Andre: Catastrophic Leave donations for Radhika

This message is only for our coworkers at CSUSM. For the rest of you there is nothing you can do to help, and there is also nothing to worry about despite the alarming sounding title.

Thanks first of all for all the support you gave us in the Spring semester when Radhika’s situation was dire, and I hope that all of you are off to a good start for the Fall semester. I turned in my, hopefully last ever, WPAF with 5 minutes to spare on Tuesday. Now we can focus our attention on getting ready for IFEX on Monday, which means going to the retreat and getting the house organized to be painted.

I heard from Human resources that those of you who work at Cal State San Marcos and want to donate vacation/sick leave days so that Radhika can remain on medical leave this Fall semester can now do so. The official call for donations will go out soon, but they already accept donations. In fact, unlike in the Spring when I didn't even get the chance to donate, this time I was the first one to turn in my form. Remember that in the Spring Radhika really only needed a handful of days, but her own leave days are now exhausted, so that she can really use your donations now. I will be on family medical leave as well, but don’t worry about me, since I have plenty of sick leave days left and will return to work in the Spring. Unlike Radhika I didn’t have to use any leave days this Spring or back in 2006 when she first had to deal with her cancer.

HR reminded me that administrators, faculty and staff can donate no more than 40 hours (in fact that is the limit for everybody in Bargaining Units 2 through 9) for total for the academic year. Just be aware if you donate the full amount to Radhika you won’t be able to donate for anybody else this year.   The link to the file to be filled out is under the letter C at

http://www.csusm.edu/fas/fasforms.html                

and you can return the completed form to Sue Gary in payroll (Craven 4600G) or send her a completed and signed form per email (sgary@csusm.edu) which is what I did. Thanks in advance to all our wonderful friends at CSUSM.

Best wishes,

Andre