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Helping Each Other: |
"Catastrophic Illness hours ensure that a seriously ill employee continues to receive medical benefits as well as income during treatment." |
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Everyone is talking about changes
that will be occurring in the upcoming year, bringing both anticipation
and anxiety. While there will definitely be some things that will
change, the essence and spirit of Glendale Community College will not.
The generosity and caring demonstrated by classified staff, faculty
and administrators are hallmarks of Glendale Community College.
According to both the Guild and CSEA contract, the Catastrophic Illness leave permits employees with a catastrophic illness or injury to have sick leave donated to them by fellow employees. A catastrophic illness is defined as one that is expected to incapacitate an employee for an extended period of time and during which the employee has used all of his/her paid leaves of absence. A catastrophic illness or injury can decimate a family emotionally and financially. As a result of donations to the Catastrophic Illness sick time pool, the ill employee and his/her family have time to adapt to the new demands and make decisions that will impact the future and their lives. Keep in mind that if someone runs out of sick pay, she or he would not only be unemployed, but also lose health benefits. Catastrophic Illness hours ensure that a seriously ill employee continues to receive medical benefits as well as income during treatment. In some of the most difficult situations, a colleague’s illness is terminal, and the Catastrophic Illness program enables the individual to remain insured and paid until death. There is no way to save a life, but we as a college community have helped our colleagues and their families through tragic times with at least the dignity of having health care and enough income to manage. At different times, college employees have been asked to contribute sick time to the Catastrophic Illness Pool. The response has been extremely generous; in fact, the District has only had to ask for donated sick time a few times in the past 10 years. In order to respect the confidentiality of those requesting Catastrophic Illness time, donations of sick time are made to the pool and not to an individual. If you wish to contribute some of your sick pay hours to the Catastrophic Illness Pool, you must maintain at least 70% of your accrued sick time and complete the paperwork in Payroll. If you are retiring or leaving the district, there is no limit on the amount of sick time you may donate. Once donated, sick time is lost to the donor permanently, so be mindful of your own health and circumstances before you donate hours (Note that STRS and PERS members can use accumulated sick pay towards retirement service credit; this factor should be evaluated when considering donating time to the pool). The Catastrophic Illness committee is responsible for maintaining confidentiality of those employees requesting time, monitoring the pool, and granting the use of sick time to those eligible employees who request catastrophic illness time. The committee membership consists of a representative from the District, the Guild and CSEA. Eligibility criteria for those individuals requesting catastrophic illness time are listed in the Guild and CSEA contracts. Over the years, 26 employees and their families have received the benefit of 7333.75 hours donated to them from the Catastrophic Illness sick time pool, which has served equal numbers of classified and certificated employees. I can’t think of a better example of the generous spirit of the employees of Glendale Community College. If you have questions about the Catastrophic Illness Policy, please contact me. & |
The
Catastrophic Illness leave policy is an example of this generosity.