Leave

Regular, benefits-eligible staff employees, administrators, and faculty on twelve month appointments shall, without deduction in salary, be entitled to vacation time in each fiscal year. Such entitlement is earned according to the schedule established by the Texas legislature, proportionate to the FTE established for the position in which the individual is employed. Employees must have six months' continuous employment with the State before they are eligible to take vacation leave. If termination occurs before six months' service is completed, this benefit is forfeited.

For additional information regarding the State of Texas vacation leave policy, please refer to Government Code, Chapter 661, and the UHCL Vacation and Sick Leave Policy.

Please view the Vacation Hours Schedule.

Regular employees earn sick leave at the rate of eight hours per month of service. Part-time, benefits eligible employees, earn sick leave in the same proportion as their work month is to full-time employment. Sick leave may be accumulated without limit and there is no waiting period before sick leave may be taken.

Sick leave may be taken when sickness, injury, or pregnancy and confinement prevent the employee's performance of duty, or when a member of the employee's immediate family is actually ill. For purposes of 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 and who are living in the same household."  If a family member does not reside in your household, use of your sick leave is strictly limited to the time necessary to provide care and assistance to your child or parent that needs such care and assistance as a direct result of a documented medical condition.

When an employee’s absence from work is covered by sick leave entitlement, it is the employee’s responsibility to notify their supervisor at the earliest opportunity and upon return to work, complete a Leave Request showing the sick leave time used.  Absences of more than three days may require a statement from the physician before returning to work; in cases of extended illness, a physician’s statement is always required before returning to work.

Termination of employment from the University does not provide for payment of unused sick leave. If the employee is not transferring to another state agency they may elect to donate the unused hours to the sick leave pool. If they are reemployed by UHCL and there has been more than a 30-day break in service and the unemployed period has not extended more than 12 months, the sick leave hours will be reinstated provided they were not donated to the sick leave pool. If the individual is employed by another state agency and the unemployed period has not extended more than 12 months, the sick leave hours will be transferred to the new agency provided the hours were not donated to the sick leave pool.

In the event of death, the employee’s estate will be paid for one-half of accumulated sick leave or 336 hours, whichever is less provided there has been a period of six months continuous employment at the time of death. For additional information regarding the State of Texas sick leave policy, please refer to Government Code, Chapter 661 and UHCL Vacation and Sick Leave Policy. 

Benefits eligible employees who have a catastrophic injury or illness affecting them or their immediate family, and who have used all earned leave, may request paid sick leave time from the sick leave pool. A catastrophic illness is defined as a severe condition or combination of conditions affecting the mental or physical health that requires the services of a licensed practitioner for a prolonged period of time and that forces the employee to exhaust all leave time earned by the employee and to lose compensation. The uncomplicated delivery of a child at the conclusion of a pregnancy is not considered a catastrophic illness or injury. A prolonged illness or injury must last in excess of 30 consecutive calendar days. Immediate family is defined as stated in the sick leave policy.

Requests for withdrawal of pool hours are voluntary and cannot be requested until all leave accruals have been exhausted and 30 consecutive calendar days has elapsed from the date of the illness. The request cannot be for less than 5 days and cannot exceed 30 days. The maximum number of hours that can be withdrawn is 720 hours (90 days) in the lifetime of the employee’s employment with the University.

For additional information please refer to the Sick Leave Pool Policy and contact your Benefits Coordinator.

Benefits-eligible employees may request family leave pool hours when they have exhausted all eligible compensatory, sick, and vacation leave for one of the following:

Medical Reasons

• Birth of a child;
• Serious illness of an employee or immediate family member, including a pandemic-related illness

Non-Medical Reasons

• Bonding with a child for the first year after the child’s birth;
• Placement of a foster child or adoption of a child under 18 years of age;
• The placement of any person 18 years of age or older requiring guardianship;
• Extenuating circumstance created by an ongoing pandemic, including providing essential care to an immediate family member

Employees who meet the eligibility requirements may request up to 90 days of paid leave through the Family Leave Pool in the lifetime of their employment with the University. Requests cannot be for less than 5 days and cannot exceed 30 days at one time. Withdrawals from the pool will be considered on an individual basis, and the number of hours granted to recipient employees will depend on the number of hours in the pool at the time of request.

To fund the Family Leave Pool, employees may donate accrued vacation and/or sick leave hours at any time. There is no limit to the number of hours that may be donated, and contributions are irrevocable.

Please be advised there may be tax implications to employees who contribute hours to the Family Leave Pool. Employees must indicate the number of leave hours and type of leave (taxable or non-taxable) they wish to donate. All employees are advised to consult their independent attorney, accountant, or tax professional regarding tax implications prior to donating leave.

Sick Leave Pool-Family Leave Pool Donation Form

For additional information please refer to the Family Leave Pool Policy and contact your Benefits Coordinator.

Leave with pay is granted because of the death of the employee’s spouse, or the death of the employee’s or the employee’s spouse’s parents, brothers, sisters, grandparents, grandchildren and children. This leave with pay must be requested and documented through normal leave reporting procedures.

Absences due to the death of an individual outside the employee’s immediate family is taken as vacation or compensatory leave or as otherwise provided by policy.

For information on bereavement leave, please refer to the Leave of Absence Policy.

The time an employee must be absent from work because of jury duty is granted without a loss of salary and without affecting any other paid leave entitlement. There is no requirement to account for any fee or compensation received for jury duty service. The request for jury duty should be made on a leave request form and submitted to the employee’s supervisor prior to the time the leave is needed. A copy of the jury duty orders must be attached to the employee’s leave request and documented on the time sheet.

Donor Leave

Employees are entitled to a leave of absence without a deduction in salary for the time necessary to serve as a bone marrow or organ donor. The leave may not exceed five working days in a fiscal year to serve as a bone marrow donor and 30 working days in a fiscal year to serve as an organ donor.

For the donation of blood, employees are allowed time off without a deduction in salary or accrued leave. The time off must have the approval of the employee’s supervisor before taking the time. Upon returning to work, the employee must provide the supervisor with proof of the donation. If an employee fails to provide the proof of donation, the time used will be deducted from the employee’s salary or accrued leave, whichever the employee chooses. The time off for blood donation may not exceed four times in a fiscal year.

Military Leave/National Guard Emergency

An employee who is called to state active duty as a member of the state military forces by the governor because of an emergency is entitled to a leave of absence without a deduction in salary in accordance with Government Code, Section 431.0825. If the call is for federal active duty as a member of the state military forces, the employee may not receive the employee’s salary except as provided by Sections 661.904 (d) and (f) of the Government Code.

Reserve Duty

An employee called to active reservist duty to serve in a reserve component of the armed forces of the United States is entitled to a paid leave of absence not to exceed fifteen days in a calendar year. If the leave of absences extends beyond the paid fifteen days, the employee will be placed on military leave of absence without pay. Employees may opt to use all accrued vacation time before being placed in an unpaid leave status. If the hours are not used, they are retained along with accrued sick leave and will be available once the employee returns to work. Employees on active duty, regardless of pay status, will continue to accrue state service credit for purposes of longevity pay.

For additional information on military duty, please refer to Government Code, Chapter 431 & Government Code, 613.