2,304: Catastrophic Leave
Last Revised: August 2005
Catastrophic leave may be requested by an employee who is unable to perform the duties of his or her job because of a serious illness or accident to the employee or to a member of the employee's family. This illness or accident must be life threatening or require a lengthy convalescence of 10 weeks or more (NRS 284.362). To use catastrophic leave, the employee must have exhausted all accrued sick and annual leave, and all compensatory time. All requests to use catastrophic leave must include a statement from the attending physician describing the employee's or family member's medical condition, and the estimated dates of disability. The statement from the physician is used to determine if the employee or the family member's condition meets the criteria for eligibility. Once certified as eligible, the employee may receive leave donations from a specific employee's account at the same campus or from other state agencies and/or from the general campus catastrophic leave account, up to a maximum of 1,040 hours in a calendar year.
An employee must submit a completed Request to Use Catastrophic Leave form and physician's statement to his or her supervisor and appointing authority for approval. The appointing authority has the prerogative to not approve a request based upon such things as the availability of funds on grant accounts or the employee's past leave history.
Frequently, absences under the Catastrophic Leave Program also qualify under the Federal Family and Medical Leave Act. For more information, an employee should contact BCN Human Resources.