Requesting/Donating Paid Leave (for Civil Service and Union-Represented Staff)

Requesting Donations of Paid Leave

Eligible employees can apply to receive up to 65 days maximum per calendar year. An employee can only make an application once every calendar year.

Employees who are paid from federally sponsored research funds or ISO funds are eligible to receive vacation donations.

Relevant Forms

• UM 1550 Vacation Donation Program: Physician's Statement (PDF, Word)
• UM 1549 Request to Use the Vacation Donation Program (PDF, Word)

Steps to Follow

Step 1:

Eligible employees initiate a request, through their supervisor, for donations of paid vacation leave to use as sick leave. In the event employees are physically or mentally unable to initiate a request, requests may be initiated by a member of the employee's immediate family or their department. Application is made using form UM 1549, which includes a release of medical information. Employees are also responsible for the completion of form UM 1550, the information of which is treated in a confidential manner. Additional medical information may be needed to substantiate the request.

A copy of the employee's most recent vacation/sick leave and compensatory time records, as documented in the Human Resources Management System (HRMS) must accompany the application. These records must indicate that all available sick leave, vacation leave, personal holiday, and compensatory time will be exhausted before receiving any donated leave days.

Step 2:

Completed forms UM 1549 and UM 1550, along with the required copy of the employee's vacation/sick leave and compensatory time records, are to be submitted by the supervisor to:

• Employee Benefits/Vacation Donation
  100 Donhowe
  319 15th Avenue SE
  Minneapolis, MN 55455
• Or designated office on the UMD campus.

Step 3:

Employee Benefits reviews and verifies the information in the request. If complete information is lacking, the application is returned to the supervisor. Verification of exhaustion of paid leave is done in HRMS, thereby requiring that all leave and compensatory time information be entered into PeopleSoft.

Step 4:

The request is either accepted or denied.

Step 5:

The supervisor of the employee and the employee are both notified of the decision.

Step 6:

Once the request is officially approved, and not before, the supervisor and employee discuss the communication to go out from the department requesting donation of vacation days. The employee or initiator of the request must sign off on a copy of the communication before it is sent.

Donating Vacation Leave Days

Donations of vacation leave are limited to a maximum of 40 hours of paid time per calendar year and must be donated in 8-hour increments, regardless of the donor's appointment percent. The donated paid time is calculated on the hourly rate and fringe benefit rate of the employee donating the time. Department heads, in discussion with the Office of Human Resources and the Civil Service Consultative Committee may limit the number of donations when such donations will result in a budget deficit.

Relevant Forms

• UM 1551 Vacation Donation Contribution
• UM 1548 Vacation Donation Program: Donor/Recipient Worksheet

Steps to Follow

Step 1:

Eligible civil service or union-represented staff employees wishing to contribute earned vacation days must complete the form UM 1551 with the assistance of their department.

Step 2:

The donor's department calculates the donor's daily rate of salary and fringe using form UM 1548.

• The donated hours are deducted from the donor's vacation allowance in HRMS by entering the code "T" into the field titled Leave Type on the page called Leave Entry.
• If the leave donation is from one Dept ID to another Dept ID within the same entity, the form UM 1551 must be completed filling in the EFS Account String of the receiving department. The salary and fringe associated with the donated hours is deducted from the donor's departmental budget.

Step 3:

Forms UM 1551 and UM 1548 are then sent to the recipient's department

Completing the Transfer of Funds

Relevant Forms

• UM 1551 Vacation Donation Contribution
• UM 1548 Vacation Donation Program: Donor/Recipient Worksheet

Steps to Follow

Step 1:

The recipient's department must complete the rest of the form UM 1548, in order for the transfer of funds to occur.

Step 2:

The two completed forms, UM 1551 and UM 1548, are submitted to Employee Benefits or the designated UMD office, as appropriate, to process the transfer of funds.