Pitt will continue the Voluntary Sick Time Donation Bank established in 2020, during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We recognize that employees may experience unexpected illnesses that fall outside of our disability leave options and believe it is important to support these employees however we can,” James Gallaher, vice chancellor for human resources, said in an email to employees on April 23.

A revised version of the donation policy was implemented on April 1 and all tracking related to previous sick time donations and usage was reset.

The sick time bank was created in April 2020, and stopped taking donations in November 2021. In total, more than 18,000 hours of sick time were donated to the bank during that period.

Sick time that was previously donated will still be utilized and employees will once again be allowed to donate to the sick time bank to sustain it over time. The sick time bank will accept new donations until it reaches 15,000 hours. Once this cap is reached, new donations will not be accepted until the balance dips below the cap.

Donating sick time

Staff members who have a balance of more than 45 sick days (337.5 hours) available can donate up to five days (37.5 hours). Following the April 1 reset, only one donation can be made during an employee’s career.

To make a donation, staff members must submit a request through the contact OHR page by selecting “Timecards” as the Service Area, and the new “Voluntary Sick Time Donation” field in the “I Need Help with…” section of the form.

Using time from the donation bank

Regular staff members who are granted an approved medical leave and have fewer than 10 sick days available at the start of the leave will automatically receive time from the Voluntary Sick Time Donation Bank (provided hours are available) to bring their sick balance to 10 days (or up to the length of their leave, whichever is smaller). Staff members may take no more than 20 days of donated sick time during their career.

Employees using paid parental leave are not eligible to use time from the sick time bank.

Donated sick time will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis. Part-time staff members are eligible, but their sick time is prorated based on their percentage of effort.

Updated resources are available for employees and department administrators in the paid and unpaid time off section of the Staff Handbook. If you have questions regarding the revised version of this policy please submit an online inquiry.

Full policy details can be found in the paid and unpaid time off section of the Staff Handbook. Represented employees should refer to their Collective Bargaining Agreement to determine eligibility for sick time.