Faculty Sick Leave

Purpose

This article is intended to communicate college-specific procedures for reporting faculty sick leave, as well as provide links to policies and related information.

Please also refer to this article before communicating about faculty health conditions.

Relevant Definitions

WD: Workday; the online human resource information system used by UT Austin since 2018.

Sick leave (or Sick time off): paid time off, taken when “sickness, injury, or confinement due to pregnancy prevent the employee’s performance of duty or when the employee is needed to care for and assist a member of his or her immediate family who is actually ill.” (see EVPP Faculty Leaves Information page or Sick Time Off (HR site) or HOP 5-4210: Sick Leave for more details regarding accrual and use.) ("Sick time off" is the WD terminology.)

FMLA: the Family Medical Leave Act of 1993; the abbreviation is commonly used to refer to the unpaid time off allowed under the provisions of this Federal law. (See also FMLA (HR site) and HOP 5-4310: Family and Medical Leave )

Return to Work: When an employee has been awarded FMLA hours on a continuous basis due to their own serious health condition, they must provide their supervisor with a completed Return to Work Release Form signed by an authorized medical provider, before they are permitted to return to work.

MID: Please see Modified Instructional Duties.

Generally speaking, caring for oneself or a member of one’s immediate family due to illness or disability does not qualify a faculty member for MID, but there are cases where MID might be appropriate, and during those times MID interacts with sick leave and FMLA in specific ways.
MID is most commonly requested when a faculty member needs to be released from teaching because of responsibilities as the principal caregiver of a healthy pre-school child (or children).

Timekeeping: the process by which an employee keeps track of their hours worked and hours of paid time off used (when applicable); often involves submitting timesheets on a weekly basis.

Worker's Comp: WCI or Workers' Compensation Insurance; if an employee suffers from a work-related injury or illness, please follow the WCI Guidance on HR's website.

COLA HR: Human resources team based out of the Dean's Office of the College of Liberal Arts; we work with offices across campus to advise and assist with HR-related matters involving the college's faculty, staff, and students.

APS: The Provost's Office (EVPP) Academic Personnel Services team; part of the EVPP Faculty Affairs team who work on a variety of faculty matters, including those involving WD.

Overview of Faculty Sick Leave and Timekeeping (Reporting)

In the case of faculty, timekeeping does not involve regular time-tracking or reporting of hours worked, however, per Texas Government Code, faculty must report use of sick leave during the “normal workday for regular employees, even if no classes are missed.” (ref. Sec. 661.203)

In other words:

If a benefits-eligible faculty member is on the University's payroll;

AND is ill or injured and cannot work;

{OR

goes to an appointment with a health professional;

OR

is confined due to pregnancy;

OR

accompanies an immediate family member to a health-related appointment;

OR

misses work to care for an immediate family member who is ill, injured, or confined due to pregnancy;

OR

attends a parent-teacher conference for their child(ren);

OR

participates in any other sick-leave-use appropriate activity not already mentioned;}

AND

it happens between the hours of 8AM and 5PM on a weekday (Mon.-Fri.),

AND

it is not a UT holiday or day in which the University is officially closed;

THEN

the faculty member is supposed to report the hours of sick leave used during that period.

In sum, even though faculty are not required to maintain a regular work schedule or track their time in the way that staff do, they are supposed to account for the paid sick leave they use.

The simplest way for a full-time-appointed faculty member to calculate sick leave used is to report 8 hours for each work day they are unable to work due to illness/injury/confinement. Or, in the case of a health-related appointment or parent-teacher conference, report the amount of time taken to fulfill that activity; for an example, a person might report 1.5 hours of sick leave used to go to the dentist (45 minute appointment and 45 minutes traveling to and from the appointment, though they wouldn’t have to spell that out).

It is important to keep in mind that the reporting of sick leave taken is not optional. Because faculty work irregular schedules, and because they work fully or relatively autonomously, absent missing an actual scheduled class, it is difficult for anyone to reliably track their time away from work for medical reasons or hold them accountable for reporting sick leave used. However, this does not eliminate the fact that it is a requirement of state law which faculty are expected to uphold.

Process

The process for managing sick leave varies, based on different scenarios that might apply. Regardless, all situations should include--and begin with--the faculty member reporting their need for and/or use of sick leave to their department chair/center director (supervisor) and department manager as soon as is reasonable to do so.

At that point, the department manager should obtain answers to the following questions:

How long will the faculty member be absent? Will this be a medium- to long-term absence?
Might the faculty member be eligible for FMLA?
How many hours of paid sick leave does the faculty member have available?
How will this impact the faculty member’s teaching responsibilities? Will a course need to be canceled or will a replacement faculty member be needed?
Will the faculty member need to be released fully from their responsibilities or will they continue working on a part-time basis? If on a part-time basis, how much and which of their responsibilities will they be able to continue performing?

