Texas Tech University

Miscellaneous Leave

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Employees who meet the definition of a regular employee may be eligible for leaves of absence, other than holiday, vacation, family and medical, parental, leave without pay, sick, and sick leave pool. Regular employees are defined as employees:

  • Working at least 20 hours per week; and
  • Not employed in a position for which the employee is required to be a student as a condition of employment.

TTUS OP 70.01 Employee Leave

Amateur Radio Operator Leave

Amateur Radio Operator Leave is granted for a regular employee with an amateur radio station license issued by the Federal Communications Commission may be granted leave to participate in specialized disaster relief services.

Granted: Not to exceed 10 days each fiscal year. No deduction in salary or loss of vacation or sick leave will occur.

Process: Leave should be authorized by the employee's supervisor and with the approval of the governor. The supervisor will then notify Human Resources, who will determine eligibility and notify Payroll Services.

Assistance Dog Training for Employees with a Disability

A disabled employee may be granted leave to attend a training program to acquaint the employee with an assistance dog to be used by the employee. For this leave, "disabled" is defined by Section 121.002 of the Texas Human Resource Code.

Granted: Not to exceed 10 days each fiscal year. No deduction in salary or loss of vacation or sick leave will occur.

Process: Leave should be authorized by the employee's supervisor. The supervisor will then notify Human Resources, who will determine eligibility and notify Payroll Services. Employee enters in hours and department keeps track of the hours.

Blood Donor Leave

A regular employee is allowed sufficient time off to donate blood.

Granted: Not to exceed 4 times each fiscal year. No deduction in salary or loss of vacation or sick leave will occur.

Process: Leave should be authorized by the supervisor before taking time off. The supervisor will then notify Human Resources, who will determine eligibility and notify Payroll Services. The employee must provide proof to the supervisor that blood was donated during the time off.

Bone Marrow Transplant Leave

A regular employee is allowed Bone Marrow Transplant Leave to serve as a bone marrow donor.

Granted: Not to exceed up to 5 working days each fiscal year.

Process: Leave should be authorized by the supervisor before taking time off. The supervisor will then notify Human Resources, who will determine eligibility and notify Payroll Services. Employee enters in hours and department keeps track of hours.

Certified Red Cross Activities Leave

A regular employee who is certified as a disaster service volunteer of the American Red Cross, or is in training to become such a volunteer, is entitled to participate in specialized disaster relief services for the American Red Cross.

Granted: Not to exceed 10 days each fiscal year. No deduction in salary, loss of vacation or sick leave, or earned overtime will occur.

Process: Leave should be authorized by the supervisor and include a formal request from the American Red Cross and include the approval of the Governor's Office. The supervisor will then notify Human Resources, who will determine eligibility and notify Payroll Services.

Compliance with a Subpoena

An employee who is testifying in an official capacity for the university is considered to be on "special assignment," and the time is considered regular hours worked. An employee who appears as a witness in an official capacity in a judicial proceeding or legislative hearing may not accept or receive a witness fee for the appearance.

An employee who is required to attend court as a result of a subpoena to appear in civil, criminal, legislative, or administrative proceedings will be allowed to use vacation time for the absence. If the employee does not have enough vacation time accrued, the time off will be leave without pay.

An employee who is retained as an expert witness will be required to use vacation time or, if no vacation time is available (with the supervisor's permission) may be placed on leave without pay.

Process: Notify supervisor upon receiving the subpoena. The supervisor will then notify Human Resources, who will determine eligibility and notify Payroll Services.

Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) Volunteer Leave

A regular employee who is a court appointed special advocate may participate in mandatory training or perform volunteer services for Court Appointed Special Advocates.

Granted: Not to exceed 5 hours per month. No deduction in salary, loss of vacation or sick leave, or earned overtime will occur.

Process: Leave should be authorized by the supervisor before taking time off. The supervisor will then notify Human Resources, who will determine eligibility and notify Payroll Services. Employee enters in hours and department keeps track of hours.

