Major Disaster Donation Pool, Ended April 9, 2023

Eligibility

Employees may donate EIB and/or PTO when they meet the following criteria at the time of donation:

1. Are employed by MD Anderson;
2. Work in a full or part-time benefits eligible classified, administrative staff or faculty position; and
3. Maintain at least 80 hours in the accrual bank(s) from which they donate hours.

Employees retiring or terminating their employment may not donate leave due to potential taxation issues.

Process for donating hours

Step 1 - Employee requests to donate hours

• Employee submits the MDDP donation form. Use the Chrome search engine to access this internal link. Please call the HR Leave Center at 713-745-3652 (5-FMLA) for assistance.
• Employees can donate the following hours:
  • EIB - Between 24 and 200 hours leaving a minimum of 80 hours in their EIB accruals and/or
    
  • PTO - Between 24 hours and their maximum annual accrual of PTO leaving a minimum of 80 hours in their PTO accruals.

Step 2 - HR Leave Center makes a determination

• Once the donation form is submitted, the HR Leave Center reviews it and notifies the employee about the approval or denial of the request.
• If approved, the HR Leave Center moves the donated hours from the donor's accruals to the designated MDDP bank.

Eligibility

Employees are eligible to apply for hours from the MDDP when they meet the following criteria:

1. Are employed by MD Anderson;
2. Work in a full or part-time benefits eligible classified, administrative or faculty position;
3. Exhausted PTO, PTO within the First Six Months, Compensatory time, EIB, EIB Received, and Earned and Preserved Holiday Bank. If an employee receives hours from the MDDP, the hours must be exhausted before using the standard Reduced Paid Leave (RPL) or RPL for COVID-19; 
4. Completed the 180-day probationary period for new hires, if applying for PTO; and
5. Is considered adversely affected by the declared major disaster if it caused severe hardship resulting in the employee being unable to work (on the premises or remotely) due to at least one of the following events:
   • The employee or immediate family member is ill, meeting MD Anderson’s Extended Illness Bank and Paid Time Off illness provisions;
   • The employee or immediate family member is subject to a federal, state, or local quarantine or isolation order related to COVID-19;
   • The employee or immediate family member has been advised by a health care provider to self-quarantine due to concerns related to COVID-19;
   • The employee or immediate family member is experiencing symptoms of COVID-19 and is seeking a medical diagnosis;
   • The employee is caring for a child under the age of 18 (or a child older than 18 if the child cannot care for themselves or is disabled) if the child's school or place of care is closed or unavailable due to COVID-19 precautions;
   • The employee is in a position in which they cannot perform their job duties remotely; or
   • The employee is in the Employee Reassignment Pool and has not been reassigned job duties.

An employee is not required to have contributed hours to the MDDP in order to apply for hours from the pool.

Process for requesting donated hours

If the leave is covered by Family Medical Leave (FML), the HR Leave Center will manage both the employee's request for the MDDP and code the time if approved.

Step 1 - Employee requests to receive hours from the pool

• Employee submits the MDDP application. Use the Chrome search engine to access this internal form. Please call the HR Leave Center at 713-745-3652 if you would like assistance.
• Employee can request a minimum of 24 hours up to a maximum of 100 hours from the MDDP for each:
  • Diagnosis of COVID-19 or 
  • Event defined in the 5th item of "Receiving hours - eligibility, requesting and using" as seen above.
• An employee can receive a maximum of 3 grants from the MDDP not to exceed a total of 300 hours.
• An employee may not request a donation of leave from another employee when the person making the request, or on whose behalf the request is made, has the authority to give or directly exert influence over the giving of a promotion, appointment or another benefit from whom the leave is being requested. 
• The employee may not receive the MDDP for the same days they receive unemployment benefits, Workers Compensation or is approved for short or long term disability benefits offered by UT System. 

