§78-26  Leave sharing program.  (a)  Thelegislature, with regard to its employees, or the chief executive of ajurisdiction may establish a leave sharing program to allow employees to donateaccumulated vacation leave credits to another employee within the samejurisdiction who has a serious personal illness or injury or who has a familymember who has a serious personal illness or injury.  The program shall allowemployees who are not entitled to vacation leave to donate accumulated sickleave credits.

(b)  The legislature, with regard to itsemployees, or the director of a jurisdiction desiring to establish a leavesharing program shall develop rules governing donors, recipients, and anapproval process that ensures fair treatment and freedom from coercion ofemployees and imposes no undue hardship on the employer's operations.  If it isadministratively infeasible to allow leave sharing between differentdepartments or different bargaining units, the rules may limit leave sharing toemployees within the same department or same bargaining unit, as necessary.  Ata minimum, the rules shall require that an eligible recipient must have:

(1)  No less than six months of service within therespective jurisdiction;

(2)  Exhausted or is about to exhaust all vacationleave, sick leave, and compensatory time credits; provided that sick leave neednot be exhausted when the illness or injury involves a family member;

(3)  A personal illness or injury or a family member'sillness or injury certified by a competent medical examiner as being seriousand the cause of the recipient's inability to work; provided that the illnessor injury is not covered under chapter 386 or, if covered, all benefits underchapter 386 have been exhausted; and

(4)  No disciplinary record of sick leave abuse withinthe past two years.

Notwithstanding the requirements of chapter 91,the legislature may establish a leave sharing program for legislativeemployees, in accordance with this section, under policies adopted separatelyby each house of the legislature and each legislative service agency, orjointly by any combination of entities thereof. [L 2000, c 253, pt of §74; am L2001, c 37, §2]