Sick Leave

Department responsibilities

Department chairs and Administrative Managers should carefully review and follow the guidelines at EVPP: Leaves & Related Policies > Sick Time Off (Paid) > Department Responsibilities.

Accrual of sick leave

Benefits-eligible faculty members (appointed for at least 50% FTE for at duration of at least 4.5 months) earn sick leave entitlement beginning on the first date of their payroll appointment period at the University. Full-time faculty earn sick leave at the rate of eight hours for each month or fraction of a month of employment. Faculty employed part-time (half-time or more but less than full-time) accrue sick leave on a proportionate basis. Unused sick leave accumulates and carries forward each month.

Requirements for notification of sick leave

A faculty member who must be absent from duty because of illness should notify his or her department chair/dean or cause him or her to be notified of this fact at the earliest practicable time. According to the provisions of the General Appropriations Act, to be eligible for accumulated sick leave with pay during a continuous period of more than three (3) working days, an employee who is absent on account of illness is to send to the department chair/dean a doctor’s certificate showing the cause or nature of the illness, or some other written statement of the facts concerning the illness. Before an employee returns to work, the university also may require a licensed practitioner's certification that he or she is physically fit to return to duty.

The department chair is responsible for notifying the Provost’s Office in writing of any periods of extended sick leave needed by a member of their faculty. In addition, the department is responsible for ensuring that FML application information is received by the faculty member who may qualify for leave under the provisions of the Family and Medical Leave Act.

Use of sick leave

Per state law, faculty at an institution of higher education must submit sick leave taken if the absence occurs during the normal workday for regular employees, even when no classes were missed. Time Off may be paid or unpaid, full or partial days, continuous or intermittent, and may involve a balance of hours being tracked.

Use of sick leave does not affect the tenure clock, as long as the faculty member has a sufficient balance of hours. 

Sick leave may be used for the following:

• Employee's own medical condition. Sick leave may be taken when an employee is prevented from performing duties because of sickness, injury, or confinement due to pregnancy.

• Care of immediate family. Sick leave may be taken when an employee needs to care for an immediate family member who is actually ill because of sickness, injury, or confinement due to pregnancy. Immediate family member is defined as those individuals who live in the same household as the employee and are related by kinship, adoption, or marriage; or are foster children certified by the Texas Department of Child Protective and Regulatory Services; and an employee's minor child regardless of whether the child lives in the same household.

• Care of family who do not reside in the same household. An employee's sick leave used to care for family who do not reside in the same household is strictly limited to the time necessary to provide care to the employee's spouse, child or parent who needs such care as a direct result of a documented medical condition.

• Parent-teacher conferences. An employee may use up to eight (8) hours of sick leave each calendar year to attend parent-teacher conferences for the employee's children who are in pre-kindergarten through the twelfth grade.

Process for using sick leave

Faculty member submits timesheets for sick leave hours used in Workday. Instructions are available at Request Sick Leave – Faculty.

Learn how to locate leave balances on a payslip at Understanding Your Payslip: Workday Process Overview.

If sick leave balance is exhausted

If all available paid leave has been exhausted, eligible employees have the following options:

• COE: Leave of Absence (Unpaid Time Off)

• Sick Leave Pool

• Family Leave Pool

Returning to work after sick leave

When a faculty member is absent for more than three consecutive workdays due to their own personal medical condition, they must provide to their department chair and/or supervisor a return-to-work release from a medical provider before returning to work. The faculty member is not required to disclose personal medical information or diagnosis to their chair/supervisor.

The provider may use the Return to Work Release form (PDF) or an alternate form, such as a doctor’s note stating the date the faculty member is released to return to work and any relevant work limitations. A return-to-work release is not required when the reason for the absence was to care for an immediate family member.

What happens to unused sick leave hours when a faculty member leaves UT?

When a faculty member retires or resigns with a remaining sick leave balance, the balance can be donated to the university Sick Leave Pool or to a colleague. If hours are donated to an individual, there may be tax implications for the recipient.

If an active faculty member passes away, either 336 or half of their accrued sick leave hours, whichever is smaller, is paid to the family's estate.

Family Medical Leave (FML)

See:

• EVPP: Leaves & Related Policies > Family and Medical Leave Act

• HOP 5-4310: Family and Medical Leave

• HR: Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)

Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) is an unpaid leave which provides job protection and insurance premium sharing for eligible employees for serious medical conditions, childbirth, adoption, or care for family members. FML is used concurrently with Sick and Unpaid Leaves. Up to 480 hours (12 weeks per year) may be awarded, which may be used either continuously or intermittently. Time Off may be paid or unpaid, full or partial days, continuous or intermittent, and may involve a balance of hours being tracked.

