To join the Leave Bank, employees must donate eight hours of sick, annual or personal leave or a combination thereof. New employees may join within the first 60 days of employment or during open enrollment, which occurs at the same time as the State’s health insurance open enrollment. All other employees may join or renew Leave Bank membership during open enrollment. Employees who join the Leave Bank for the very first time must wait 90 days before using leave. Membership is for a two-year period and may be renewed by donating an additional eight hours of leave. It is the responsibility of each employee to verify that the Leave Bank membership has been received and processed by the Agency Human Resources (HR) Office. Please check with your HR Office if you have questions about your Leave Bank eligibility or membership.
To qualify for leave from the Leave Bank, an employee:
- must be an active member of the Leave Bank;
- must have exhausted all forms of annual, sick, personal and compensatory leave;
- must qualify for the use of sick leave under the requirements of the employee’s personnel system;
- must have received a satisfactory performance rating;
- must have a serious and prolonged medical condition;
- must provide sufficient medical documentation to substantiate absence for the time period covered by the Leave Bank request;
- must be able, in all likelihood, to return to work;
- must have received less than 2,080 hours of leave from the Leave Bank and/or the Employee- to-Employee Leave Donation Programs;
- must not have a record of sick leave abuse (i.e., must not have been on a one-day sick slip restriction within the past two years);
- must not have been disciplined within the past year; and
- must not have used more than 16 continuous months of leave from the Leave Bank and all other forms of paid leave.
To request leave from the Leave Bank, members must complete a State Employees’ Leave Bank Request Form (MS-408). Members must also have their physician complete a State Employees’ Leave Bank Medical Request Form (MS-402) and provide medical records that address the absence for which Leave Bank is requested. Leave Bank forms are available from your HR Office or on the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) website at
www.dbm.maryland.gov. Please submit completed forms and medical documentation to your HR Office. The HR Office will send the Leave Bank request to DBM for consideration. DBM will issue a determination within 30 days of receipt of the request.
If an employee exhausts accrued leave before DBM makes its determination, the employee shall be granted leave until a decision is rendered. If an employee is automatically granted leave and the request is subsequently denied, the employee shall reimburse the State at a minimum rate of one half of all sick leave earned. At the employee’s discretion, additional sick leave and any accrued annual, personal or compensatory leave may be applied to the reimbursement or the employee may elect to make cash payments.
Approval to use leave from the Leave Bank is discretionary. Denial may be based on any reason that is consistently applied and is not illegal or unconstitutional.
For Employees who are DENIED Leave from the Leave Bank and wish to APPEAL:
To
appeal a denied request for leave from the State Employees Leave Bank Program, you must submit a “Request to Appeal Packet” (see packet in list below). You must complete the Request to Appeal Form
and the Authorization for Review of Release Records (this document authorizes the use and/or disclosure of confidential protected health information; this is
not used to request medical records or information on the employee’s behalf).
Follow the instructions on your Denial Letter to submit your Appeal forms, with any additional medical documents you wish to have reviewed.
It is the employee’s responsibility to provide sufficient medical documents to support your appeal.
