Sick Leave Pool Administrative Guidelines
BLINN COLLEGE DISTRICT ADMINISTRATIVE REGULATIONS MANUAL
Effective Date: April 27, 2018
Board Policy Reference: DEC
Purpose
The Administration established the College District’s sick leave pool (SLP) to provide additional paid leave after an employee exhausts his or her own available sick, vacation, discretionary, and personal leave time as a result of a catastrophic illness or injury. Current and retiring employees may donate unused sick leave hours to the pool.
Definitions
- Catastrophic injury or catastrophic illness
- A severe condition or combination of conditions affecting the mental or physical health of either the employee or the employee’s immediate family member that requires treatment by a licensed health care practitioner for an extended period of time, and that requires the employee to exhaust all leave time earned by that employee.
- Licensed health care practitioner
- A health care practitioner, as the state legislature defines that term in the Texas Occupations Code, who practices within the scope of his/her license.
- Immediate family member
- An employee’s spouse, son, or daughter (including a biological, adopted, or foster child), parents, grandparents, and grandchildren, mother-in-law, or father-in-law.
Eligibility
A College District employee qualifies for SLP hours if:
- The employee is a regular full-time, benefits-eligible employee, employed for at least one year from his or her hire date,
- The employee or immediate family member is under a licensed healthcare practitioner’s care, and the illness/injury resulted in the employee’s absence from work, and
- The employee has exhausted all eligible sick, vacation, personal, and discretionary leave.
Note: Pregnancy and elective surgery do not qualify as catastrophic injuries or illnesses, except when life-threatening complications arise therefrom. Employees may not receive SLP hours while receiving workers’ compensation income benefits.
Pool Donations
- An employee may elect to donate available sick leave to the SLP during current employment, or at the time of separation from employment. Donations made during employment must be in full, one-day increments (8 hours); a separating or retiring employee may designate any number of unused accruals for donation to the SLP. Donation to the SLP is not a prerequisite for an employee to utilize the pool, nor must an employee repay SLP hours.
- A donating employee may contribute as many hours as he or she chooses to the SLP; however, in order to participate, the donating employee must contribute in full-day increments, be in good standing with attendance, and have accumulated a total of at least eighty hours of unused sick leave.
- A donating employee may not designate the SLP donation for a particular coworker, nor may the contributing employee receive donated hours back, except as a qualifying SLP recipient.
- An employee who donates sick leave hours upon separation of employment from Blinn College, and who subsequently returns to Blinn in a full-time, benefits-eligible position, may not receive sick leave credit for previously donated hours.
SLP Procedures – How to Request Leave
- As soon as reasonably possible, an employee shall notify his or her immediate supervisor of the employee’s need to take extended leave. The immediate supervisor may not inquire about the medical basis for the extended leave, and the employee does not have to disclose such information to anyone except Human Resources (HR). The employee shall submit a Leave Request Form to the immediate supervisor.
- If the leave request exceeds the employee’s available sick leave time, the supervisor shall direct the employee to HR to confirm the employee’s available sick leave balances.
- If the employee elects to request hours from the Sick Leave Pool in order to compensate for insufficient leave hours, the employee shall complete the Sick Leave Pool Withdrawal Form and the Certification of Health Care Provider Form and submit both to HR. The Administration strongly encourages employees to apply for SLP hours as soon as possible. Employees may not receive SLP hours for retroactive leave taken, or to receive retroactive pay. To avoid delay and/or denial for lateness, submit SLP forms and applications to HR in a timely manner.
- Upon receiving the Sick Leave Pool Withdrawal Form and the Certification of Health Care Provider Form, HR will review and evaluate the application materials to ensure that the information and medical documentation support the employee’s request for SLP and comply with College District policies and procedures.
- Human Resources will contact the employee if the Administration requires any additional information or corrections to process the application (e.g. supplemental medical information or clarification from the employee’s physician). The employee shall submit the supplemental information to HR as soon as possible.
- Human Resources will determine whether to approve or deny SLP requests by evaluating the information in the employee’s application and supporting documentation.
- Human Resources will notify the employee of the Administration’s determination within ten (10) business days. Human Resources will provide notification to the employee via electronic and/or written letter of approval or denial, and also will notify the employee’s department supervisor. Any letter of denial will include an explanation of the Administration’s determination.
- Upon issuance of the approval letter, the HR Payroll Coordinator will update the employee’s leave records to reflect the appropriate number of additional SLP hours. The HR Payroll Coordinator also will ensure compliance while the employee is utilizing the SLP hours. The HR Payroll Coordinator will not add any SLP hours to the employee’s sick leave balances until the Administration issues the approval letter. HR will return to the sick leave pool any SLP hours the eligible employee does not use.
Sick Leave Pool Forms
- Sick Leave Pool Donation Form
- Sick Leave Pool Withdrawal Form
- Sick Leave Pool Return Hours Form
- Sick Leave Pool Certification of Health Care Provider Form
- Sick Leave Pool Return to Work Certification