RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — A new law is set to go into effect in Virginia with the hopes of convincing more people to donate organs.
The law will require employers with over 50 employees to give employees 60 days off unpaid if they donate an organ or 30 days unpaid if they donate bone marrow.
According to Donate Life Virginia, 2,400 Virginians are awaiting a life-saving organ donation.
Lara Malbon, Executive Director of Donate Life Virginia, said live donors can donate a kidney or part of their liver.
“Most people waiting are Virginians in need of a kidney,” Malbon said. “We all have the opportunity right now and living donors to donate a kidney.”
David Bruno, interim chair of the Transplant Department at VCU Health Hume-Lee Transplant Center, said last year that the department did around 500 kidney and liver transplants.
“When I’m talking to family members about encouraging their friends and family members to be donors, they often will kind of dig through a list and say, ‘He’s working, or he’s the only person in the house working,” Bruno said.
Bruno added that time off is needed to travel to appointments before the transplant and to recover.
“It really helps you heal faster, so instead of 9-12 weeks of recovery, you are looking at 6-8 weeks of recovery, and that’s for a strenuous job,” said Bruno.
Bruno added that although some non-profit organizations do pay organ donors for the time they take off, if lawmakers really wanted to make a difference, they would mandate paid time off.
“We don’t want to burden them with a financial disincentive to donate,” said Bruno. “We want to encourage this.”
To be eligible, donors must have worked at that company for at least a year and provide written documentation from a doctor.