SF Administrative Code § 16.9-29A

in effect

SEC. 16.9-29A. (a) Purpose. To enable catastrophically-ill employees of the City and County of San Francisco (“City”) to continue to be paid through donations of sick leave and vacation hours from other City employees, as authorized by Charter Sections A8.364 and A8.441. This program shall be known as the T. J. Anthony Catastrophic Illness Program, or “CIP.” This Section 16.9-29A only provides for receipt of such credits as are donated and does not provide for an absolute right of continued paid leave. (b) Establishment of Catastrophic Illness Leave Pool; Administration and Rule-Making Authority. There is hereby established a pool into which City employees may donate sick leave and/or vacation credits to benefit catastrophically-ill employees. The Human Resources Director, in consultation with the Controller shall have authority to administer the CIP program, including the authority to make and enforce rules not inconsistent with this Section 16.9-29A. (c) Definitions. “Catastrophic illness” means a life-threatening illness or injury, as determined by the Human Resources Director 1 the Director’s designee. A A1 CIP employee means a City employee who has applied for Catastrophic Illness Status and has been notified of their acceptance in the CIP by the Human Resources Director or the Director’s designee and whose participation in the CIP has not terminated, regardless of whether or not the employee has actually received or used any Catastrophic Illness Leave. “CIP Pool” means the bank of sick leave credits and vacation hours from all employees who have donated to the Catastrophic Illness Program. (d) Eligibility of Employees to Participate in CIP. Any City employee may participate in the CIP if the employee meets all of the following conditions: (1) The employee is eligible to accumulate and use sick leave; (2) The employee is catastrophically ill; (3) The employee has exhausted all of their available paid leave; and (4) The employee does not participate in a short or long-term disability program for which the City pays in whole, directly or indirectly, or if the employee participates in such a program, the employee agrees to, and does, apply for disability benefits immediately upon becoming eligible for such benefits. Any employee who participates in a short or long-term disability program for which the City pays in whole, directly or indirectly, may participate in the CIP program until the employee receives or is qualified to receive benefits under the terms of a short or long term disability program for which the City pays in whole, directly or indirectly. Any employee who is receiving or is qualified to receive short or long term disability benefits from a short or short or1 long term disability program for which the City pays in whole, directly or indirectly, may not participate in the CIP program until and unless the employee’s disability benefits terminate. Any employee who, while or after participating in the CIP program, retroactively receives or is qualified to receive short or long term disability benefits from a short or long term disability program for which the City pays in whole, directly or indirectly, must reimburse the City for the CIP payments received during the period which the short or long term disability program applies. Failure to do so will result in the City’s placing a lien for the unreimbursed amount on the employee’s future wages and benefits (not including workers’ compensation or retirement). This Subsection (d)(4) does not apply to employees who are active participants in the CIP as of April 29, 2002 and have been active participants since March 29, 2002. (e) Procedure for Applying for Catastrophic Illness Status. (1) An employee must complete a prescribed application form and return it to the Human Resources Director or the Director’s designee, together with supporting medical documentation. The Human Resources Director or the Director’s designee shall produce and maintain the prescribed application for employee access and distribution on the Department of Human Resources’ website. (2) The Human Resources Director or the Director’s designee shall examine the documentation supporting the application. The Human Resources Director or the Director’s designee may ask the applicant to submit further documentation and/or to submit to examination by a physician that the Director or the Director’s designee designates to determine in fact that the applicant does suffer from a catastrophic illness within the meaning of this Section 16.9-29A. An applicant’s failure to comply with these requirements may be grounds for rejection of the application. (3) In order to continue to qualify as catastrophically ill, a CIP employee may be required to submit to specified examination, or to supply further documentation of current medical status, as is necessary in the opinion of a physician or other healthcare provider designated by the Human Resources Director the Director’s1 . Such requests shall be be1 made for the sole purpose of determining the continued qualification of said employee to participate in the CIP. In addition, an employee may be required to submit documentation of application for and/or status of disability benefits. The Department of Human Resources may reevaluate employee program eligibility annually or as necessary. (4) If the Human Resources Director or the Director’s designee determines that an employee is not catastrophically ill, the Human Resources Director or the Director’s designee appeal the decision through an administrative appeal process to be established by the Health Commission, which shall include the right to1 shall provide the employee with a written letter setting forth the reasons for denial and the procedure for filing an administrative appeal. The employee may appeal the rejection to the Human Resources Director within 10 days of the date of the notice of rejection. The Human Resources