Beginning Jan. 1, 2023, King County’s donated leave programs are being replaced by two similar programs that better comply with IRS tax requirements. This includes the employee-to-employee donation program and the Emergency Leave Donation Fund started during COVID-19 pandemic.

Donating leave

Employee-to-Employee Medical Donated Leave Program: You can donate leave to another employee as follows: Any amount of your accrued vacation time and up to 25 hours of your sick leave per year, as long as you have 100 hours or more of sick leave remaining.

Emergency Medical Leave Fund: You can donate up to 80 hours of accrued vacation and 25 hours of accrued sick leave each calendar year. Donations go to a leave bank and will be distributed to recipients with a qualifying reason.

Receiving leave

• Donated leave must be used for a qualifying FMLA/KCFML reason, such as a serious health condition for yourself or an eligible family member, or to bond with a new child. These family and medical reasons are specified under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and the King County Family and Medical Leave (KCFML) benefit.
• Request for hours from the Emergency Medical Leave Fund go through the Department of Human Resources and are capped at 80 hours annually (prorated to reflect the employee’s normal work week) and are distributed on a first come, first served basis.
• You can only use donated leave after you have exhausted all of your own accrued leaves.
• Donated time must first be used for a prolonged absence (three or more consecutive days) and then can be used intermittently.
• Donations from the Emergency Medical Leave Fund must be used within 60 calendar days or the donated hours will be returned to the fund.

If you have donated leave balances

• If you have remaining donated leave hours from the current employee-to-employee program, the balance will be moved to your new Employee-to-Employee Medical Donated Leave Program bank on Jan. 7, 2023.

More information

• More details can be found in the FAQ.
• New program forms and procedures will be posted on the Taking leave webpage by Jan. 1.
• If you have questions, contact the Benefits Team 206-684-1556 or KC Benefits