UTMB HANDBOOK OF OPERATING PROCEDURES

Section 3 Human Resources Department Subject 3.3 Employment Policy 3.5.1 Sick Leave Pool

04/01/90 -Originated 08/26/03 -Reviewed w/ changes -Reviewed w/o changes Human Resources -Author

Sick Leave Pool

Audience

This document is for use by all regular employees.

Policy	UTMB provides the sick leave pool to provide a source of additional sick leave for those employees entitled to accrue and take paid sick leave. The sick leave pool is intended to help employees and their families if a catastrophic illness or injury forces an employee to exhaust all leave time earned and to lose compensation.
Definitions	Catastrophic illness or injury: a severe condition or combination of conditions affecting the mental or physical health of an employee or the employee’s immediate family that requires the services of a licensed practitioner for a prolonged period of time and that requires the employee to exhaust accrued leave and to lose compensation from the State. Immediate family: individuals who reside in the same household with the employee and are related by kinship, adoption, or marriage, as well as foster children certified by the Texas Department of Protective and Regulatory Services, or if not living in the same household, are totally dependent upon the employee for personal care or services on a continuing basis. Licensed Practitioner: a person licensed to practice in one of the health professions set forth in Article 3.70-2 of the Texas Insurance Code.
Eligibility	All benefit-eligible UTMB employees appointed half-time (20 hours) or more per week for at least 4½ months and not employed in a position for which the employee is required to be a student as a condition of the employment, and eligible for sick leave may contribute to, or apply to withdraw from, the sick leave pool in accordance with this document.

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Contributions

The pool shall consist of the sick leave time voluntarily contributed by employees • An employee wishing to contribute his or her unused sick leave time must complete a Sick Leave Pool Transfer form that can be obtained from the Human Resources Department (HRD) or the Regional Human Resources Office for Correctional Managed Care employees. • Contributions to the pool must be in units of eight (8) hours and employees are permitted to contribute an unlimited number of hours. • Employees may not specify who shall receive their donated sick leave time. Departing employees can voluntarily donate to the pool all accrued sick leave rounded down to the nearest eight (8) hour increment. • An employee who contributes sick leave time to the pool may reclaim for his/her own sick leave purposes as many hours as he/she contributed during the current fiscal year, provided the number of hours exist in the pool. If the employee needs additional sick leave time and he/she meets the eligibility requirements, the employee should apply to the sick leave pool.

Withdrawal of Sick Leave

An employee may apply to the sick leave pool by completing a Sick Leave Pool Application. If the employee is unable to complete the application form, his/her family, friends, or colleagues may do so on his/her behalf. To be eligible, employees must exhaust all sick leave. UTMB will not grant pool leave time to an employee for work days he/she missed prior to applying to the pool nor shall it reimburse the estate of a deceased employee or employee’s family member for granted but unused sick leave pool time.

Withdrawal of Sick Leave, continued

The completed application form must be accompanied by a the original completed Attending Physician’s and Medical Certification Statement from the licensed practitioner who treated the illness or injury that resulted in the exhaustion of the accrued annual and sick leave, and submitted to the UTMB Human Resources Department or to the Regional Human Resources Office for Correctional Managed Care employees. Note: An incomplete application will be denied and the employee will be notified and encouraged to reapply after completing the required information. An application will be are processed within ten (10) workdays of its receipt. If no pool balance exists within ten (10) days following submission of an application, the employee will be notified and encouraged to continue reapplying until adequate time exists in the pool. For each catastrophic illness or injury, an employee may receive up to one-third of the pool’s balance at the time of allotment, or 90 workdays, whichever is less. If approved, the employee will be reimbursed for workdays he/she missed since submitting the completed application (the number of days reimbursed being dependent on the total number of sick leave pool days granted). An applicant who received fewer days than he/she requires (as determined by a licensed practitioner) due to a depleted pool balance or granted less than 90 days and further medical review indicates additional time is warranted, may reapply later for additional days; the total number of workdays granted per catastrophic illness may not exceed 90.

Pool Administrator’s Responsibilities

The Pool Administrator will be appointed by the President or designee. The Pool Administrator reserves the right to have applications reviewed by a UTMB practitioner of his/her choice in order to establish the severity of the illness in question. The Pool Administrator’s decisions regarding withdrawals from the pool will be final. It is the responsibility of the Pool Administrator to: • establish a program of accountability for contributing to and withdrawing from the sick leave pool.

Pool Administrator’s Responsibilities, continued	• process requests in the order they are received. • determine how many days, if any, to grant employees. • credit the pool with any granted but unused sick leave time.
References	Texas Government Code, §§661.002-661.007 IHOP Policy 3.9.8, Sick Leave