Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon Portland Community College

Classified/Academic Professional Medical Leave Bank

The Leave Bank allows Classified and Academic Professional employees to donate accrued vacation, incentive, and/or comp hours, if applicable, to other member employees on medical leave or family medical leave who have exhausted their own paid leave. The Leave Bank is similar to insurance. If you are a member and run out of paid time off, you can get a transfer from the Leave Bank so you can be paid during your leave of absence. Although you cannot donate hours for a specific individual, by joining the program you are helping other Classified or Academic Professional co-workers in need. The program year begins April 1 and ends March 31 of the following year.

Who can join

Any Classified employee or Academic Professional employee who has completed their initial one year of probation and has at least four hours of their own accrued leave available to donate on April 1.

How to donate hours

Members must donate at least four hours of accrued leave each year by submitting the Medical Leave Bank Enrollment Form.

  • Academic Professional employees may donate vacation hours;
  • Classified employees may donate vacation, incentive, or comp hours.

Members must ensure they have at least four hours available to donate on April 1. If they do not, they will be ineligible to participate in the leave bank. Members in the program may donate additional hours at any time during the program year.

If you enroll in the program, your donated hours will not be returned to you. Hours you donate are not included in your taxable income. Hours you receive from the program as compensation are reported as wages on Form W-2. Members receiving hours of pay through the Leave Bank are not required to pay those hours back.

When to enroll

Open enrollment is February 1 through March 15. To participate, you must complete a new enrollment form each year. Employees who complete their probationary period after open enrollment may join the Leave Bank within 30 days of completion of probation.

How to use the Leave Bank

To request a transfer of hours from the Leave Bank, complete the Leave Bank Transfer Application and email it to benefits-group@pcc.edu. Your request will be approved only if you:

  • have been on an approved full-time medical leave (paid or unpaid) for at least two consecutive weeks, and
  • have a serious health condition that prevents you from working or need leave to care for a family member with a serious health condition as defined by FMLA/OFLA, and
  • have already exhausted all your own paid leave, and
  • have not been disciplined for an absence-related reason for the past 12 months.

A maximum of 350 hours for your own serious health condition and a maximum of 250 hours to care for a family member with a serious health condition may be transferred from the Leave Bank in any 12-month period. A maximum of 2,500 hours per year may be transferred from the leave bank to care for family members. Certain other restrictions may apply. For example, if you receive paid hours from the Leave Bank and you are later reimbursed for the same hours by an insurance company, Paid Family Medical Leave (PFML), workers compensation, Long Term Disability benefits, or another source, Leave Bank benefits must be repaid to PCC by the employee.

More Information

More detailed information is available from Benefits.