The shared leave program permits state employees, including employees of school districts and education service districts, to provide annual leave, sick leave, or personal holidays to other employees experiencing certain circumstances that may cause them to take leave without pay or terminate their employment.  Agency heads may permit an employee to receive shared leave in specified circumstances, including when the employee:

• or a relative or household member of the employee, suffers from an extraordinary or severe illness, injury, impairment, or physical or mental condition;
• has been called to service in the uniformed services;
• is a current member of the uniformed service or is a veteran and is attending medical appointments for a service-related injury;
• engages in emergency volunteer service upon a declaration of a state of emergency anywhere in the United States;
• is a victim of domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking; or
• is sick or temporarily disabled due to a pregnancy.

To qualify for shared leave under this condition, an employee must have depleted or will shortly deplete, meaning the employee has 40 hours or less of applicable leave, his or her annual leave and sick leave reserves.

Within certain parameters, agency heads determine the amount of leave, if any, an employee may receive.  An employee may not receive a total of more than 522 days of leave except in extraordinary circumstances.  An employee may transfer leave to another employee at the same agency, or at another agency with approval of both agency heads, who qualifies for shared leave if the donating employee meets certain accrued annual leave or sick leave balances.  Any unused leave is returned, upon certain conditions being met, at its original value to the employee or employees who transferred the leave when the agency head finds the leave is no longer needed or will not be needed at a future time in connection with the underlying condition. 

The types of events that qualify a state employee for the shared leave program are expanded to include:

• an employee who is a victim of a hate crime; and
• an employee whose absence from work is due to involvement of the employee or employee's family member in an immigration enforcement action.

An immigration enforcement action may include detainment; the preparation for or participation in any judicial or administrative immigration proceeding; deportation; or any other hardship due to family separation caused by these actions.  A relative or household member means a child, grandchild, grandparent, parent, sibling, or spouse of an employee, and also includes an individual who regularly resides in the employee's home where there is an expectation that the employee care for the person and that person depends on the employee for care.

An employer may request that the employee submit verification for leave due to an immigration enforcement action, but the employer must direct the employee not to disclose within the verification any personally identifiable information about the person's immigration status or underlying immigration protection.  Any verification submitted is confidential and not subject to disclosure under the Public Records Act.  If an employer requests verification, the employer must accept one of the following:

• documentation from certain individuals, from whom the employee or their family member sought assistance in addressing the immigration enforcement action, that confirms the employee or their family member's involvement in such action; or
• the employee's written statement that they or their family member is involved in an immigration enforcement action and that the leave taken is because of that immigration enforcement action.