Step 2 - HR Leave Center makes determination of hours

• Once the application is submitted, the HR Leave Center reviews it and makes a determination based on:
  • The employee's eligibility;
  • The order it was received;
  • An evaluation of the hours requested based on the information provided. The HR Leave Center may require documentation to support a request prior to approving hours; and
  • Available hours in the MDDP.
• The HR Leave Center notifies the employee and manager of the status of the application within 10 business days of receiving the application.
• If the hours requested are reduced or denied because the MDDP balance is low, the request is pended. Hours will be granted later as additional hours are contributed to the MDDP. Hours can be granted retroactively.
• If hours are approved, the HR Leave Center moves the hours from the MDDP to the leave recipient's bank. The hours are paid and taxed at the leave recipient's normal rate of pay and is included as compensation for Teacher Retirement System and Optional Retirement Plan contributions.  

Process for using donated hours

Step 1 – Employee requests to use donated hours.

• The employee requests to use the donated hours from their department based on the department's instructions for requesting this leave. 
• Since this is a temporary pool, codes are not available in the timekeeping system and must be entered by the HR Leave Center.
• The manager confirms the request meets a qualifying reason for using this leave.  

Step 2 – The HR Leave Center codes the donated hours

• For using MDDP hours, the manager emails the HR Leave Center and cc's the employee with the dates and hours of the donated PTO or EIB hours to be used.
• The HR Leave Center codes the time.
• The donated hours cannot be used before the effective date is determined by the HR Leave Center.
• This leave may be used on consecutive days or on an intermittent basis. 
• If the employee’s need for the leave evolves to a serious medical illness or injury, the employee (or manager if the employee is not able) should contact the HR Leave Center at 713-745-3652 (5-FMLA) to discuss eligibility for Family Medical Leave or other job protected leave. 

• If unused, granted hours will expire when the MDDP ends.
• Unused hours are not paid to a leave recipient at the termination of their employment or death. Similarly, these hours cannot be deferred to a deferred compensation retirement plan at termination of employment. The unused hours are returned to the MDDP.
• The leave recipient may not receive cash instead of using the granted leave.
• If the leave recipient’s employment status changes from regular full-time or part-time status to hourly/per diem, any remaining balance of donated time is forfeited and returned to the MDDP. Similarly, if the leave recipient’s employment changes to an educational appointee, any remaining balance of donated time is forfeited and returned to the MPPD.
• PTO and/or EIB accruals may not be donated by or granted to an employee of another state agency.
• When the MDDP ends, unused hours are returned to donors. 
  • Unused hours include hours granted but not used and hours remaining in the MDDP.
    
  • Unless the remaining amount is so small as to make accounting for it unreasonable or administratively impractical, unused hours will be returned to each leave donor in the same proportion as the number of hours each donated relative to the total hours donated for the disaster.
    Example: Sally Employee donates 200 hours to the pool. A total of 10,000 hours were donated to the pool. At the end of the disaster period, the donor would receive .20% of any remaining hours in the pool.
• For returned PTO hours:
  • If the donor terminates their employment prior to the end of the program, returned PTO hours are paid to the donor, including direct state transfers. 
  • If the donor passes away prior to the end of the program, the donor’s estate will receive payment for the returned hours.
• For returned EIB hours:
  • If the donor terminates their employment prior to the end of the  MDDP and is a direct state transfer to a UT System component or other state employment meeting EIB hour reinstatement requirements, unused EIB hours will be sent to the new state employer. 
  • If the donor passed away prior to the end of the MDDP, Human Resources will review the donor’s EIB hours to determine the amount that will be paid to the estate.
• Educational appointees and non-benefits eligible employees are not eligible to participate in this plan.
• Abuse of this leave or falsification of any documentation may result in disciplinary action up to and including termination.

If the donated hours were due to a COVID-19 related illness or quarantine:

• On the last day of the leave, employees should contact Employee Health at 713-745-6900 for an evaluation.
• If the employee does not complete the evaluation or they are not cleared by Employee Health to return to work, the employee will need to talk with their manager about working from home until released or utilizing applicable leave accruals. 
• Once Employee Health clears the employee to return to work, the employee must email the HR Leave Center on the first day of their return to avoid disruption with their paycheck.

If the donated hours were not due to an illness, return to work as usual.
 

All information relating to the donations of and requests for MDDP is confidential and is shared on a need to know basis.