126-8.3. Voluntary shared leave.

(a) The State Human Resources Commission, in cooperation with the State Board of Community Colleges and the State Board of Education, shall adopt rules and policies to allow any employee at a State agency to share leave voluntarily with an immediate family member who is an employee of a State agency, community college, or public school; and with a coworker's immediate family member who is an employee of a State agency, community college, or public school. For the purposes of this section, the term "immediate family member" means a spouse, parent, child, brother, sister, grandparent, or grandchild. The term includes the step, half, and in-law relationships. The term "coworker" means that the employee donating the leave is employed by the same agency, department, institution, university, local school administrative unit, or community college as the employee whose immediate family member is receiving the leave.

(b) The State Human Resources Commission shall adopt rules and policies for the voluntary shared leave program to allow an employee at a State agency to donate sick leave to a nonfamily member employee of a State agency. A donor of sick leave to a nonfamily member recipient shall not donate more than five days of sick leave per year to any one nonfamily member recipient. The combined total of sick leave donated to a recipient from nonfamily member donors shall not exceed 20 days per year. Donated sick leave shall not be used for retirement purposes, and employees who donate sick leave shall be notified in writing of the State retirement credit consequences of donating sick leave.

(c) The State Human Resources Commission, the State Board of Education, and the State Board of Community Colleges and all State agencies, departments, and [institutions] shall annually report to the Office of State Human Resources on the voluntary shared leave program. For the prior fiscal year, the report shall include the total number of days or hours of vacation leave and sick leave donated and used by voluntary shared leave recipients and the total cost of the vacation leave and sick leave donated and used.