1. (a) Purpose. The purpose of this section is to establish guidelines for the creation and operation of a sick leave pool to benefit certain state employees who suffer a catastrophic injury or illness.

2. (b) Definitions. The following words and terms, when used in this section, shall have the following meanings, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.

   1. (1) Catastrophic injury or illness--As defined by the Employees Retirement System of Texas, is "a severe condition or combination of conditions affecting the mental or physical health of the employee or the employee's immediate family that requires the services of a licensed practitioner for a prolonged period of time and that forces the employee to exhaust all leave time earned by that employee and to lose compensation from the state for the employee." The condition or conditions must also cause the employee to be unable to work for one continuous month or longer. Normal pregnancies with no complications and routine surgeries with no complications are not considered by the Department of Health to be catastrophic illnesses.
   2. (2) Employee--Each employee of the Department of Health, including the regional offices, the hospitals, and the state-paid employees in local health departments, and including those on probationary, temporary, hourly, or other types of appointments, but not including the commissioner of health, who is excluded by provisions of Senate Bill 357, 71st Legislature, 1989.
   3. (3) Immediate family--According to the Employees Retirement System of Texas, are those individuals related by kinship, adoption, marriage, or foster children who are certified by the Texas Department of Human Services and who are living in the same household or if not in the same household are totally dependent upon the employee for personal care or services on a continuing basis.
   4. (4) Licensed practitioner--According to the Employees Retirement System of Texas, is a practitioner as defined in the Texas Insurance Code, Article 3.70-2, who is practicing within the scope of his/her license.
   5. (5) Pool administrator--Chief of the Bureau of Personnel Management, Texas Department of Health.
   6. (6) Senate Bill 357--Authorizing legislation for the establishment of a sick leave pool enacted by 71st Texas Legislature, 1989 (Texas Civil Statutes, Article 6252-8e).
3. (c) Administration of the pool. The pool administrator is responsible for developing procedures for the operation of the pool; developing forms for contributing leave to, or using leave from, the Department of Health Sick Leave Pool; and issuing memos interpreting and clarifying this section.

4. (d) Eligibility.

   1. (1) All employees of the Department of Health may apply to use sick leave from the pool.
   2. (2) Employees may use pool sick leave for their own catastrophic illness or injury or for catastrophic illness or injury in their immediate family.
   3. (3) Employees may also apply to use pool sick leave if they contributed sick leave to the pool and then exhausted their sick leave balance in that same year or the next fiscal year. Such employees may receive only the number of hours they contributed to the pool during the current or immediate past fiscal year unless they suffer a catastrophic illness or injury.
   4. (4) Employees with catastrophic illnesses or injuries are not required to contribute to the pool before they can use pool sick leave.
   5. (5) Employees, including employees who are off work due to a catastrophic on-the-job injury or illness, must exhaust all accrued leave before they are eligible to use sick leave from the pool.

5. (e) General provisions.

   1. (1) Employees on pool sick leave for a full calendar month accrue paid leave for that month provided they return to work following the leave.
   2. (2) Employees who use pool sick leave are not required to pay back pool sick leave.
   3. (3) Employees who are eligible for pool sick leave must apply to the pool and receive a determination of the amount to be transferred to their account or a denial of their request before they may request extended sick leave.
   4. (4) Employees who are off work due to a catastrophic illness or injury of an eligible family member may not request emergency leave under extenuating circumstances unless they have first applied to the sick leave pool and have been granted or denied pool sick leave.

6. (f) Contributions of sick leave to the pool.

   1. (1) Contributions to the sick leave pool are strictly voluntary.
   2. (2) Employees who want to donate sick leave time to the pool will fill out the appropriate form and forward it through supervisory channels to the pool administrator, who will have the approved amount transferred from the employee's account to the pool.
   3. (3) Employees may contribute a maximum of three work days (24 hours) of sick leave to the pool each fiscal year, in increments of eight hours, provided their sick leave balances will remain at least 80 hours after the transfer of leave to the pool.
   4. (4) Employees who make contributions to the pool may not stipulate who is to receive their contributions.
   5. (5) Employees who contribute sick leave to the pool cannot get it back unless they are eligible to use it.
   6. (6) Employees will be encouraged to contribute sick leave to the pool at the time of their separation from state employment. They may contribute up to three days (24 hours) at that time, provided they have not already contributed for that fiscal year. If they have already contributed, they may donate only the difference between the amount already donated and the maximum of 24 hours.

