American Red Cross (ARC) 
Certified Disaster Volunteer Leave

This paid leave which applies to all state employees was established in 2004 by the  Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 30, Section 9I. The following summarizes the policy to be followed for this type of leave based on the law.  

Commonwealth employees who are registered as certified disaster service volunteers of the American Red Cross may take up to 15 paid calendar days of leave (intermittently or consecutively) per calendar year if called by the ARC to provide specialized disaster relief services for any disaster.

Please note approval of this paid leave is at the sole discretion of the employee’s supervisor based on consideration of need of ARC for the employee’s expertise, as well as the work needs of the agency.

Restrictions:  
•	Employees must receive their regular pay only for their normal work schedule. They can’t receive overtime, hazardous duty pay, or any other form of compensation in addition to regular pay.
•	Employees keep their health care and insurance coverage, seniority, accrued leave, compensatory time, and earned overtime while on the leave.
•	This leave is not to be granted for disaster relief training purposes.
•	The Commonwealth is not liable for worker’s compensation claims for injuries arising out of volunteer work.
•	The employee works for and is controlled solely by ARC, not the Commonwealth, while on the leave.

Agencies should use “LWP” in the HR/CMS payroll system using the comment: “Disaster Relief Services” when recording this leave.

Resources:

Chapter 30, MGL, Section 9I
http://www.mass.gov/legis/laws/mgl/30-9i.htm.  
 
Red Book Implementation Memo  http://www.mass.gov/anf/docs/policies/publications/redbook-imp-memo-2005-7.doc

Human Resources Division Policy Unit
617-878-9710