Sec. 661.202. ENTITLEMENT TO SICK LEAVE; GENERAL PROVISIONS AND PROCEDURES. (a) A state employee is entitled to sick leave without a deduction in salary in accordance with this subchapter.

(b) In this subsection, duty day means an employee's last physical day on the job. An employee accrues sick leave beginning on the first day of state employment and ending on the last duty day of state employment. An employee is entitled to be credited for one month's accrual of sick leave at the rate specified by Subsection (c) for each month of employment with the state beginning on the first day of employment with the state and on the first calendar day of each succeeding month of state employment.

(c) Sick leave entitlement for a full-time employee accrues at the rate of eight hours for each month of state employment. A part-time employee accrues sick leave on a proportionate basis. An employee who is employed by the state during any part of a calendar month accrues sick leave entitlement for the entire calendar month. Sick leave accumulates with the unused amount of sick leave carried forward each month.

(d) Sick leave with pay may be taken when sickness, injury, or pregnancy and confinement prevent the employee's performance of duty or when the employee is needed to care for and assist a member of the employee's immediate family who is sick. For purposes of taking regular sick leave with pay, the following persons are considered to be members of the employee's immediate family:

(1) an individual who resides in the same household as the employee and is related to the employee by kinship, adoption, or marriage;

(2) a foster child of the employee who resides in the same household as the employee and who is under the conservatorship of the Department of Protective and Regulatory Services; and

(3) a minor child of the employee, regardless of whether the child lives in the same household.

(e) An employee's use of sick leave to care for and assist members of the employee's family who are not described by Subsection (d) is strictly limited to the time necessary to provide care and assistance to a spouse, child, or parent of the employee who needs the care and assistance as a direct result of a documented medical condition.

(f) An employee who must be absent from duty because of sickness, injury, or pregnancy and confinement shall notify the employee's supervisor or have the supervisor notified of that fact at the earliest practicable time.

(g) To be eligible to take accumulated sick leave without a deduction in salary during a continuous period of more than three working days, an employee absent due to sickness, injury, or pregnancy and confinement shall send to the administrative head of the employing agency a doctor's certificate showing the cause or nature of the condition or another written statement of the facts concerning the condition that is acceptable to the administrative head. The administrative head of an agency may require a doctor's certificate or other written statement of the facts for sick leave without a deduction in salary taken during a continuous period of three or fewer working days.

(h) On returning to duty after taking sick leave, the employee shall without delay complete the prescribed application for sick leave and send the application in the manner prescribed by the agency to the appropriate authority for approving the application.

(i) The administrative head of an agency that is in compliance with Subsection (j) may authorize an exception to the amount of sick leave an employee may take after a review of the individual's particular circumstances. A statement of all authorized exceptions and the reasons for the exceptions shall be attached to the state agency's duplicate payroll voucher for the payroll period affected by the authorized exceptions.

(j) A state agency shall maintain a written statement covering the policies and procedures for an extension of leave under Subsection (i) and shall make the statement available to all agency employees. The state agency shall provide a copy of the statement to the state auditor on request.

(k) An employee who is on leave on the first day of a month may not use the sick leave that the employee accrues for that month until after the employee returns to duty.

Added by Acts 1999, 76th Leg., ch. 279, Sec. 19, eff. Sept. 1, 1999. Amended by Acts 2003, 78th Leg., ch. 1310, Sec. 45, eff. June 20, 2003.

Amended by:

Acts 2013, 83rd Leg., R.S., Ch. 1312 (S.B. 59), Sec. 41, eff. September 1, 2013.