Leave Sharing Program. — Guam Code § 4109

§ 4109. Leave Sharing Program.

(a) Legislative Statement. From time to time, classified employees in the civil service of the

government of Guam have occasion to need leave for personal reasons, but may have already exhausted

the leave that they have earned and accrued. At times like these, particularly when the employee needs time

off to take care of sick family members or in the case of the military reserves and National Guard members,

being called to active duty in excess of fifteen (15) working days, the employee might be forced to take

leave without pay. Through the generosity of the other employees, the affected employees could be relieved

of the stress of this situation.

(b) [No text]

(1) Voluntary Transfer of Sick Leave or Annual Leave. If a government of Guam employee

desires to transfer a number of hours of earned sick leave or annual leave to another employee in any

department or agency of the government, the recipient must first exhaust all his accrued annual and

sick leave and compensatory time for the purposes of a medical emergency or for personal reasons.

Leave transferred from donors whose hourly rates of pay or salaries are lower than the recipient shall

be paid at the hourly rate or salary of the donor. Leave transferred from donors whose hourly rates of

pay or salaries are higher than the recipient, shall be paid at the hourly rate or salary of the recipient.

(2) A formal written request shall be made by the donor employee to that person’s payroll

supervisor, stating the name of the recipient, the number of hours of leave to be transferred and the

type of leave. No transfer may be made by any employee to that person’s supervisor, or to any person

above that employee in the supervisory chain, or to a member of the supervisor’s or such supervisory

person’s immediate family. If the donor has sufficient hours of leave accrued to cover the donation,

the payroll supervisor shall notify the Payroll Division to transfer the approved number of hours to the

recipient. Upon receipt of the notice of transfer, the receiving employee may then submit a leave

request for the number of hours of leave, sick or annual, that the employee needs and the department

head shall then approve the leave request.

(3) Leave may not be transferred to another employee if as a recipient that employee intends to

use it for credit towards retirement or accumulated leave. This transfer of leave shall be strictly on a

voluntary basis. Leave transferred shall be used as leave by the person to whom it is transferred, and

if it is not used in its entirety, it may be re-transferred to the person who originally earned it. In no

event shall transferred leave be converted to cash or retirement credit by the person to whom it is

transferred.

(4) Participation in the leave sharing program shall not exceed ninety (90) working days, shall

require a certification from the attending medical doctor that the recipient of the leave needs additional

time for medical treatment or recovery from a medical illness and is physically unable to return to

work due to the medical illness. An additional ninety (90) working days may be granted upon similar

certification from the attending medical doctor made within two (2) weeks of the first ninety (90) day

period. A final period of thirty (30) working days may be granted upon an additional certification from

the attending medical doctor that additional time is needed for recovery.

(5) An employee certified by his or her attending medical doctor as having a catastrophic or

chronic illness, including, but not limited to, a heart attack, stroke, and/or cancer, and who requires

additional time beyond the two hundred ten (210) working days authorized pursuant to Subsection

(b)(4) of this Section for medical treatment or recovery may be authorized additional leave upon

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approval by his or her respective department director or appointing authority. Authorization of

additional leave for an employee certified as having a catastrophic or chronic illness may be granted

upon similar certification from the attending medical doctor made within two (2) weeks of the final

thirty (30) day period provided in Subsection (b)(4) of this Section confirming the employee is

physically unable to return to work.

(c) Employees of the government of Guam shall not transfer their unused annual leave or sick leave to

another employee in exchange for any money, favors, or items of value. Employees who transfer or receive

annual or sick leave in violation of this provision shall be guilty of official misconduct pursuant to Title 9

GCA § 49.90.

(d) This provision shall apply to all government employees in the classified, appointed, elected, and

unclassified positions, and all branches of the government of Guam, including line departments and

agencies, autonomous agencies, public corporations, and all other government instrumentalities.