Executive Director's Message
The Catastrophic Leave Bank is a valuable resource in times of need. Few officers have had to use the bank, for which I am truly grateful. Some of you may not know that a Catastrophic Leave Bank exists or what you can do to help ensure that it will always be there for our fellow officers in times of need.
All have seen the request for catastrophic leave donations on behalf of fellow officers. However, the problem with requests for donations is that the fulfillment of these requests depends on the popularity of the officer who is in need. The more popular the officer, the more donations the officer receives. We have all worked with people that we liked better than others. You can guess what that means; some of our officers do not get as much time as others. This does not mean that the situation they are facing is any less serious than the more popular person. The result is that the less popular officer’s family is more likely to suffer from a lack of income.
So far in 2009 only eight of our officers have requested catastrophic leave and we have been able to provide the needed hours. My concern is that the day may come when the Catastrophic Leave Bank cannot meet the needs of all the officers who need help when a serious injury or illness has devastated their lives. My reason for writing this article is this: At the end of this year some of you are going to find yourselves in the position of using time or losing it. When you “lose it,” the Department simply takes it off the books, resulting in lost time and money. This action only benefits the Department. If you find yourself in this position, please consider donating this time to the Catastrophic Leave Bank. Donations will benefit your fellow officers, not the Department. Even if you are not in the position of having too much time on the books, please consider donating a few hours to the Catastrophic Leave Bank. We have almost 3,000 officers eligible to donate time to the Catastrophic Leave Bank. If every officer donated five hours to the Catastrophic Leave Bank, that would be 15,000 hours; four hours would be 12,000 hours. If we can make this happen, there is no reason any officer and his or her family should suffer due to a lack of time.
The following is the contractual article, 11.5 Catastrophic Leave, from the current contract. I encourage all officers to take some time to review this article in order to gain a better understanding of catastrophic leave.
11.5 Catastrophic Leave. When an eligible employee suffers a catastrophic illness or injury, and the eligible employee has exhausted all accrued leaves as a result of the illness/injury, then the eligible employee may file a request for donations of leave with the Association.
The request must be accompanied by:
A medical statement from the attending physician explaining the nature of the illness/injury and an estimated amount of time the employee will be unable to work.
Evidence of the Bureau Commander’s approval of leave of absence.
The Executive Board of Directors for the Association will establish eligibility standards and will review the request to verify the employee’s eligibility to receive leave donations.
The Association will conduct the solicitation of donations and will be limited to an information-only solicitation, with no personal lobbying by employees. Solicitations will be conducted for 30 calendar days and all donations will be submitted to the Association on the provided form.
Donations can be made from the donor’s bonus hours, vacation leave, and/or professional leave. Sick leave cannot be donated. The minimum donation is four (4) hours. Employees must have a vacation leave balance of at least 40 hours after the donation.
The Association will forward donations to the Department Payroll Section, where the donated time will be converted to dollars at the hourly rate of the donor. The dollars will then be converted to sick leave at the hourly rate of the recipient. If any donated sick leave hours remain at the end of the catastrophic leave, they will be transferred to the Catastrophic General Fund Account (bank).
Bank hours, if any, may be approved by the Association Executive Board on a matching basis, if needed (e.g., a solicitation for an approved employee nets 100 hours - after the 100 hours are used, the Association Executive Board may approve up to another 100 hours from the bank, if hours are available). However, employees will be eligible to utilize up to 160 hours of bank time prior to applying the matching standards set out herein.
Eligible employees:
The Catastrophic Leave Program is available to all collective bargaining unit employees who require a minimum of 80 hours leave after all accrued leaves have been exhausted. This may also apply to intermittent leave situations directly associated with the catastrophic leave request.
Employees who have graduated the Academy and are covered by the collective bargaining agreement.
Employees must meet the following definition of catastrophic illness/injury:
“Catastrophic Illness/injury is an illness or injury that keeps an employee from performing the duties of their job (i.e., the employee is hospitalized, homebound, or is the primary care giver to a member of their immediate family). The illness or injury cannot be a result of an illegal act, nor can it be intentionally self-inflicted.”
Employees with work-related Worker’s Compensation claims are not eligible for the Catastrophic Leave Program. When an employee utilizes this benefit, the employee will be required to reimburse the above described bank with accrued vacation at a rate of 1.5 hours per pay period. This reimbursement will be required for any hours utilized (donated or banked) up to a maximum of 160 hours per incident.
Please contact Ken Lochner or myself if you have any questions about catastrophic leave. As always, stay safe and fight the good fight. |
