SUBJECT: GUIDELINES FOR CALCULATING SICK LEAVE USED BY FACULTY

APPLICABILITY: REGULAR FACULTY

Faculty members at institutions of higher education must submit prescribed leave forms for all sick leave taken during their normal forty-hour (40 hour) work week even if no classes were missed. (See Texas Government Code 661.203)Sick leave is accrued based on the total percentage of time employed from all accounts, e.g. 100% = 8 hours, 80% = 6.4 hours. Faculty will report sick leave as actual time missed from their normal forty-hour (40-hour) work week. Sick Leave taken must be recorded in hours. When charging for time less than an hour, sick leave taken must be rounded off to tenths of an hour, e.g. six (6) minutes = 0.1 hours, twelve (12) minutes = 0.2 hours, eighteen (18) minutes = 0.3 hours, etc.

For absences over a continuous period exceeding one day, the amount of time charged against sick leave should include each working day, except holidays. Report all days absent – not just days on which classes were missed or taught by a substitute. For example, when a faculty member, whose normal 40 hour schedule includes Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, is ill all three days thereby missing his/her Monday and Wednesday classes and office hours, the faculty member will use and report 24 hours of sick leave for the three day period, even though there were no classes or office hours scheduled on Tuesday.

To be eligible for accumulated sick leave with pay during a continuous period of more than three (3) working days, an employee who has been absent must provide a medical practitioner’s statement showing the cause or nature of the illness, or some written statement of the facts concerning the illness, which is acceptable to the departmental official. This documentation will be treated as confidential medical information and access to it will be limited to only those individuals who have a need for such information.

Once the current sick leave balance has been entered into the computer, a monthly faculty sick leave report will be sent to each department for reporting to Human Resources the prior month’s usage. Department/Division Chairs and other appropriate administrators are responsible for insuring that sick leave is reported and that accurate records are kept. Deans will audit the records in their schools or colleges every three (3) months.

 * Policy reviewed with no changes made