CATASTROPHIC ILLNESS LEAVE PROGRAM PROCEDURES
Regular Full Time District employees who have completed the probationary period may participate in the
Catastrophic Illness Leave Program by donating a maximum of one day of their own accumulated sick leave
balance, per academic year, to another District employee who has been diagnosed with a catastrophic illness.
For the purpose of this Program, “catastrophic illness” is defined as a medically-diagnosed condition, as
determined by a licensed medical practitioner, that is expected to incapacitate the employee for an extended
period of time (at least 30 calendar days) and prevent the employee from performing his/her duties.
Pursuant to the Education Code 87045, an employee must exhaust all accrued paid leave credits in order to be
eligible for catastrophic illness leave. Accumulated and donated sick leave, extended sick leave and long-term
disability benefits are used concurrently with employee leave entitlements under the Family and Medical Leave
and California Family Rights Acts. Donations of sick leave through this Program can be accepted from all regular
District employee groups.
PART A: PROCEDURES FOR RECIPIENTS
Step 1: District permanent full-time employees who have been medically diagnosed with a catastrophic illness
and would like to participate in this Program should contact the Office of Human Resource Services to obtain
information pertaining to medical absence reporting, required documentation, procedures for use of regular and
extended sick leave, and other related matters.
Step 2: The potential recipient must complete the required form titled, “Catastrophic Illness Leave Request Form”
in order to request participation in this Program. The request form and this information packet may be sent to you
electronically. These materials are also available on the Human Resources Web Page, and/or can be requested
from the Office of Human Resource Services.
Step 3: Once completed and signed, the Request Form is to be submitted to the Office of Human Resource
Services. The completed form must be accompanied by written medical verification from the treating physician
that documents the catastrophic nature of the employee’s illness and the estimated period of absence due to the
illness.
The completed request form and written medical verification will be reviewed by a designated Human Resources
staff member to determine eligibility for participation in the Program. The requester will then be notified of his/her
eligibility for Program participation. An employee may request Catastrophic Illness Leave donations once per
academic year.
If it is determined that the illness does not qualify for participation in this Program, Human Resources staff will
advise the requester about use of accumulated sick leave, extended sick leave, leaves of absence and other
applicable District benefits.
Step 4: The Office of Human Resource Services is responsible for notifying the District “community” about the
“open period” for sick leave donations and the opportunity to donate sick leave to the approved requester. If the
requesting employee wishes to remain anonymous in announcing the request for sick leave donations, the Office
of Human Resource Services will notify the District "community" that an employee who qualifies for sick leave
donations is requesting sick leave donations. The open period for accepting sick leave donations from District
employees will be ten (10) working days. The start and end dates for the open period will be determined by
Human Resources and clearly stated as part of the District wide notification process.