Director shall appoint a medical specialist not employed by the City to conduct an evaluation and to report the findings. The decision of the medical specialist shall be final and no further appeal shall be allowed. The administrative appeal process in its entirety shall not exceed 60 days. An employee whose application has been disapproved is not obligated to exhaust the administrative appeals process before reapplying. Instead, the employee may reapply after observing a 30-day waiting period from the date of the initial denial. (f) Records of Catastrophic Illness Program Applicants. (1) The Human Resources Director or the Director’s designee shall maintain confidential files for all applicants who have applied to to1 participate in the CIP. (2) The Human Resources Director or the Director’s designee shall send confidential quarterly notifications to the eligible employee’s Human Resources Representative(s) of any employee participating in CIP..1 (3) The quarterly notifications information may include the amounts of sick leave transferred to each CIP employee. (4) In all cases, the Human Resources Director and the Director’s designees shall shield and protect the true identities of CIP employees except as required for the administration of the program. (g) Eligibility to Transfer Sick Leave and/or Vacation Credits. Any City employee and County of San Francisco1 who is eligible to accumulate and use vacation credits and/or sick leave may transfer sick leave and/or vacation credits to the CIP pool subject to the following conditions: (1) The transferring employee must retain a minimum sick leave balance of 64 hours except upon retirement when employees may transfer all unused balances. (2) Transfers must be in units of eight hours. (3) All transfers are irrevocable. (4) The transferring employee may transfer hours to the CIP (pool or individual) only once per pay period. (h) Use of Transferred Sick Leave and Vacation Credits. (1) All hours transferred to the eligible CIP employee shall be credited as sick leave for the CIP employee. As they are used, they shall be treated as the employee’s own sick leave for all purposes, including for continued accrual of vacation credits, sick leave, and retirement service; service for pay increments; and eligibility for holiday pay. (2) At the beginning of each pay period, a CIP employee must use all sick leave and vacation credits accrued during the previous pay period before using any transferred hours. (3) A CIP employee may use transferred hours retroactively from the date of certification of eligibility back to the date of application. (4) A CIP employee may use transferred credits in a pay period to the extent that when combined with other compensation from the City and all other benefits from public sources, the total does not exceed the pay for 100% of the employee’s regularly scheduled hours for such pay period (excluding regularly scheduled overtime and premium pay). A CIP employee may be required to provide financial records to prove compliance with this Subsection (h)(4). Failure to provide such records is grounds for exclusion from the CIP. (i) Redistribution of Transferred Hours Upon Termination of Participation In CIP. If a CIP employee dies, retires, resigns or begins receiving disability benefits before having used all hours transferred pursuant to Subsection (h), the unused hours shall be transferred to the CIP pool. If a CIP employee is able to return to work for the City following a catastrophic illness, the employee may continue to draw up to 64 hours of CIP credits in lieu of accrued sick leave as necessary for 90 days after the date the employee returns to work. (j) Confidentiality. (1) All medical records submitted by an employee pursuant to this statute shall be kept confidential by the Human Resources Director or the Director’s designee. (2) Until the Human Resources Director or the Director’s designee has rendered an opinion pursuant to Subsection (d) that the employee is catastrophically ill, the fact of an employee’s application shall be kept confidential by the parties processing the application and not shared with the employee’s department head. (3) The names of employees donating hours pursuant to this provision shall remain confidential. (4) Violation of the provisions of this subsection (j) or any other provision relating to confidentiality protections shall be grounds for disciplinary action. (k) Notices. The Human Resources Director or the Director’s designee shall develop notices with relevant information about the CIP. These notices shall be distributed to all appointing officers, who shall then post them in public places where other notices advising employees of rights and benefits are posted. (l) Termination of this Provision. Unless otherwise specified by ordinance or Charter provision, the provisions of this Section shall expire upon the effective date of an ordinance or Charter section instituting, or upon the effective date of the last MOU through which all City employees are covered by, a long-term disability program. (m) Limitation. In undertaking the adoption and enforcement of this ordinance, the City is assuming an undertaking only to promote the general welfare. It is not assuming, nor is it imposing on its officers and employees, an obligation for breach of which it is liable in money damages to any person who claims that such breach proximately caused injury. (Added by Ord. 175-01, File No. 010059, App. 8/17/2001; amended by Ord. 34-02, File No. 011741, App. 3/29/2002; Ord. 84-04, File No. 040194, App. 5/20/2004; Ord. 237-14 , File No. 140909, App. 12/4/2014, Eff. 1/3/2015; Ord. 270-24, File No. 240870, App. 11/25/2024, Eff. 12/26/2024) CODIFICATION NOTE 1. So in Ord. 270-24.

Source: City and County of San Francisco, Charter and Municipal Codes (American Legal Publishing, codelibrary.amlegal.com)URL: https://codelibrary.amlegal.com/codes/san_francisco/latest/sf_admin/0-0-0-10066Fetched: 11/1/2026