(a) Before approving an application, the agency head or designee, or in the case of an employee of the Council, the Secretary to the Council, shall determine that the request to become a recipient employee has been necessitated by a prolonged absence due to the employee’s serious health condition or the employee’s responsibility to provide personal care to an immediate relative.

(b) In approving or disapproving the application, the agency head or designee, or in the case of an employee of the Council, the Secretary to the Council, may consider the leave record of the potential receiving employee, the probability that the recipient employee will separate from service, and any exigency or disruption in service that the agency, independent agency, or, in the case of the Council, the relevant Council office, may experience.

(c) The agency head or designee, or in the case of an employee of the Council, the Secretary to the Council, shall approve or disapprove an application of a proposed recipient employee and, to the extent practicable, shall notify the proposed recipient employee or the employee acting on behalf of the proposed recipient employee within 15 calendar days of receipt of the application. Notwithstanding any other law, if the recipient employee is eligible for leave under the Family and Medical Leave provisions of 28 U.S.C. § 2601 et seq., the leave transfer shall be granted.

(Mar. 3, 1979, D.C. Law 2-139, § 1235; as added Feb. 6, 2004, D.C. Law 15-68, § 2, 50 DCR 9819; Apr. 1, 2017, D.C. Law 21-232, § 2(o), 64 DCR 876.)

For temporary (90 days) amendment of this section, see § 2(o) of Council Independent Authority Clarification Congressional Review Emergency Amendment Act of 2017 (D.C. Act 22-29, Mar. 27, 2017, 64 DCR 3077).

For temporary (90 days) amendment of this section, see § 2(o) of Council Independent Authority Clarification Emergency Amendment Act of 2016 (D.C. Act 21-551, Dec. 6, 2016, 63 DCR 15022).