School policy would let employees donate paid leave to co-workers

Driven by a requirement of the West Virginia Legislature, the Morgan County school board has drafted a personnel policy that would let school workers donate their personal leave to co-workers who are sick or need to care for family.

School Treasurer Nancy White presented the policy to board members at their January 8 meeting.

The policy is two-fold, setting rules for both a Personal Leave Bank and the direct donation of paid days between co-workers.

Leave Bank

The Personal Leave Bank is a program in which employees could contribute two of their paid leave days into a pool each school year.

If a school employee suffered a catastrophic illness that would use up all of their own leave, that worker could request up to 15 days from the pool of donated days to cover their absence from work.

A committee of school employees would evaluate a request for days, and determine if the request met their guidelines, White told board members.

In addition to illness, workers could use additional days to recover from an accident or to care for an immediate family member in need.

Leave days of the county's 360 teachers and service employees would hold the same value, and be handled by the same leave bank, said White.

School employees will be able to join the leave bank for a specific period at the start of each school year. Participation in the leave bank is not mandatory for any employee.

Direct donation of leave

A different set of guidelines would apply to cases where one employee wanted to give their paid leave days directly to another employee to cover long absences from work.

In cases of person-to-person leave donation, a school employee could give up to five days of leave to a co-worker, or unlimited days to a spouse.

Treasurer Nancy White will be charged with tracking and transferring days for each employee's leave account.

School board member David Ambrose asked White if Morgan County's policy resembled rules adopted by other counties. White said they were standard guidelines, and had been reviewed by the school's lawyer.

Larry Omps asked how administrators could stop employees from buying leave days from one another. White said any request to transfer or draw donated leave days had to be accompanied by proof of illness from a doctor.

School officials are seeking employee comment on the proposed rules until this Friday, January 18.

White consulted with professional and service staff in drafting the document, she said.

The school board will vote on the proposal at their January 22 meeting, scheduled at 6:30 p.m. at Paw Paw School.