Chapter 15: Sick Leave
15.1 Eligibility – Staff and Faculty Employees
All regularly appointed faculty and staff employees who are appointed to work twenty hours or more per week and for at least four and one half months are eligible for paid sick leave from the first day of employment. Students employed in positions which require student status as a condition for employment do not accrue sick leave time.
15.2 Accrual
Sick leave is accrued at the rate of eight hours per month for full‐time service. Part‐time employees appointed for 20 or more hours per week will accrue a proportionate amount of sick leave based upon the percentage of employment. One month's accrual is given an employee for each month or fraction of a month actually worked regardless of the date of employment or termination. There is no maximum amount of paid sick leave that may be accrued.
15.2.1 An employee who transfers from another University of Texas System component institution or other state agency or institution without an interruption in employment will be credited with any prior accrued sick leave as certified in writing by the institution or agency from which the employee has transferred.
15.2.2 No employee may accrue sick leave while on leave without pay including military leave.
15.3 Utilization
Sick leave with pay may be taken when sickness, injury, or pregnancy and confinement prevent the employee's performance of duty or when the employee is needed to care and assist a member of his or her immediate family who is actually ill. For purposes relating to regular sick leave, immediate family is defined as those individuals related by kinship, adoption, marriage, or foster children who are so certified by the Department of Human Services who are living in the same household or, if not in the same household, are totally dependent upon the employee for personal care or services on a continuing basis.
In order to be eligible for sick leave with pay, an employee must report promptly by telephone to their supervisor the reason for their absence. If absence is of more than three days duration, the supervisor should be notified of the employee’s condition. A doctor’s note will be required.
15.3.1 The University may, at its discretion, require an employee to submit proof that the absence was necessary and due to illness or injury. The University may also require proof, before an employee returns to work, that he or she is physically fit to return. Any employee who is found to have obtained sick leave pay under false pretenses is subject to disciplinary action up to and including termination of employment under the University’s Discipline and Discharge Policy.
15.3.2 Sick leave with pay will be granted only when the employee applies for it upon return to work and eligibility is verified by the supervisor or appropriate administrative officer. Supervisors may request a doctor’s note for sick leave less than three days. An employee whose sick leave balance is insufficient to cover additional absences may have the option to utilize accrued vacation leave, with the Supervisor’s approval, before being placed on a leave without pay, provided the employee has completed the six‐month probationary period. Unearned sick leave may not be advanced and taken by an employee except as provide for under Chapter 16 below for use of the University Sick Leave Pool.
15.3.3 In the event of an on‐the‐job injury to an employee that results in lost work time, the employee may elect to use accrued sick and/or vacation leave during the one week waiting period before Workers’ Compensation Insurance (WCI) benefits go into effect. If the person chooses not to do this, the person will be placed on a leave without pay status for that week. In no event can a person receive WCI benefits while on a paid status with the University.
15.3.4 Employees will not receive payment for unused allowance of sick leave at the time of separation. In the event of the death of an employee who has an accrued sick leave balance, the estate will be paid for one half of the accrued sick leave balance or for three hundred thirty‐six hours of sick leave, whichever is less. The payment will be calculated at the employee's rate of compensation at the time of death.
15.4 Use of Sick Leave for Educational Activities
An employee may use up to eight (8) hours of sick leave each fiscal year to attend educational activities of the employee’s children.
15.4.1 For purposes of this section, “educational activity” means school-sponsored activity, including a parent-teacher conference, volunteer program, a field trip, tutoring, classroom program, a school committee meeting, an academic competition, an athletic, music, or theater program.
15.4.2 For purposes of this section, a “parent” is a person who stands in parental relation to the child and meets the eligibility of an employee as stated in section 15.1 of this Chapter.
15.4.3 An employee shall provide his or her supervisor with reasonable advance notice when requesting the use of sick leave to attend an educational activity.