pool in an amount that exceeds:
23 (1) one-third of the total time in the pool; or
24 (2) 90 days.
25 (d) Reapplication.--If an employee requires additional time
26 beyond the amount requested, the employee may reapply through
27 the same procedure.
28 Section 8. Approval of transfer of time.
29 (a) Approval.--The governing body of the State agency may
30 approve the transfer of a specified number of hours of leave
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1 from the leave pool to the employee who the governing body
2 determines is eligible to receive such leave.
3 (b) Time transfer.--Upon approval of the governing body of
4 the State agency, the pool administrator shall transfer the time
5 from the leave pool and credit the time to the employee.
6 Section 9. Review of status of employee.
7 (a) Review.--The governing body of the State agency shall
8 periodically review the status of the employee receiving time
9 from the leave pool to determine when the need to take leave no
10 longer exists.
11 (b) Denial.--The governing body of the State agency shall
12 not grant any hours of leave from the leave pool after:
13 (1) the need to take leave ceases to exist; or
14 (2) the employee who is receiving the leave resigns or
15 employment with the State agency is terminated.
16 (c) Return.--Any leave received from the leave pool that was
17 not used shall be returned to the leave pool.
18 Section 10. Maintaining records.
19 Each State agency administering a leave pool shall maintain
20 records and report to the General Assembly any information
21 related to the effectiveness, feasibility and cost to carry out
22 the provisions of this act.
23 Section 11. Rules and regulations.
24 Each State agency shall promulgate rules and regulations to
25 administer the provisions of this act.
26 Section 12. Effective date.
27 This act shall take effect immediately.
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