S-3552               _______________________________________________

                                                   SENATE BILL NO. 6585

                        _______________________________________________

State of Washington                              50th Legislature                              1988 Regular Session

By Senators Williams, Lee, Rinehart, Anderson, Halsan, Smith, Hansen, Gaspard, Kreidler and McMullen

Read first time 1/26/88 and referred to Committee on Governmental Operations.

AN ACT Relating to pledges and transfers of leave among state employees; adding a new section to chapter 41.06 RCW; and creating a new section.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1.  A new section is added to chapter 41.06 RCW to read as follows:

          (1) An employee may pledge up to one-half of his or her accrued annual leave and up to one-half of his or her accrued sick leave to another employee to be used, subject to approval by the employing agency of the recipient, by that employee only in case of a personal emergency that would otherwise require the employee to take leave without pay or to terminate his or her employment.  Leave pledged under this subsection shall not be transferred and used until the recipient's accrued annual and sick leave has been exhausted.

          (2) An employee may pledge up to one-half of his or her accrued annual or sick leave to the employee's spouse if the spouse is also an employee.  Pledged annual and sick leave may be used by the recipient spouse, subject to approval by his or her employing agency, only in case of family illness or pregnancy.  Leave pledged under this subsection shall not be transferred and used until the recipient's accrued annual and sick leave has been exhausted.

          (3) Recipients may use leave transferred under subsection (1) or (2) of this section in the same manner as leave they have accrued, except that such transferred leave shall not be considered in any calculation relating to retirement or retirement benefits, and shall not be converted to a lump sum payment upon termination of the recipient's employment.  Leave transferred under subsection (1) or (2) of this section may be applied at the recipient's discretion to annual or sick leave advanced or leave taken without pay after the recipient has exhausted accrued annual and sick leave.

          (4) Pledges of leave under this section shall remain valid for twelve months from the date of the pledge, and may be renewed for additional twelve-month periods.  Pledges may be revoked at anytime by the pledging employee before the leave has been used.  Any transferred leave not used by the recipient upon termination of the personal emergency shall revert to the credit of the donating employee.  If more than one employee pledged leave to an individual recipient, the unused leave shall be credited to the pledging employees on a pro rata basis, subject to rules adopted by the department of personnel.  The department shall establish by rule additional criteria governing full or partial cancellation of pledges, and the use of transferred leave, in a manner consistent with the purposes of this section.

          (5) Leave pledges and requests to use leave pledged under this section shall be made in writing to the agency in which the donating or requesting employee is employed.  In making leave pledges, the donating employee shall designate the employee to whom he or she is pledging the leave. Donations of leave which do not specify an intended recipient shall be allotted to employees requesting the use of such leave based on the severity of the personal emergency in accordance with rules adopted by the department of personnel.  Requests for the use of transferred leave shall be submitted for approval by the agency before the leave may be used.  An agency may grant all or part of a request for transferred leave.  Except in the case of an intended recipient's own serious illness, an agency may consider the effect on agency morale and efficiency of granting a request for the use of transferred leave.

          (6) The department of personnel in consultation with other state agencies shall adopt such rules as are necessary to implement this section.

          (7) For the purposes of this section:

          (a) "Family" means the employee and any member of the employee's household who is considered a dependent of the employee for federal income tax purposes; and

          (b) "Personal emergency" means a serious medical or other serious family emergency such as the serious illness of the employee or the required absence of the employee to care for a family member with a serious illness.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2.     The department of personnel shall report to the governor and the state government committees of the senate and the house of representatives on the implementation of the transferred leave program by January 30, 1989.