An employee must have worked at least 1,250 hours since their last FML before becoming eligible for another FML.

Employees who do not qualify for FML may be eligible for Parental Time Off.

Family and Medical Leave may be used for the following conditions:

• A serious health condition

• Birth and care of a child

• Adopting or fostering a child

• Care of spouse, child, or parent

• Qualifying exigency

• Military caregiver leave

If an employee with approved FML runs out of paid Sick Leave hours, FML provides premium sharing to cover health insurance.

Note that employees in A&P positions cannot use more than 20 hours per week of comp time, including in conjunction with FML. Workday does not have a comp time/FML option - contact HR Benefits to manually reduce FML hours.

Requesting FML

After reviewing eligibility and guidance at HR: Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), the faculty member should submit an online FML request form at Employee Request for Leave Under the FMLA.

Using FML hours

Faculty member submits timesheets for sick leave hours used in Workday. If using approved FML hours, the faculty member should use sick leave and FML concurrently. For example, for a full day of leave, both 8 hours of sick leave and 8 hours of FML would be entered for the same day. The FML option displays on timesheets as "FML - Concurrent with other Time Off."

See instructions:

• Request Absence - FMLA

• Request Sick Leave – Faculty

If entering sick leave on another employee's behalf, using "Enter Time" will route the entries to the employee, whereas using "Enter Absence" will not route the entries to the employee. 

Removing unused FML hours

Faculty who return to work and are no longer eligible to use awarded FML hours should contact their department timekeeper. Employees cannot remove unused FML hours from their timesheets themselves.

The departmental timekeepers should contact HR Leave Management to remove the remaining unused hours from the faculty member’s timesheet. See How do I remove unused Family and Medical Leave (FML) hours from my timesheet?

Sick Leave Pool

See HR: Sick Leave Pool.

Eligible employees may apply for additional hours through the university Sick Leave Pool for catastrophic health conditions. Documentation is required. UT's Sick Leave Pool is managed by central HR.

Family Leave Pool

See HR: Family Leave Pool. 

Family Leave Pool was established to provide eligible employees greater flexibility in a) bonding with and caring for children during the child’s first year following birth, adoption, or foster placement; and b) caring for a seriously ill family member or themselves, including pandemic-related illnesses or complications caused by a pandemic.

Employees are eligible for Family Leave Pool if they expect to exhaust all available paid time off accruals, and the need for leave would otherwise result in 40 hours or more of unpaid time off. 

There may be tax implications to use of Family Leave Pool.

Family Leave Pool is managed by and through central HR, and any questions should be directed to their office.

Parental Time Off

See HR: Parental Time Off.

Faculty who do not qualify for FML may be eligible for Parental Time Off. The policy applies to any employee appointed to work at least 20 hours per week for a period of at least 4.5 continuous months, and provides up to 12 weeks of unpaid time off for the birth of a child, or for the adoption or foster care placement of children under three years of age.

Parental Time Off is unpaid, and does not include premium sharing for insurance coverages. 

If an employee becomes eligible for FML while using parental time off, they will be placed on FML for the remainder of the time off. The parental time off previously granted will be applied toward the 12 weeks of FMLA.  The combination of parental time off and FMLA shall not exceed 480 hours.

For general information about Unpaid Time Off for faculty, see COE: Leave of Absence (Unpaid Time Off).

Please direct any questions about Parental Time Off to

Leave of Absence

UT policy

See HOP 2-2210: Faculty Leaves and Special Academic Assignments.

What is Faculty Leave of Absence (Unpaid Leave)?

A Leave of Absence is a period of leave during which the faculty member does not receive compensation from any source of funds administered by the University for either all or part of their regular appointment. The time off may be requested for either professional reasons when the faculty member will receive no UT-administered pay for all or part of their regular assignment, or for personal reasons where no paid leave balance is applicable or available.

Leave of Absence requests are final-approved by APS, and the leave is processed by APS in Workday.

The maximum leave that can be approved is one academic year, i.e., through the end of the fiscal year in which the leave begins. Leaves without pay for up to one year are granted under most circumstances, provided the department so recommends and can make satisfactory arrangements for staffing any classes the faculty member is scheduled to teach. Except for reasons of health, continued graduate study, and public service or other activity that reflects credit on the institution and enhances an individual's ability to make subsequent contributions to the institution, a second consecutive year of leave will not be granted. Requests for extensions of a leave without pay for a second academic year must be fully justified, and in no case should a faculty member assume approval of an extension of more than one year. Except in very unusual circumstances, a third consecutive leave of absence for one year will not be granted and must be approved by UT System. For more information, see Board of Regents: Rule 30201: Leave Policies.

