FINAL BILL REPORT

SSB 6452

                              C 23 L 90

BYSenate Committee on Ways & Means (originally sponsored by Senators von Reichbauer, Gaspard, McDonald, Newhouse and Lee)

Clarifying "annual leave" for purposes of the school district leave sharing program.

Senate Committee on Ways & Means

House Committe on State Government

Rereferred House Committee on Appropriations

SYNOPSIS AS ENACTED

BACKGROUND:

In 1989 the Legislature created a leave sharing program, where state employees can donate some of their annual leave to a fellow employee who faces losing his or her job or going on leave without pay due to an extraordinary illness or injury that has caused that employee to use all of his or her sick and annual leave reserves. Employees may donate any amount of annual leave as long as they maintain a balance of 10 days.  Under the state civil service system and the higher education personnel system, "annual leave" generally means vacation leave.

The definition of employee in the leave sharing program's enabling legislation also includes employees of school districts and educational service districts.  In practice, most school district and ESD employees are employed on nine-month contracts and do not receive vacation leave.  Instead, these employees are entitled by law to "annual leave with compensation for illness, injury, and emergencies."

There are differences in interpretation about whether the Legislature intended the type of leave received by school district employees to be shared in the shared leave program.  Although the leave is referred to as "annual leave" in statute, school district employees accrue and use this leave in much the same way state employees accrue and use sick leave, including cashing it out above a balance of 60 days.  The shared leave program does not allow sharing of sick leave.

Fulltime faculty at state community colleges may be recipients but not donors under the shared leave program because they do not accrue annual leave.  Instead these individuals accrue sick leave.

SUMMARY:

An employee of a community college, school district or educational service district who does not accrue annual leave, but does accrue sick leave, may participate in the shared leave program, provided the employee maintains a minimum balance of 60 days of sick leave.  Donations of up to six days annually are permitted.

VOTES ON FINAL PASSAGE:

     Senate   44    0

     House 97  0 (House amended)

     Senate   46    0 (Senate concurred)

EFFECTIVE:March 13, 1990