Sick Leave Pool

The Sick Leave Pool (SLP) is a reserve of sick time off hours donated by university employees to provide eligible employees with paid sick time off for catastrophic medical conditions. For more information, please see the university's Handbook of Operating Procedures.

Eligibility

Employees suffering from a catastrophic condition, or who have an *immediate family member suffering from a catastrophic condition, and are appointed to work at least 20 hours per week for at least 4.5 months are eligible to apply for SLP hours. Eligible employees must exhaust all of their own paid time off prior to applying for and receiving a SLP award. Students in positions where student status is a requirement for employment are not eligible.

Leave Management encourages all benefits eligible employees to evaluate their short & long term disability insurance options. These options are affordable insurance elections that provide partial income replacement should you experience a serious medical condition that prevents you from performing the essential functions of your job, yet does not meet the criteria for catastrophic as defined within the SLP.

*Immediate family members include:

• your spouse, child or parent
• someone who lives with you and is related by kinship, adoption or marriage
• a foster child certified by the Texas Department of Child Protective and Regulatory Services

Proof of relationship may be required for coverage under SLP for a family member.

Applying for Sick Leave Pool Hours

You or your HR representative can make a request for SLP consideration by completing a SLP application. You should submit the application to Leave Management at least two weeks before the hours are needed or as soon as possible. SLP forms are available on the forms page or from the Human Resource Service Center.

Your application will be reviewed by professionals experienced in leave management and may include a medical professional review to determine if it meets the eligibility criteria. If the certification from your healthcare provider is incomplete or lacks sufficient medical information, Leave Management will request additional information from you or the healthcare provider. All SLP decisions are final.

You will be placed on time off without pay if you exhaust all of your paid time off prior to review of your SLP application. SLP hours can be retroactively applied if the application is later approved.

The amount of time you are approved to receive cannot exceed 720 hours per catastrophic condition. The amount of the award will depend on the medical certification from your physician. If you work less than 40 hours a week, the maximum award is proportionate to percent of time you work each week.

If awarded SLP hours, you will continue to accrue annual & sick time off on a monthly basis, however since you are not actively working to earn the accruals, they will remain frozen and cannot be used until you return to work.

Supervisor Information

Supervisors should be aware that an award of SLP is in SLP hours only, not funding. Employees awarded hours of SLP will still be on your budget and their paychecks will still come from your funding. If you are a grant-funded organization and have restrictions on how funds are used, you must work with your Dean or Director’s office to secure funding to cover the absence. There are no central funds to pay for this type of time off.

Supervisors should coordinate the completion of timesheets on behalf of the employee during the employee’s time off using the SLP option on the employee time off calendar . If an employee is working a reduced or intermittent schedule, the employee should complete their own time off calendar.

Employees are not expected to work while on SLP, unless the award is for a reduced or intermittent schedule, and then only when they are scheduled to work as authorized by the healthcare provider certification.

It is possible for an employee to be awarded more than one SLP award if they are suffering from separate and distinct catastrophic condition as certified by the healthcare provider.

Donating Sick Leave Pool Hours

The SLP’s success is entirely dependent upon the generosity of employees who choose to donate their available sick time off.  If you would like to contribute to that success by donating time to the SLP, you may do so by completing the following steps:

1. Log in to Workday
2. Search for and select Create Request in the search box
3. From the prompt, type "donate" and select a Request Type of Donate Hours to the Sick Leave Pool
4. Complete the donation form and click Submit

As a current employee who has contributed to the SLP, you may submit a written request to Leave Management to receive a refund of donated hours if you have exhausted your own sick time off balance and you have an immediate need that does not qualify as a catastrophic illness or injury.