(a)        The State Board of Education, in cooperation with the State Board of Community Colleges and the State Human Resources Commission, shall adopt rules and policies to allow any employee at a public school to share leave voluntarily with an immediate family member who is an employee of a public school, community college, or State agency; and with a coworker’s immediate family member who is an employee of a public school, community college, or State agency. For the purposes of this section, the term “immediate family member” means a spouse, parent, child, brother, sister, grandparent, or grandchild. The term includes the step, half, and in-law relationships. The term “coworker” means that the employee donating the leave is employed by the same agency, department, institution, university, local school administrative unit, or community college as the employee whose immediate family member is receiving the leave.

(b)        The State Board of Education shall adopt rules and policies for the voluntary shared leave program to allow an employee at a public school to donate sick leave to a nonfamily member employee of a public school. A donor of sick leave to a nonfamily member recipient shall not donate more than five days of sick leave per year to any one nonfamily member recipient. The combined total of sick leave donated to a recipient from nonfamily member donors shall not exceed 20 days per year. Donated sick leave shall not be used for retirement purposes, and employees who donate sick leave shall be notified in writing of the State retirement credit consequences of donating sick leave. ?(1999-170, s. 2; 2003-9, s. 2; 2003-284, s. 30.14A(b); 2010-139, s. 2; 2013-382, s. 9.1(c).)