Resources will serve as the point of contact and repository for confidential medical information, as needed. An absence is considered “unexcused” if the employee does not secure appropriate approval in advance or does not provide acceptable documentation upon request. In this case, the employee is not eligible to use paid leave. 04.09 – When an employee is absent due to illness or injury, the number of hours charged as sick leave equals the number of hours the employee was scheduled to work. An employee may use sick leave when becoming ill while on vacation. 04.10 Faculty – Faculty members earn sick leave and must report sick leave taken even if no classes were missed as required by the State of Texas (). Nine-month faculty members are not required to report hours worked. The specific reporting processes for faculty to use in reporting sick leave only are prescribed in Section 16, Record Keeping Procedures. Faculty must report sick leave for the actual time missed from carrying out their normal, negotiated workload responsibilities (teaching, research, and service). Sick leave taken must be recorded in hours, including partial day absences. For absences over a continuous period exceeding one day, the amount of time charged against sick leave should include each working day, except holidays. Report all hours absent, not just hours on which classes were missed or taught by a substitute. For example, when a faculty member is ill for three days and is absent from his or her Monday and Wednesday classes and office hours, and is also unable to carry out normal research and service activities, the faculty member will use and report 24 hours of sick leave for the three-day period, even though there were no classes or office hours scheduled on Tuesday. Determination of workdays for nine-month faculty is as follows: Fall semester begins on the date faculty are to report to duty through the last day of commencement. Sick leave does not need to be reported between the last day of commencement and the first day faculty are required on duty for the spring semester. Spring semester begins on the date faculty are to report to duty. Sick leave does not need to be reported during spring break and ends on the last day of commencement.
b. A terminating employee will not receive pay for accumulated sick leave; c. If an employee dies while employed by the state, the employee's estate will receive payment of one-half of accumulated sick leave or 336 hours, whichever is less, provided the employee had continuous state employment for at least six months at the time of death. The estate will receive a lump sum as of the date of death; or d. Employees who separate from state employment will have sick leave balances restored if re-employed by the state within 12 months after the end of the month in which the separation occurred. However, employees re-employed by the same agency or institution must have a break in service of at least 30 calendar days to have sick leave restored. This 30-day requirement is waived if the separation was due to a reduction-in-force. 05. SICK LEAVE POOL PROCEDURES 05.01 In accordance with the provisions of , the university has created a sick leave pool and appointed the assistant vice president for Human Resources as the pool administrator. The sick leave pool is created to benefit certain employees who suffer a catastrophic injury or illness. A catastrophic illness, as defined for eligibility to use sick leave pool leave, is any injury or illness, excluding routine pregnancy that has caused an absence of 30 working days within the immediate preceding six calendar months. a. Employees of the university who are eligible to accrue and use sick leave may participate in the sick leave pool. The president is excluded from participating in the sick leave pool by . b. Employees may use pool leave for their own catastrophic illness or injury or for one in their immediate family as defined in Section 04.06. The university will consider pregnancy to be catastrophic if the employee presents a physician's certification stating that the pregnancy is not routine and the reasons why. c. Employees must exhaust all earned with pay entitlements, and have missed at least 30 working days in the immediate preceding six months as a result of a catastrophic injury or illness before they are eligible to use leave from the pool. Thirty working days is based on the individual's normal work schedule (i.e., percent time of appointment) and includes paid holidays.
b. to persons in the military service of the United States in accordance with , and , as that law existed on April 1, 2003. 8.06 An employee called to active duty in support of a national emergency or Homeland Security mission (under United States Code, or ) and whose military pay is less than their gross state pay is eligible for differential pay. The combination of military pay and differential pay may not exceed the employee’s actual state gross pay. Pay received while assigned to a combat zone, hardship duty pay, and family separation pay is excluded when computing military differential pay. An employee must provide their military leave and earnings statement each month to determine eligibility for differential pay. 8.07 An employee who is a member of the state military forces, a reserve component of the U.S. Armed Forces, or a member of a state- or urban search and rescue team and who is ordered to duty by proper authority is entitled, when relieved from duty, to be restored to the position that the employee held when ordered to duty or to a position of similar seniority, status, and pay. Reasonable efforts (such as training or retraining) must be made to enable returning service members to refresh or upgrade their skills to help them qualify for re-employment. To be eligible for re-employment, the employee must be discharged, separated, or released from active military service honorable conditions no later than five years after induction, enlistment, or call to duty. In addition, the employee must be physically and mentally qualified to perform the duties of the job. If the employee is unable to perform the duties of the previous job due to a service-related disability, the veteran is entitled to be restored to a position that he or she can perform with similar or the nearest possible seniority, status, and pay. Veterans whose employment has been restored may not be dismissed without cause within a year of their reinstatement. Eligible veterans must apply for reinstatement within 90 days after discharge or release from service. The application must be in writing and include evidence of discharge under honorable conditions. 8.08 Under this section, the employee must provide advance written or verbal notice for all military duty unless giving notice is impossible, unreasonable, or precluded by military necessity. The employee should complete an and provide a copy of the military orders. The department head will forward the request to Human Resources for verification and coordination of benefits with the employee.