(a) In this section
(1) “Director” means the Director of the Division of Personnel, or the Director's designee.
(2) “Donated Sick Leave Bank” or “Bank” means a depository and system of accounting for voluntarily pooled and irrevocably donated accumulated personal sick leave and annual leave days that are collected for the purpose of providing sick leave to members of the program who have suffered a personal illness, surgery, disability or injury, and whose sick and annual leave are exhausted.
(3) “Member” means an employee of the Government of the Virgin Islands, including employees of the Legislature, the judicial branch, the University of the Virgin Islands, and all independent or semi-autonomous agencies and instrumentalities of the Government of the Virgin Islands who participate in the Donated Leave Bank Program under this section.
(b) There is established in the Division of Personnel “the Government Employees Donated Sick Leave Bank.” In addition to participating in the donated leave program established in section 583b, an employee of the Government of the Virgin Islands, including employees of the Legislature, the judicial branch, the University of the Virgin Islands, and all independent or semi-autonomous agencies and instrumentalities of the Government of the Virgin Islands, may voluntarily donate the employee's unused sick leave and annual leave to the Government Employees' Leave Bank and may receive donated sick leave from the Bank as provided in this section.
(1) Employee participation in the Donated Sick Leave Bank is voluntary.
(2) An employee may donate sick and annual leave to the Bank and withdraw sick leave from the bank pursuant to this section and the rules and regulations promulgated by the Director which must not be inconsistent with this section.
(3) The form and manner of application for use of leave from the Bank must be as prescribed by rules and regulation, subject to the limitations established in this section.
(c)
(1) A leave donor may not donate more than a total of one-half of the amount of annual leave which the leave donor would be entitled to accrue during the leave year in which the donation is made. However, the Director may, in special circumstances, waive the limitation of the amount of annual leave that can be donated by an employee under circumstances prescribed by rules and regulations.
(2) A leave donor may not donate sick leave in excess of an amount that would leave the donor with less than 12 days of accrued sick leave.
(3) The Director shall establish an initial equal, minimum amount of leave to be donated by each member to join the Bank, and equal amount to be assessed from time to time to each member as necessary to sustain the Bank. However, the amount to be assessed must be approved by majority vote of the members of the Bank within 60 days after the effective date of this section.
(d) The value of the leave donated by a member is in the amount equal to the hourly rate of pay of the leave donor multiplied by the number of hours of annual leave donated. The Director shall convert the donated leave into cash value at the donor's rate of pay, shall re-convert the cash value to hours of leave at the recipient's rate of pay, and shall then credit the recipient's account.
(e) Grants of sick leave from the Bank may be used for a catastrophic health condition or injury or any illness, injury, quarantine, or medical or mental condition, certified by a licensed physician which causes the employee to be absent from work for 10 working days or more. Grants of sick leave from the Bank may not be made to any member on account of elective surgery, illness of any member of the member's family, or during any period the member is receiving Workers Compensation.
(f) Members of the Bank are eligible to make application to the Bank for sick leave only after having been a member of the bank for 30 business days or more.
(g) A member may not receive any sick leave from the Bank until after having exhausted all accumulated sick and annual leave.
(h) The Director shall act either affirmatively or negatively on all applications for sick leave from the Bank within ten business days after receipt of the application.
(i) If a member is physically or mentally unable to make a request to the Bank for use of sick leave days, a family member or agent may file a request.
(j) The Director may establish rules and regulations restricting the number of days which may be withdrawn from the Bank by one member on account of one illness.
(k) The Director by rules and regulations shall establish criteria and procedures for appeal of a rejected initial request. However, the Director shall decide every appeal within 10 business days after the receipt of the appeal.
(l) Grants of sick leave from the Bank may not be conditioned upon the direct repayment of days used or waiver of other employment benefits or rights provided by the applicable department, instrumentality or branch of the Government.
(m) In the event the Bank is dissolved, the total number of days on deposit must be returned to the members and credited to their personal sick leave accumulation in proportion to the number of days each has contributed individually. Days returned under this section and credited to the individual participant's accumulation must be rounded to the nearest one-half day.
(n) An employee who cancels participation in the Bank is not eligible to withdraw the sick or annual leave time the employee has contributed to the pool.
(o) Upon termination, retirement, or death, neither a member nor the member's estate is entitled to payment for unused sick leave acquired from the Sick Leave Bank.
(p) Any abuse of the use of the Sick Leave Bank must be investigated by the Director and the head of the Government department, instrumentality or branch of the alleged abusing member, and upon a finding of wrongdoing on the part of a member, the abusing member shall repay all sick leave days drawn from the Bank and is subject to other disciplinary action.