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Sick Leave
See:
Accrual of sick leave
Benefits-eligible faculty members (appointed for at least 50% FTE for at duration of at least 4.5 months) earn sick leave entitlement beginning on the first date of their payroll appointment period at the University. Full-time faculty earn sick leave at the rate of eight hours for each month or fraction of a month of employment. Faculty employed part-time (half-time or more but less than full-time) accrue sick leave on a proportionate basis. Unused sick leave accumulates and carries forward each month.
Requirements for notification of sick leave
A faculty member who must be absent from duty because of illness should notify his or her department chair/dean or cause him or her to be notified of this fact at the earliest practicable time. According to the provisions of the General Appropriations Act, to be eligible for accumulated sick leave with pay during a continuous period of more than three (3) working days, an employee who is absent on account of illness is to send to the department chair/dean a doctor’s certificate showing the cause or nature of the illness, or some other written statement of the facts concerning the illness. Before an employee returns to work, the university also may require a licensed practitioner's certification that he or she is physically fit to return to duty.
The department chair is responsible for notifying the Provost’s Office in writing of any periods of extended sick leave needed by a member of their faculty. In addition, the department is responsible for ensuring that FML application information is received by the faculty member who may qualify for leave under the provisions of the Family and Medical Leave Act. (See tab "FML" on this page for more information.)
Use of sick leave
Per state law, faculty at an institution of higher education must submit sick leave taken if the absence occurs during the normal workday for regular employees, even when no classes were missed. Time Off may be paid or unpaid, full or partial days, continuous or intermittent, and may involve a balance of hours being tracked.
Use of sick leave does not affect the tenure clock, as long as the faculty member has a sufficient balance of hours.
Sick leave may be used for the following:
a) Employee's Medical Condition. Sick leave may be taken when an employee is prevented from performing duties because of sickness, injury, or confinement due to pregnancy.
b) Care of Immediate Family. Sick leave may be taken when an employee needs to care for an immediate family member who is actually ill because of sickness, injury, or confinement due to pregnancy. Immediate family member is defined as those individuals who live in the same household as the employee and are related by kinship, adoption, or marriage; or are foster children certified by the Texas Department of Child Protective and Regulatory Services; and an employee's minor child regardless of whether the child lives in the same household.
c) Care of Family Who Do Not Reside in the Same Household. An employee's sick leave used to care for family who do not reside in the same household is strictly limited to the time necessary to provide care to the employee's spouse, child or parent who needs such care as a direct result of a documented medical condition.
d) Parent-Teacher Conferences. An employee may use up to eight (8) hours of sick leave each calendar year to attend parent-teacher conferences for the employee's children who are in pre-kindergarten through the twelfth grade.
Process for using sick leave
Faculty member submits timesheets for sick leave hours used in Workday. Instructions are available at Request Sick Leave – Faculty.
Learn how to locate leave balances on a payslip at Understanding Your Payslip: Workday Process Overview.
If sick leave balance is exhausted
If all available paid leave has been exhausted, eligible employees have the following options:
Disposition of unused sick leave hours
When a faculty member retires or resigns with a remaining sick leave balance, the balance can be donated to the university Sick Leave Pool or to a colleague. If hours are donated to an individual, there may be tax implications for the recipient.
If an active faculty member passes away, either 336 or half of their accrued sick leave hours, whichever is smaller, is paid to the family's estate.
Family Medical Leave (FML)
See:
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) is an unpaid leave which provides job protection and insurance premium sharing for eligible employees for serious medical conditions, childbirth, adoption, or care for family members. FML is used concurrently with Sick and Unpaid Leaves. Up to 480 hours (12 weeks per year) may be awarded, which may be used either continuously or intermittently. Time Off may be paid or unpaid, full or partial days, continuous or intermittent, and may involve a balance of hours being tracked.
An employee must have worked at least 1,250 hours since their last FML before becoming eligible for another FML.
Employees who do not qualify for FML may be eligible for Parental Time off.
Family and Medical Leave may be used for the following conditions:
A serious health condition
Birth and care of a child
Adopting or fostering a child
Care of spouse, child, or parent
Qualifying exigency
Military caregiver leave
If an employee with approved FML runs out of paid Sick Leave hours, FML provides premium sharing to cover health insurance.
Note that employees in A&P positions cannot use more than 20 hours per week of comp time, including in conjunction with FML. Workday does not have a comp time/FML option - contact HR Benefits to manually reduce FML hours.
Requesting FML
After reviewing eligibility and guidance at HR: Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), the faculty member should submit an online FML request form at Employee Request for Leave Under the FMLA.
Using FML hours
Faculty member submits timesheets for sick leave hours used in Workday. If using approved FML hours, the faculty member should use sick leave and FML concurrently. For example, for a full day of leave, both 8 hours of sick leave and 8 hours of FML would be entered for the same day. The FML option displays on timesheets as "FML - Concurrent with other Time Off."
See instructions:
If entering sick leave on another employee's behalf, using "Enter Time" will route the entries to the employee, whereas using "Enter Absence" will not route the entries to the employee.
Removing unused FML hours
Faculty who return to work and are no longer eligible to use awarded FML hours should contact their department timekeeper. Employees cannot remove unused FML hours from their timesheets themselves.
The departmental timekeepers should contact HR Leave Management to remove the remaining unused hours from the faculty member’s timesheet. See How do I remove unused Family and Medical Leave (FML) hours from my timesheet?