The following words and terms, when used in the sections under this subchapter, shall have the following meanings, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.

1. (1) Accrued leave time--Vacation leave, sick leave, and compensatory time.
2. (2) Catastrophic illness or injury--A severe condition or combination of conditions affecting the mental or physical health of an employee or an employee's immediate family member that requires the services of a health care provider 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.
3. (3) Contribute--To give sick leave from an employee's personal sick leave account to the department sick leave pool.
4. (4) Different but related condition--A secondary catastrophic condition that is caused by a primary catastrophic condition which occurs at a later date, such as cancer which spreads from one part of the body to another.
5. (5) Discipline--Written reprimand, probation, suspension with pay, suspension without pay, involuntary demotion, or involuntary transfer.
6. (6) Employee--A person, other than the executive director, who is employed by the department.
7. (7) Health care provider--A practitioner as defined by Texas Civil Statutes, Article 4590i, who is practicing within the scope of his or her license.
8. (8) Human resources officer--An employee in a district, division, or office who is responsible for verifying the accuracy of all employee leave time records. If more than one employee has these responsibilities, their activities will be coordinated for the purpose of this subchapter.
9. (9) Immediate family--Those individuals who are related by kinship, adoption, or marriage, as well as foster children certified by the Texas Department of Protective and Regulatory Services.
10. (10) Licensed psychiatrist--A psychiatrist licensed by a state medical licensing board.
11. (11) Pool administrator--The Director of the Human Resources Division or his or her designee who administers the department's sick leave pool program.
12. (12) Request--An initial application for withdrawal from the sick leave pool or an application for an extension of a withdrawal due to a catastrophic illness or injury.
13. (13) Severe physical condition--A physical illness or injury that will likely result in death or causes the employee to be off work for 10 continuous weeks or more for the current episode.
14. (14) Severe psychological condition--A psychological illness that results in the patient being suicidal or capable of harming themselves or others and requires one week or more inpatient hospitalization.
15. (15) Sick leave--Leave taken when sickness, injury, or pregnancy and confinement prevent the employee's performance of duty or when the employee is needed to care and assist a member of his immediate family who is actually ill.
16. (16) Sick leave pool--A department-wide pool that receives voluntary contributions of sick leave from employees and which transfers approved amounts of sick leave to eligible employees.
17. (17) Withdrawal--An approved transfer of sick leave hours from the department sick leave pool.

Source Note:The provisions of this §4.51 adopted to be effective October 27, 1995, 20 TexReg 8479; amended to be effective March 24, 1997, 22 TexReg 2637; amended to be effective November 22, 1998, 23 TexReg 11657.