Catastrophic leave donations
UC ANR's Catastrophic Leave Donation program is expanding to support our people during the COVID-19 emergency. This program allows employees to donate accrued vacation to support colleagues who have exhausted their paid leave due to a catastrophic illness or injury of an employee or family member; the death of a family member; or, a catastrophic casualty loss suffered due to a terrorist attack, fire or natural disaster.
Until now, UC ANR has administered this program by sending a call for donations to meet individual needs on a case-by-case basis. Now we are expanding the program to accept donations of accrued vacation leave into a central leave “bank” that can be used to support UC ANR academics and staff as needs arise. This will allow us to respond to increased demand if more UC ANR employees are unable to work for extended periods of time due to the COVID-19 emergency. A leave bank is also consistent with how other UC locations manage their Catastrophic Leave Donation programs.
Participation is entirely voluntary, and donations are anonymous. The minimum donation is eight hours. The maximum donation is 50% of the donor's vacation balance or 80 hours in a calendar year, whichever is less.
If you would like to donate some of your accrued vacation leave, please use the Donor Form and submit to humanresources@ucanr.edu. UC ANR's Catastrophic Leave Donation program is separate from programs administered by UCOP and the UC Davis campus.
If you have questions, please visit the Catastrophic Leave Sharing Program page or contact humanresources@ucanr.edu.
Frequency of ANR Updates
We anticipate a change in the frequency of ANR Updates concerning the pandemic now that the situation has stabilized to the extent that it can and our organization has transitioned to remote work status. We will send updates when there is critical information to share rather than issuing a daily update.
Celebration corner
Ken and Christina Hecht at the Nutrition Policy Institute and Anisha Patel (Stanford Univ.) investigated school district actions in California and nationally and produced a two-pager showing districts how school meal service can be continued over spring break. The flyer has been provided to the California Department of Education and will be disseminated through California channels. Amelie Hecht (Johns Hopkins Univ. School of Public Health), Ken, Christina and Anisha also drafted an Op-Ed on the issue for submission to The Washington Post.
Scott Parker, program coordinator for the UC Master Gardener Program of San Diego, and his local board created a PowerPoint video to update UC Master Gardener volunteers in lieu of a meeting. Along with other updates, the video applauded volunteers delivering Saint Patrick's Day-themed flower pots to staff at memory care facilities, and the program's quick transition to managing hotline inquiries remotely.
UC IPM advisor Chris Greer is working with agricultural commissioners in San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties to develop online continuing education opportunities for Department of Pesticide Regulation credits for farmers, pest control advisers and licensed pesticide applicators. UC IPM has a number of online courses for continuing education available through the eXtension platform and linked on http://ipm.ucanr.edu/training, and they are working with Monique Rivera, UCCE specialist at UC Riverside, to transition a previously scheduled meeting to online continuing education.
Glenda Humiston
Vice President