Human Resources

A sick leave pool is available for all eligible employees who have exhausted their sick and vacation leave due to a catastrophic illness or injury. The pool is intended to ease the hardship caused by an illness or injury which would otherwise force the employee to lose income from the State. For purposes of this policy, a catastrophic illness or injury is a severe condition or combination of conditions affecting the mental or physical health of the employee or a member of the employee's immediate family that requires treatment by a licensed practitioner for a prolonged period that would result in loss of compensation from the state.

A prolonged period is 80-hours of missed work, which qualifies the employee for sick leave pool benefits. The missed work may be continuous or intermittent. For part-time employees, the requirement of 80 hours will be proportional to their percent effort (50% effort = 40 hours missed work).

A licensed practitioner means a practitioner, as defined in the Texas Insurance Code, who is practicing within the scope of his/her license in treating the employee or family member.

Immediate family members are those individuals related by kinship, adoption, or marriage or Texas Department of Protective and Regulatory Services-certified foster children. Immediate family includes only individuals who are living in the same household as the employee or, if not in the same household, are totally dependent on the employee for personal care or services on a continuing basis. Employees may use sick leave pool hours to care for an immediate family member only under circumstances for which an employee would be eligible to use regular sick leave, if available. (See System Regulation 31.03.02, Sick Leave)

For additional information, please refer to System Regulation 31.06.01 Sick Leave Pool: http://policies.tamus.edu/31-06-01.pdf