By answering these questions, departments will be able to determine which among the following scenarios apply. Each of these basic scenarios includes core steps to follow. These scenarios are not mutually exclusive. For example, a situation might have a teaching/course impact and also have FMLA consequences and also include a faculty member without paid sick leave – in such instances, department managers will need to integrate procedures from each relevant scenario:

Scenario 1: Faculty sick leave will have teaching/course impact

Department Chair determines viable solutions.
Department Chair contacts Associate Dean for Academic Affairs to inform the associate dean and receive approval for the proposed solution.
Department manager follows up as needed with any next steps (e.g., canceling a course, hiring a replacement instructor).
Department manager notifies COLA HR. COLA HR will also notify the Provost's Office.

Scenario 2: Faculty member may be eligible for and/or need FMLA

Department manager submits request to have FMLA materials sent to faculty member.
Department manager notifies COLA HR.
1. Usually, someone from COLA HR is also cc:ed on the FMLA Award (or Denial) notifications sent by Leave Management in Central HR, but, if not, please forward those to us.
Return to Work: When returning from continuous FMLA, faculty must turn the Return to Work Release Form into the Department Manager (acting on behalf of the Chair): https://hr.utexas.edu/sites/default/files/return_work_release_form.pdf
The Department Manager keeps the completed form on file and notifies COLA HR that the employee is authorized to return
1. Please refer to HR's FMLA guidance for complete information regarding returning to work, including returning with restrictions. Further steps will be required if the faculty member is not authorized to return to work full time.

Scenario 3: Faculty member will need to go on 100% Leave Without Pay and has available FMLA hours

Department Manager determines the date 100% LWOP needs to begin.
Department manager notifies COLA HR.
COLA HR will submit Faculty Request for Leave.
Department ensures faculty timesheets are completed, entering 8 hours per day of unpaid time off concurrent with 8 hours of FMLA per day, and noting in comments the date FMLA will be exhausted.
Once FMLA hours are exhausted, APS will adjust faculty member’s status in WD to “On Leave” and make any needed updates to timesheets.

Scenario 4: Faculty member will need to go on 100% Leave Without Pay and has no available FMLA hours

Department Manager determines the date 100% LWOP needs to begin.
Department manager notifies COLA HR.
COLA HR will submit Faculty Request for Leave.
APS will adjust faculty member’s status in WD to “On Leave” and make any needed updates to timesheets.

Scenario 5: Faculty member will need to go on unpaid time off (a.k.a., partial leave without pay).

Department chair determines what faculty member's responsibilities will be during period of partial work and partial unpaid time off.
Department chair notifies Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and requests approval for proposed plan of work.
Department manager determines the date unpaid time off needs to begin.
Department manager notifies COLA HR.
COLA HR will submit Faculty Request for Leave.
1. The next step is dependent on whether the faculty member has FMLA or Parental Leave or not:
  1. If FMLA or Parental Leave: Department Manager/Faculty member ensure timesheets are completed, entering concurrent unpaid time off and FMLA/Parental Leave.
  2. If No FMLA or Parental Leave, APS will update timesheets to process unpaid time off.

Scenario 6: Faculty member has enough paid leave to cover time out sick or injured. (Note: if illness or injury is work-related, please follow Worker's Comp guidance (see Definitions).

Department manager/Faculty member ensure timesheets are completed.
1. If FMLA is awarded, enters concurrent FMLA time off.
2. If short-term with no teaching/course impact, no further action required.
3. If longer-term and/or teaching/course impact, notify COLA HR; assess situation; and follow steps in Scenario 1 and/or steps outlined in other applicable scenarios.

Scenario 7: Faculty member does not have enough paid leave to cover time out sick or injured. (Note: if illness or injury is work-related, please follow Worker's Comp guidance (see Definitions).

Department manager notifies faculty member of option to apply for sick leave pool or to have sick leave donated.
Department manager notifies COLA HR.
Department manager tracks development of sick leave pool application and/or sick leave donation.
Department manager notifies COLA HR of final outcome;
1. If hours are donated or sick pool is approved, complete timesheets, as in Scenario 5.
2. If no sick leave pool or donated hours, process initiated for leave without pay or unpaid time off (see above).

Scenario 8: Faculty member is on a research-related leave--or release from teaching--but cannot work due to illness or injury.

Department chair notifies Associate Dean for Academic Affairs.
Department manager notifies COLA HR.
Subsequent steps determined on a case-by-case basis.

Related Policies

Faculty Sick Leave:

Per TX State Statute, faculty must report use of sick leave during the normal workday for regular employees, even if no classes are missed.

Sec. 661.203. FACULTY AT INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER EDUCATION. A faculty member at an institution of higher education as defined by Section 61.003, Education Code, must submit prescribed leave forms for all sick leave the faculty member takes if the absence occurs during the normal workday for regular employees, even if no classes are missed.

Added by Acts 1999, 76th Leg., ch. 279, Sec. 19, eff. Sept. 1, 1999.

https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/GV/htm/GV.661.htm#661.031

Liberal Arts Resource Center