Common use of Catastrophic Illness Leave Clause in Contracts

Catastrophic Illness Leave. The objective of this section is to allow donation of accrued time to affected employees, so that they can remain in a paid status for a longer period of time, thus partially ameliorating the financial impact of the illness, injury or condition. An employee holding a full-time position with permanent status who has completed one (1) year of continuous service shall be eligible for the catastrophic illness leave benefit upon receiving a prior favorable recommendation therefore from the department head concerned and only upon the specific approval of the City Manager. To be eligible for leave under this section, such employee must have sustained or have an immediate family member who has sustained a life threatening or debilitating illness, injury or condition which may require confirmation by a physician, be unable to work at their position or any less demanding position to which they may be assigned by the department head concerned, and must have exhausted all of their accumulated sick leave, vacation, holiday, overtime and all other accumulated leave or pay benefits. Immediate family member for this section is defined as the employee's spouse/registered domestic partner, minor children/step-children/dependents of registered domestic partner (18 years of age or younger), who live in the household. Eligible employees may receive up to a maximum of 1,000 hours of donated leave benefits from full-time employees due to a catastrophic illness. Employee can utilize up to 500 hours of donated sick leave initially. Under extraordinarily desperate conditions, a one-time additional increment of up to 500 hours of accrued vacation leave may be approved by the City Manager. The combination of all such donations would result in time away from work not to exceed twelve months in duration per incident (whether such leave is taken continuously or intermittently). A minimum of one (1) year must elapse following the termination of the catastrophic illness leave before an employee may be permitted further catastrophic illness leave. However, if subsequent catastrophic illness occurs within a year following the termination of the previous catastrophic illness leave, an employee may be permitted to use whatever accumulated paid leave they have and then whatever catastrophic illness leave they were eligible for but did not use.