You can help fellow Bruins in dire need

By Cynthia Lee

What if you could make an enormous difference in another UCLA employee's life simply by contributing some of your vacation hours? The UCLA Catastrophic Leave Program allows you to do just that.

For more than nine years, the Catastrophic Leave Program has been a lifeline to career staff who have been stricken with a devastating illness or have had to become caregivers for their incapacitated children, spouse or parents. Administered by Campus Human Resources, the program permits temporary salary and benefit continuation for a staff employee who accrues vacation and who has exhausted all paid leave credits as a result of a catastrophic illness or injury.

Recipients draw paid-leave hours from a "central bank" where donors — other UCLA staff and faculty — have generously donated their own vacation time, sometimes just as they were about to lose it after reaching the maximum allowed.

"When you're ill or a family member has a devastating illness, and then you have no income coming in, it's a double whammy," said Lazetta Smith, who administers the program as manager of Policy and Personnel Services. "The people whom we help are usually in dire need." It cannot be used if an employee is getting disability or worker's compensation, but it can be used "to help people get through the waiting period" until those payments kick in.

Oddly enough, many employees have never heard of catastrophic leave, Smith said. About 20 requests for catastrophic leave came in during 2006-07, 22 have been received so far this fiscal year. Typically, requests come through a department's human resources representative, who must verify that all the conditions required for eligibility have been met. The employee's identity, as well as his or her circumstances, is kept strictly confidential.

In many instances, departments have put out a call for donations of vacation time on behalf of an anonymous coworker. "Employees can donate hours specifically to that individual," Smith said. A gift must be a minimum of eight hours. And while Smith said some individuals with hearts of gold want to give a large portion of their vacation time, "you really should only donate no more than half of what you have. If something happens to you, you'll be in the same boat."

To find out specifics, go to www.chr.ucla.edu/chr/ppaa/uclaproc/append3.htm. If you'd like to apply for or donate to the program, links to forms are located at the bottom of the page.