7. (g) Requests to use sick leave from the pool.

   1. (1) Requests for pool sick leave will be forwarded in a confidential manner through appropriate supervisory channels to the pool administrator.

   2. (2) Recommendations for approval of pool sick leave requests should be reserved only for employees who:

      1. (A) are meeting job performance standards and observing department policies; and
      2. (B) have not abused sick leave privileges.
   3. (3) Whenever possible, requests for pool sick leave should be submitted at least 10 days in advance of the exhaustion of all accrued paid entitlements (annual, compensatory, sick, as applicable) when it can be anticipated that pool sick leave will be needed.

   4. (4) Requests will be considered by the pool administrator on a first-come, first-served basis.

      1. (A) Employees must meet eligibility criteria set out in subsection (d) of this section.

      2. (B) All requests for pool leave due to catastrophic illness or injury, regardless of whether due to the illness of the employee or the eligible family member, must:

         1. (i) give a statement describing the illness or injury with sufficient information for the pool administrator to determine that the illness or injury is catastrophic;
         2. (ii) be accompanied by a physician's or other licensed practitioner's statement which gives the date of onset of the catastrophic illness or injury, the diagnosis and the prognosis, and the date it is anticipated the employee will be able to return to work. The employee or family member may be required to sign a release statement which allows the sick leave pool administrator to obtain additional medical information from the ill or injured individual's physician in order to facilitate determination on the request; and
         3. (iii) include the amount of each type of paid leave entitlement the employee has already utilized for this catastrophic illness or injury, the date all paid leave will be exhausted, and the amount of pool sick leave being requested.
      3. (C) If the request is due to the catastrophic illness or injury of an eligible family member, it must also include the relationship to the employee, where the family member resides, and if not in the same household as the employee, how the family member is totally dependent on the employee on a continuing basis.
      4. (D) Requests by employees to retrieve from the sick leave pool the leave they donated during the current or the immediate past fiscal year must be for leave in eight-hour increments.

8. (h) Amount of sick leave pool time to be awarded.

   1. (1) The amount of pool sick leave granted for each catastrophic illness or injury will be determined by the pool administrator based on documented need and consideration of the employee's history of leave usage.
   2. (2) The amount to be awarded cannot exceed one-third of the balance of hours in the pool, or 44 days (352 hours), whichever is less. The number of hours granted for hourly and part-time employees cannot exceed the number of hours the employee was scheduled to work during the period for which the leave is requested.
   3. (3) The employee and supervisor will be notified by the Bureau of Personnel Management of the action taken on the request, and a copy of the request form will be returned through supervisory channels.

9. (i) Use of approved pool sick leave.

   1. (1) Sick leave pool hours transferred to an employee's sick leave account will be used and recorded in the same manner as the hours accrued monthly by the employee, and an employee absent on pool sick leave will be treated for all purposes as if absent on accrued sick leave.
   2. (2) The employee will complete an AP-3 Form, titled Request and Authorization for Leave, in order to use the approved pool sick leave which was transferred to his/her account. Use of the approved time may be intermittent, as needed.
   3. (3) If approved pool sick leave is used on the first working day of a month or carries into a second month, and the employee returns to work during either or both months, any leave accruals which are applied to the employee's account must be used prior to resumption of use of approved pool sick leave.
   4. (4) If an employee is granted more than 22 days (176 hours) of pool sick leave (or the equivalent number of days/hours for a part-time employee), an updated statement from the physician or other licensed practitioner must be submitted prior to the expiration of 22 days.
   5. (5) Any unused balance of pool sick leave granted to an employee returns to the pool. The estate of a deceased employee is not entitled to payment for unused pool sick leave.

Source Note:The provisions of this §1.171 adopted to be effective July 27, 1990, 15 TexReg 3996.