Emergency Leave

Emergency leave is an unforeseen combination of circumstances calling for immediate action, such as a natural disaster, which if not responded to immediately would present imminent danger to human life or substantial damage to property. A regular employee may be granted an emergency leave only after all applicable leave has been exhausted and when it is determined that there is a good cause.

Granted: Normally will not exceed 3 workdays per year.

Process: An employee must notify their supervisor if they must leave work for an emergency and requires approval by the appropriate vice president or vice provost and the president.

Emergency Leave and Inclement Weather: Emergency Leave and Inclement Weather Conditions or natural disasters will not constitute just cause for an emergency leave unless approved by the president for the institution as a whole. In situations involving delays and closures due to inclement weather, employees will be eligible to receive emergency leave only if the employee was scheduled to work during the closure or delay.

Foster Parent Leave

A regular employee who is a foster parent to a child under the conservatorship of the Department of Protective and Regulatory Services is entitled to attend:

  1. Staffing meetings held by the Department of Protective and Regulatory Services regarding the child under the foster care of the employee; or
  2. An admission, review, and dismissal (ARD) meeting held by a school district regarding the child under the foster care of the employee.

Granted: No deduction in salary, loss of vacation or sick leave will occur.

Process: Sufficient documentation should be supplied to his/her supervisor and should be authorized by the employee's supervisor. The supervisor will then notify Human Resources, who will determine eligibility and notify Payroll Services.

Funeral Leave

A regular employee will be granted funeral leave for a death in the family. For purposes of funeral leave, eligible family members include: An employee's spouse, or being related to the employee or his/her spouse as parents, children, brothers, sisters, grandparents, or grandchildren, stepparents, stepchildren, stepbrothers, stepsisters, step-grandparents, step-grandchildren, and great-grandparents. Funeral leave will only be granted for days an employee is scheduled to work.

Granted: Normally shall not exceed 3 days. No loss in regular pay will occur.

A full 3 days is not automatically granted since it is intended that such leave be limited to the reasonable amount of time necessary for travel, funeral arrangements, funeral services, grieving, or being with other family members during the immediate period of bereavement.

Vacation leave will be used for time off for funeral leave for other than a family member listed above or for extended time off. If the employee does not have sufficient vacation leave and if additional time off is granted, it will be taken as leave without pay.

Process: Requests should be submitted to the departmental official who has authority to approve leave. Employees will enter funeral leave in the electronic leave reporting system, and Payroll Services will process the hours accordingly. Requests for a family member not mentioned above, or for a period greater than 3 days, are subject to approval of the appropriate vice president or vice provost and the president, when it is determined the employee shows good cause.

Jury Duty Leave

A regular employee summoned for jury service is eligible for Jury Duty Leave.

Granted: Reasonable time off will be given for the hours required for rendering such services to the court. No deduction in salary, loss of vacation or sick leave, or earned overtime will occur.

Process: Notify supervisor upon receiving the summons and must furnish documentary proof of service to his/her supervisor. Employees will enter Jury Duty Leave in the electronic leave reporting system, and Payroll Services will process the hours accordingly.

Employees working other than regular day shifts; department will:

  • Provide time off equivalent to the time necessary to fulfill such obligation;
  • Pay straight time in an amount equivalent to the time that was necessary to fulfill such obligation; or
  • Reassign the employee to the day shift for the period they are required to serve and assign a replacement for the later shift, as needed.

Legislative Leave for Peace Officers

A certified peace officer is entitled to a legislative leave to appear or to petition a governmental body during a regular or special session of that body.

Granted: The leave may not exceed the length of the session, or 624 work hours each fiscal year. A legislative leave will not be constructed as a break in service, and the employee will remain in a paid status during such leave.

Process: Employee must submit an Application for Legislative Leave for Peace Officers to the chief of police at least 30 days in advance of the leave. The supervisor will then notify Human Resources, who will determine eligibility and notify Payroll Services.

