County of Orange Catastrophic Leave Program - OC Public Libraries

County of Orange
Catastrophic Leave
Program

Discussion Items
Why changes were made to the program
Overview of the new changes to the program
Communication Process
Discussion of Procedures and Forms
Questions?
June 25, 2008 2

Background
• Program in place since 1994 for serious medical conditions
• Minor changes in 2002 to add other serious circumstances
• Departments identified Cat Leave as a high priority for 2007
negotiations
• Auditor-Controller identified various Tax issues and IRS
compliance issues with current program
• Reopener agreement with OCEA to discuss program –
Discussions began in March 2008, and have taken place
with all labor groups
June 25, 2008 3

Effective Date
• All program changes will be effective
July 4, 2008
• Employees with Catastrophic Leave
balances on the books prior to July 4,
2008 will retain those balances under the
terms of the former Cat Leave Program
June 25, 2008 4

Old vs. New
• Old Program
• Employee was
required to be on an
unpaid leave for 30
days to qualify
• New Program
• Employee now
required to be on
unpaid leave for 14
days to qualify
June 25, 2008 5

Old vs. New
• Old Program
• Donations allowed for
medical and other
serious circumstances
• New Program
• Donations allowed for
medical and other serious
circumstances
• Donations for other serious
circumstances are allowed
but are taxable to the donor
• Donor will be informed of
tax reporting on the request
form and the employee will
be required to disclose the
reason or circumstance for
request
June 25, 2008 6

Old vs. New
• Old Program
• Maximum of 8 hours
could be donated by
an employee for each
Catastrophic Leave
Request (sick leave
may not be donated)
• New Program
• A maximum of 24
hours can now be
donated per
Catastrophic Leave
Request (sick leave
still may not be
donated)
June 25, 2008 7

Old vs. New
• Old Program
• All hours that were
donated to the
recipient/donee
were
totaled and converted
into the employee’s
applicable leave
balance(s)
• New Program
• Catastrophic Leave
donations will be
processed in 80 hour
increments each pay
period for the duration
of the qualifying leave
of absence
June 25, 2008 8

Old vs. New
• Old Program
• Donated hours not
used by the recipient
during the catastrophic
leave period were kept
by the employee and
could be cashed out or
used for other
purposes
• New Program
• Donated hours that
have not been used
and are not needed
will not be processed
(returned back to the
donors)
June 25, 2008 9

Old vs. New
• Old Program
• Previously hours
donated were
converted from the
recipient’s s hourly rate
to the donor’s s hourly
rate
• New Program
• Donations will be on a
straight hour to hour
basis; conversion
process is eliminated
June 25, 2008 10

Old vs. New
• Old Program
• Catastrophic Leave
requests were not
consistently being
distributed on a
countywide basis or
only per the
employee’s s request
• New Program
• Donation requests
distributed countywide
June 25, 2008 11

Old vs. New
• Old Program
• If an employee was off due
to a work related injury and
their workers’ comp. claim
had not yet been approved
he/she could request
Catastrophic Leave. If the
claim was approved and
their balances were
restored the employee
could keep the Leave
Donations
• New Program
• If the employee’s s workers’
comp. claim is approved
the Catastrophic Leave
Donations will be returned
to the donors
June 25, 2008 12

New Program
• In the event of a Federally declared disaster, a donation
pool will be established. A donation pool is required by
the IRS and no direct employee to employee donations
are allowed
June 25, 2008 13

The Communication Process
• An employee communication will be e-mailed to HR
managers by June 27, 2008
• We will ask you to distribute this communication to your
employees
• There will also be an article in the County Connection
and a Countywide e-mail
• Designate a Cat Leave Coordinator for your agency or
Department. An e-mail distribution list will be set up
separate from the HR Leadership Forum list
June 25, 2008 14

Catastrophic Leave
Working Group Members
• Caryl Aguilar – Sheriff’s
Department
• Kellie Aumond – Probation
• *Shelley Carlucci – HRD
• Alicia Cavazos – HRD
• Marc Gallonio – HRD
• Patricia Gentry – OC Public
Works
*Project Project Leads
• Donna Hanson – OC
Community Resources
• Diana Hantsche – Public
Defender
• *Abby Hernandez – HRD
• Lynda Humphreys – OC Public
Libraries
• Karen Kimball – HCA
• *Kim Peters – Auditor-
Controller
June 25, 2008 15

Questions?