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What is our Catastrophic Illness Program? (and why we offer it) by Dr. Mary Mirch, Associate Dean, Health Services |
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The essence and spirit of Glendale Community College is one of generosity and caring for each other. Many members of our classified staff, faculty and administrators have demonstrated this through voluntary contributions to the catastrophic illness sick time pool. |
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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 beyond the employee’s paid leave 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 their lives in the future. At different times, employees of the college have been asked to contribute sick time to the catastrophic illness pool. The response has been extremely generous; in fact, the District has had to ask for donated sick time only four times in the past 13 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.*
The
Catastrophic Illness Committee is responsible for maintaining
confidentiality of employees requesting time, monitoring the pool, and
granting the use of sick time to eligible employees. 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, 34 employees and their families have received the benefit of
8,700 hours donated to them from the catastrophic illness sick time
pool. For those of you who are interested, the pool has donated sick
time to 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.
*Individuals wishing to donate time to the catastrophic illness pool must maintain at least 70% of accrued sick time and complete a form in payroll. If an individual is leaving the district, there is no limit on the amount of sick time which may be donated to the catastrophic illness sick time pool. Time that is donated to the pool is irrevocably lost to the donor. Accumulated sick leave may also augment your personal STRS or PERS retirement “years of service,” so please make sure you understand potential impacts on your retirement before you donate time to the pool. |
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