Sick Leave Pool Administrative Guidelines
BLINN COLLEGE DISTRICT ADMINISTRATIVE REGULATIONS MANUAL
Effective Date: April 27, 2018; amended October 9, 2026
Board Policy Reference: DEC
Purpose
Blinn College District established the sick leave pool (SLP) to provide additional paid leave after an employee exhausts his or her own available sick, vacation, discretionary, and personal leave time as a result of a catastrophic illness or injury. Current and retiring employees may donate unused sick leave hours to the pool.
Definitions
Catastrophic injury or catastrophic illness
A severe condition or combination of conditions affecting the mental or physical health of either the employee or the employee’s immediate family member that requires treatment by a licensed health care practitioner for an extended period of time, and that requires the employee to exhaust all sick, personal, discretionary, and vacation leave. Catastrophic illness or injury does not ordinarily include routine illnesses, elective medical procedures, pregnancy, minor injuries, or short-term conditions that do not result in life-threatening complications and the exhaustion of the employee's leave.
Licensed health care practitioner
A health care practitioner, as the state legislature defines that term in the Texas Occupations Code, who practices within the scope of his/her license.
Immediate family member
An employee’s spouse, son, or daughter (including a biological, adopted, or foster child), parents, grandparents, and grandchildren, mother-in-law, or father-in-law.
Eligibility
A College District employee qualifies for SLP hours if:
- The employee is a regular full-time, benefits-eligible employee, employed for at least one year from his or her hire date;
- The employee or immediate family member of the employee is under a licensed healthcare practitioner’s care;
- The illness/injury resulted in the employee’s absence from work; and
- The employee has exhausted all sick, vacation, personal, and discretionary leave.
Note: Employees may not receive SLP hours while receiving workers’ compensation income benefits.
Pool Donations
- An employee may elect to donate available sick leave to the SLP during current employment or at the time of separation from employment. Donations made during employment must be in full, one-day increments (8 hours) and a separating or retiring employee may designate any number of unused accruals for donation to the SLP. Donation to the SLP is not a prerequisite for an employee to utilize the pool, nor must an employee repay SLP hours.
- A donating employee may contribute as many hours as he or she chooses to the SLP; however, in order to participate, the donating employee must contribute in full-day increments, be in good standing with attendance, and have accumulated a total of at least eighty hours of unused sick leave.
- A donating employee may not designate the SLP donation for a particular coworker, nor may the contributing employee receive donated hours back, except as a qualifying SLP recipient.
- An employee who donates sick leave hours upon separation of employment from Blinn College, and who subsequently returns to Blinn in a full-time, benefits-eligible position, may not receive sick leave credit for previously donated hours.
SLP Procedures – How to Request Leave
- As soon as reasonably possible, an employee shall notify his or her immediate supervisor and Human Resources (HR) of the employee’s need to take extended leave. The immediate supervisor may not inquire about the medical basis for the extended leave and the employee does not have to disclose such information to anyone except HR. The employee shall submit a request for leave to the immediate supervisor per department requirements.
- If the leave request exceeds the employee’s available leave time, the supervisor shall direct the employee to HR to confirm the employee’s available leave balances.
- Employees who anticipate exhausting their available leave due to a qualifying catastrophic illness or injury may request leave from SLP by submitting a completed Sick Leave Pool Withdrawal Form and supporting documentation from the employee’s or an immediate family member’s licensed health care practitioner. Employees are encouraged to submit SLP requests as soon as possible to allow adequate time for review and processing. SLP leave will not be granted retroactively for leave already taken, nor may it be used to provide retroactive compensation. To avoid delays in processing or possible denial due to untimely submission, employees should submit all required forms and supporting documentation to HR in a timely manner.
- Upon receiving the Sick Leave Pool Withdrawal Form and the Certification of Health Care Provider Form, HR will review and evaluate the application materials to ensure that the information and medical documentation support the employee’s request for SLP and meet the requirements of College District policies, regulations, and procedures.
- Human Resources will contact the employee if any additional information, documentation, or corrections are required to process the application (e.g., supplemental medical information or clarification from the employee’s physician). The employee shall submit the requested information or documentation to HR within five (5) business days of notification, unless an extension is approved by HR for good cause. Failure to provide the requested information within the specified timeframe may result in denial of the application.
- Human Resources will determine whether to approve or deny SLP requests by evaluating the information in the employee’s application and supporting documentation.
- Human Resources will notify the employee of the SLP request determination within ten (10) business days of receiving the SLP Request Form. If the request is approved, HR will return the SLP Request Form with the required signatures and notify the employee's supervisor. If the request is denied, HR will notify the employee electronically and/or in writing and provide the reason(s) for the denial.
- Upon receipt of a fully executed SLP Request Form, the HR Payroll Coordinator will update the employee’s leave records to reflect the appropriate number of additional SLP hours. The HR Payroll Coordinator also will ensure compliance with College District Policy, Regulation, and procedures while the employee is using the SLP hours. The HR Payroll Coordinator will not add any SLP hours to the employee’s sick leave balances without a fully executed SLP Request Form. Human Resources will return any unused SLP hours to the pool upon the employee's return to work, separation from employment, or determination that the employee is no longer eligible to receive SLP leave.
- An eligible employee may be granted up to ten (10) workdays of leave or one-third (1/3) of the total leave available in the SLP, whichever is less, during a fiscal year.
Sick Leave Pool Forms
- Sick Leave Pool Donation Form
- Sick Leave Pool Withdrawal Form
- Sick Leave Pool Return Hours Form
- Sick Leave Pool Certification of Health Care Provider Form
- Sick Leave Pool Return to Work Certification