SUBJECT:	Emergency Vacation Leave Sharing Program
	Temporary Vacation Leave Conversion Program

I am pleased to announce that the University is implementing two programs, the Emergency Vacation Leave Sharing Program and the Temporary Vacation Leave Conversion Program, for employees to assist with Hurricane Katrina relief efforts.

The Emergency Vacation Leave Sharing Program (EVLSP) is an emergency program for temporary implementation in response to Hurricane Katrina. The EVLSP allows an employee to donate accrued vacation credits to another employee when the recipient employee:

* is needed to assist family or friends who have been directly affected by Hurricane Katrina, or

* is participating in disaster relief work but is not eligible for administrative leave with pay or leave of absence with pay (APM - 758).

The guidelines for the Catastrophic Leave Sharing Program will be applied in determining the methods for donating and tracking vacation credits. Requests may be granted until June 30, 2006. Academic employees who have questions should contact Kelly Maheu, Assistant Director, Academic Personnel, at kmaheu@ucsd.edu. Staff employees and supervisors are to contact the UCSD Hurricane Katrina Program Coordinator Jenni Leibman, at jleibman@ucsd.edu for processing of the request.

Application of the program to exclusively represented employees is in accordance with the applicable collective bargaining agreement.

The Temporary Vacation Leave Conversion Program (TVLCP) is a temporary emergency program in response to Hurricane Katrina pursuant to guidelines established by the IRS. Under the program, employees may convert accrued vacation credits into cash contributions for donations to qualified tax-exempt organizations providing disaster relief.

The donations will be made by the University directly to the organizations on behalf of the employees. This is done to reduce the tax liability of employees making donations. The donation amount will not be included in employee income reported to the IRS. Since the IRS allows the donation amount to be excluded from taxable income, employees cannot claim a charitable deduction on their tax returns.

The organizations to which donations may be made are the Red Cross (Hurricane Katrina Relief), Habitat for Humanity (Operation Home Delivery), and the United Way (Hurricane Katrina Relief Fund). The TVLCP began on November 1, 2005 and will end on October 31, 2006 (donations must be made to the organizations by December 31, 2006 per IRS requirements).

Employees are to coordinate their requests and determine the number of accrued vacation hours to be donated with their departments. Assessment of requests will be based on funding considerations. A request form, which sets forth the requirements of the program, is available for downloading at the following URL:

http://www-hr.ucsd.edu/policy/other_programs.html

Academic and Staff employees who have questions pertaining to the TVLCP should contact Pearl Trinidad-Charfauros, Manager, Payroll at ptrinidad@ucsd.edu.

Marye Anne Fox Chancellor