University policy does not limit the number of non-consecutive Leaves of Absence that may be approved for a faculty member, but that number may be limited by a department chair or the Dean.

For tenure-track faculty, any amount of Unpaid Time Off in a long semester will stop their probationary clock for that full year.

Unpaid leave types

Two types of Leave of Absence are available to faculty, detailed below.

Professional Leave of Absence

In a Professional Leave of Absence (also known as Academic Leave Without Pay; formerly known as Leave-Academic), the faculty member continues to perform duties that are academic in nature (teaching, research, or service), but pay is NOT administered through UT. The faculty member might be paid directly by a grant or fellowship with no funding going through UT or will be using personal funds. The FTE on their faculty position is reduced for the duration of the leave. APS will process the reduced hours as an absence request on the faculty position.

Example: Faculty member will serve as a Visiting Faculty member at another institution and will be paid directly by that institution. 

Note that per UT System: Rule 31007: Tenure > Section 7, a tenured UT Austin faculty member may not hold a concurrent tenured position at another institution without the written permission of the appropriate Executive Vice Chancellor.

For tenured faculty, see additional guidance at See External Appointments Guidelines (pdf) > Section B. Academic Leave Without Pay.

Personal Leave of Absence

Personal Leave of Absence (Unpaid Leave) might be requested for a medical reason, but only after any paid sick leave balances have been exhausted. If appropriate, it may be used in conjunction with Family Medical Leave (FML). Detailed personal and/or medical information should not be included in the formal request.

Example: Faculty member is temporarily unable to perform their duties as a faculty member due to a medical condition and has exhausted their sick leave balance. 

Considerations of unpaid leave

See HOP 2-2210: Faculty Leaves and Special Academic Assignments  - see section I. A. for LWOP.

• Benefits: Faculty members who will be on partial or full-time leave without pay should contact the appropriate Rewards Team member in the Office of Human Resources to ascertain the effect of the leave on their medical insurance and retirement benefits (HR representative lookup). Review HR: Insurance Options While on LWOP. 

• Principal Investigators: Faculty who will be absent from campus and who serve as Principal Investigators also should determine whether any arrangements need to be made with their funding agencies for disposition of their grant(s).

• Supplements: Individuals on leave without pay for personal reasons may not continue to receive their supplement during the period of leave. The Dean's Office, however, may choose to allow exceptions in certain cases.

• Contact Academic Personnel Services for additional guidelines that may pertain to unpaid leave status.

Leave of Absence request process

1. If the leave is for personal reasons (e.g. medical leave after paid leave balances have exhausted), proceed to step 2.
   If the leave is for professionalreasons: Faculty member submits a prior approval request for the leave activity through the UTRMS Conflict of Interest module: https://coi.research.utexas.edu/.

   1. Department AM should confirm with the faculty member that this has been completed before proceeding with the leave request.

   2. See guidance at Disclosure_Profile_User_Guide.pdf.

2. Department AM completes form "Request for Leave" at Faculty Affairs/APS ServiceNow: Complete Forms.

   1. For guidance, see COE: ServiceNow Forms

   2. In the section "Required Approval Routing," add the following:

      1. Dean's Staff: Karla A Steffen (steffek). This field is required in COE.

      2. Dean or Dean Designate: Beth Maloch (malochb)

3. The Provost's Office will also share the leave request with the Office of Research and Compliance for review of any potential Conflicts of Interest.

4. Once the Leave of Absence request has been final-approved by the Provost, APS will process appointment adjustments as absence requests in Workday. (See "Leaves of absence and timesheets" below.)

5. Requests for tenured/tenure-track faculty only: Department AM should forward a copy of the automated email confirming approval to COE-FacultyAffairs@austin.utexas.edu for the faculty member's personnel file.

Leaves of absence and timesheets

For an approved leave of absence, the faculty member's FTE will not be reduced; rather the leave will show up on the "Absence" tab of the faculty member's Worker Profile as "Leave - Academic." These absence requests are processed by APS upon approval of the Leave of Absence request form.

Example of a 13.33 SWH "Unpaid Time Off" request for one semester. An approved "Leave - Academic" would substitute that Type according to the example below.

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