Military Leave

Authorized Training or Active Duty

An employee who is a member of the state's military forces or member of any reserve component of the U.S. armed forces may take military leave if called to active duty or authorized training.

Granted: Not to exceed more than 15 working days in each federal fiscal year (October 1 - September 30). The 15 days do not have to be consecutive. No deduction in salary, loss of vacation or sick leave, or earned overtime will occur. After exhausting the 15 work days of paid military leave, the employee may use accrued vacation leave or be placed on leave without pay for the remainder of the active duty period.

Process: Notify supervisor upon receiving a copy of the orders and the supervisor will then notify Human Resources, who will determine eligibility and notify Payroll Services.

Call to State Duty by the Governor

An employee who is a member of the state's military forces or member of any reserve component of the U.S. armed forces may take military leave if called to federal active duty during a national emergency.

Granted: This leave is not limited and will be provided with full pay. The employee is entitled to receive emergency leave without loss of military or vacation leave.

Process: Notify supervisor upon receiving a copy of the orders and the supervisor will then notify Human Resources, who will determine eligibility and notify Payroll Services.

Call to National Duty

An employee who is a member of the state's military forces may take military leave if called to active state duty by the governor because of a state emergency.

Granted: Not to exceed more than 20 working days in each federal fiscal year (October 1 - September 30). No deduction in salary, loss of vacation or sick leave, or earned overtime will occur. After exhausting the 20 work days of paid military leave, the employee may use accrued vacation leave or be placed on leave without pay for the remainder of the active duty period.

The employee will continue to accrue state service credit for purposes of longevity pay while on military duty, but does not accrue vacation or sick leave and is entitled to be credited with those balances upon returning to active university employment from military duty. Leave earned while in a university-paid status is credited to the employee's balances when the employee returns to active university employment.

Process: Notify supervisor upon receiving a copy of the orders and the supervisor will then notify Human Resources, who will determine eligibility and notify Payroll Services.

Differential Pay: A regular employee who is a member of the state's military forces or a member of any reserve component of the U.S. armed forces who is called to federal active duty during a national emergency will be granted sufficient emergency leave to provide a pay differential if his/her military gross pay is less than his/her state gross pay.

The combination of emergency leave and military pay may not exceed the employee's actual state gross pay. See TTUS OP 70.01 Employee Leave for additional information.

Organ Donor Leave

A regular employee is allowed Organ Donor Leave to serve as an organ donor.

Granted: Not to exceed 30 working days each fiscal year. No deduction in salary or loss of vacation or sick leave will occur.

Process: Employee notifies supervisor, as well as complies with FMLA procedures if eligible. The supervisor will then notify Human Resources, who will determine eligibility and notify Payroll Services.

Parent-Teacher Conference Leave

A regular employee can use sick leave to attend parent-teacher conference sessions for the employee's children who are students attending grades pre-kindergarten through twelve.

Granted: Not to exceed 8 hours of sick leave each fiscal year.

Process: The employee must give reasonable notice of intention to use sick leave to attend a parent-teacher conference.

Voting by State Employees

An employee is allowed voting leave to vote in each national, state, or local election.

Granted: Sufficient time off will be allowed for voting purposes. No deduction in salary or loss of vacation or sick leave will occur.

Process: The supervisor may designate the time to be taken as long as the employee has sufficient time to travel to the voting station and cast his/her vote.

Volunteer Firefighters/Emergency Medical Services Volunteers Leave

A benefits-eligible employee who is a volunteer firefighter or emergency medical services volunteer can attend training schools conducted by state agencies. In addition, an employee who is a certified volunteer firefighter or EMS volunteer will be granted a paid leave of absence to respond to fire or medical emergency situations.

Granted: No to exceed 5 working days each fiscal year. No deduction in salary or loss of vacation or sick leave will occur.

Process: The employee must provide, in advance to the department head, documentation of being a certified volunteer. This documentation is to be forwarded to the Human Resources services Department for obtaining administrative approval for the employee to respond to emergencies.