The College has established a sick leave bank for employees. The purpose of the Bank is to provide a loan of leave days for its participating members or catastrophic leave after their accumulated sick leave days have been. Presented below is a brief summary of the Sick Leave Bank guidelines. The Sick Leave Bank guidelines shall include all regulations required by Code of Alabama 1975 Section 16-22-9.
The Bank is operated, managed, and governed by a Sick Leave Bank Committee subject to Alabama Board of Trustee Guidelines. The Sick Leave Bank Committee shall consist of five (5) members. One (1) member shall be the President or designee. Four (4) members shall represent the participating members of the sick leave bank. Said four (4) members shall be elected by secret ballot vote of the sick leave bank members at the beginning of each leave year. Those four (4) members receiving the most number of votes shall serve on the Sick Leave Bank Committee. Members of the Committee will serve terms of one (1) year. The President shall be responsible for conducting the election, ensuring the confidentiality of the secret ballot process. No representative on the Committee shall serve longer than five (5) years. Vacancies occurring on the Committee shall be filled by the respective parties.
Any full-time employee of the College who has completed a Sick Leave Bank Enrollment Form (Appendix V) contributing five days to the bank is eligible for membership. An eligible employee may enroll during the annual enrollment period of August 1 through September 15. New employees may enroll as soon as they become eligible after initial employment. Contributing members shall be able to borrow up to fifteen (15) days from the bank by sending a Sick Leave Bank Application for Loan (Appendix W) to the Sick Leave Bank Chair. To be eligible for a loan from the Bank, a member must have exhausted all accumulated sick leave in his/her personal account.
An individual may appeal a decision of the Sick Leave Bank to the President. The President has the authority to affirm, reverse, modify, or remand such decision back to the Committee. An individual cannot resign or retire from College employment without repaying any outstanding Sick Leave Bank loans. If an employee has no sick leave days or an insufficient number of days to pay sick leave indebtedness, his/her final payroll check shall be reduced in accordance with the prevailing rate for the number of days owed to the Bank. Retiring members may withdraw their days contributed to the Bank.
A catastrophic event is defined as any illness, injury, or pregnancy or medical condition related to childbirth certified by a licensed physician which causes the employee to be absent from work for an extended period of time. Ala. Code 16-22-9(a)(1).
Beginning January 1, 2019, no employee may be awarded more than forty-five (45) work days of catastrophic leave during any five-year period of employment.
When a participating member suffers a catastrophic illness or injury, or when a participants family member is suffering a catastrophic illness or injury, the Sick Leave Bank member upon depleting all accrued and compensatory leave may be eligible to receive sick leave days from other members of the Bank through the Transfer of Catastrophic Leave (Appendix X). The beneficiary of the contributed days shall not be required to repay donated catastrophic leave days. Any member of the BSCC Leave Bank or any other Sick Leave Bank in the State may donate sick leave days to the beneficiary employee. Thirty (30) days is the maximum days to be donated by an employee to the beneficiary employee. The employee must provide certified evidence by a licensed physician of an illness (defined as an unhealthy condition of the body or the mind, a sickness, or disease), or of an injury (defined as physical harm to a person), or of a medical condition related to childbirth that causes the employee to be absent from work for a period greater than fifteen (15) work days, and the employee must have applied, borrowed, and used the maximum number of sick leave days loaned by the Committee.
The beneficiary employee must use any sick leave days that are earned each month before utilizing donated days.
Employees may withdraw from the Sick Leave Bank by completing the Notice of Resignation from the Sick Leave Bank form (Appendix Y) and sending it to the Chair of the Sick Bank Leave Committee.
Employees will be responsible for paying back the Sick Leave Bank any borrowed days. Employees resigning with up to five sick leave days stored in the bank will have those days restored to their account at their request but may be left as a gift to the bank.
Catastrophic leave is not available for on-the-job injuries.