Scope. This regulation applies to all employees, including temporary employees, of all units in the Executive, Judicial, and Legislative branches of State government, including any unit with an independent personnel system. Amount of Leave. In any 12-month period, an employee may use up to: 7 days of organ donation leave to serve as a bone marrow donor; and 30 days of organ donation leave to serve as an organ donor. Application for Leave. An employee or the employee's authorized representative may request organ donation leave by submitting a form, provided by the Secretary, to the employee's appointing authority. A request shall be accompanied by the medical documentation required by the form. The employee's appointing authority shall render a decision on requests for organ donation leave within 5 working days of receiving the request. If an employee must make the donation before receiving approval, the leave shall be provided retroactively upon approval. Criteria for Reviewing Requests for Leave. An employee shall be denied the use of organ donation leave only if the employee fails to provide medical documentation establishing the employee as an organ or bone marrow donor. If there is a question about medical documentation, the documentation shall be immediately forwarded to the State Medical Director for review. Use of Leave. Organ donation leave may only be used for the actual donation procedure, the preparation for the donation procedure, and recovery from the donation procedure. Leave may be used in increments of 1 hour or more. Treatment of Medical Documentation. Medical documentation submitted with the request for organ donation leave shall be treated as confidential medical information and shall be disclosed only to those individuals who need to know its contents as part of the review, evaluation, and approval process. An employee who fails to maintain the confidentiality of medical information is subject to disciplinary action, up to and including termination.