Leave

SFA employees (excluding faculty with appointments of less than 12 months, SFA Charter School teachers, student assistants, graduate assistants and employees who do not work at least 20 hours per week for a period of at least 4.5 months) are entitled to a vacation in each fiscal year.

Vacation accruals and maximum annual leave carryover amounts for full-time leave eligible employees are as follows:

Part-time employees who work at least 20 hours per week are also eligible for annual leave, but their accrual rate and maximum annual leave carryover amounts are proportionate to the number of hours they work.

Vacation with pay may not be granted until the employee has had continuous employment with the state for six months, although credit will be accrued during that period.

For additional information, see the HOP policy 03-507.

Faculty and staff are entitled to sick leave. Full-time leave employees accrue sick leave at a rate of eight hours per month. Part-time employees who work at least 20 hours per week accrue sick leave at a rate proportionate to the number of hours they work. Unused sick leave accumulates and is carried forward each month.

For additional information, see HOP policy 03-505.

Full-time exempt and nonexempt staff are eligible to accrue compensatory time off when the combination of hours worked, paid leave and holidays exceed a total of 40 hours in a workweek.

Non-exempt staff are eligible to accrue FLSA compensatory time off at a rate of 1.5 hours for each hour worked exceeding 40 hours in a workweek. If an employee has not worked more than 40 hours in a workweek but records more than 40 hours in a workweek due to paid leave or paid holidays, he or she will accrue equivalent compensatory time off at a rate of one hour for each hour exceeding 40 hours. Unused FLSA compensatory time off is paid out to an employee when he or she transitions to an exempt position at SFA or leaves employment with SFA. Earned equivalent compensatory time off not used within 12 months will expire.

Exempt staff accrue equivalent compensatory time off at a rate of one hour for each hour exceeding 40 hours in a workweek. An exempt employee may take up to 80 hours of compensatory time off during any one fiscal year. Earned equivalent compensatory time off not used within 12 months will expire.

For additional information, see HOP policy 03-407.

The president may grant administrative leave with pay to staff employees (excluding student assistants, graduate assistants and employees who do not work at least 20 hours per week for a period of at least 4.5 months) as a reward for outstanding performance, as documented by employee performance appraisals. To be eligible for administrative leave, an employee must be beyond his or her probationary period.

Full-time staff employees may be granted administrative leave in eight hour increments and may not exceed 32 hours during a fiscal year. Administrative leave can be reduced proportionately for part-time staff employees.

For additional information, see HOP policy 03-503.

Download the Administrative Leave form.

Employees may be granted emergency leave for the following reasons:

• Bereavement Leave: Employees will be granted emergency leave for bereavement without a loss in pay when a death occurs in their family. For the purposes of emergency leave due to bereavement, family is defined as the employee's spouse, or the employee's and spouse's parents, children, brothers, sisters, grandparents and grandchildren. The amount of time granted for bereavement leave shall not exceed forty hours. A full forty hours is not automatically granted since it is intended that such leave be limited to the reasonable amount of time necessary for travel, funeral arrangements, and funeral services. For additional information, view HOP policy 03-503.
  • Download the Bereavement Leave form.
     
• Inclement Weather Conditions: The university president may grant emergency leave in response to inclement weather conditions for the institution as a whole.
   
• Just Cause: The university president may grant emergency leave for other reasons determined to be for a good cause in good faith that the employee being granted the emergency leave intends to return to his or her position on expiration of the period of emergency leave.
   
• Leave During an Investigation: The university president may grant emergency leave to an employee who is the subject of an investigation being conducted by SFA or a victim of, or witness to, an act or event that is the subject of an investigation being conducted by SFA.

Eligible employees may take up to 12 workweeks of leave in a 12-month period for a qualifying event that is certified by a healthcare provider. The employee must have worked for a Texas state agency for at least 12 months and worked 1,250 hours within the last year to qualify.

For additional information, see HOP policy 03-501. 

Family Medical Leave Forms

• FMLA Request Form
   
• FMLA Request Form - Spanish
   
• FMLA Packet - Self Serious Health Condition - This Certification of Health Care Provider form is to be completed by the employee's health care provider and faxed to Human Resources at 936.468.1104.
   
• FMLA Packet - Dependent Serious Health Condition - This Certification of Health Care Provider form is to be completed by the dependent's health care provider and faxed to Human Resources at 936.468.1104. The employee completes Section II of the form before giving the form to the dependent's health care provider
   
• FMLA Return to Work Release - This form is to be completed by the employee's health care provider and returned to either the employee's department or faxed to Human Resources at 936.468.2205 prior to the return work date. Notify HR by calling 936.468.2304 of your return to work release.
   
• FMLA Packet - Adoption/Foster Care
   
• FMLA Packet - Qualifying Exigency Military Leave
   
• FMLA Packet - Military Caregiver Leave (Active Duty) - A covered servicemember is a current member of the Armed Forces, including a member of the National Guard or Reserves, who is receiving medical treatment, recuperation, or therapy, or is in outpatient status, or is on the temporary disability retired list for a serious injury or illness. This leave allows for 26 workweeks of leave.
   
• FMLA Packet - Military Caregiver Leave (Veteran) - A veteran who is undergoing medical treatment, recuperation, or therapy for a serious injury or illness is a covered veteran if he or she:
   
  • was a member of the armed forces (including a member of the National Guard or Reserves);
  • was discharged or released under conditions other than dishonorable; and 
  • was discharged within the five-year period before the eligible employee first takes FMLA military caregiver leave to care for him or her. This leave allows for 26 workweeks of leave.

Parental Leave: Employees who do not qualify for FMLA are entitled to parental leave for the birth of a natural child or the adoption or foster care placement of a child under the age of three. Parental leave cannot exceed 12 weeks. The leave period begins with the date of birth or the adoption or foster care placement.

Foster Parent Leave: An employee, who is a foster parent to a child under the protection of the Department of Family and Protective Services , is entitled to a leave of absence with full pay for the purpose of attending meetings held by the DFPS regarding the employee's foster child. In addition, the employee may attend, with a paid leave of absence, the admission, review and dismissal meetings held by a school district regarding the foster child.

For additional information, see HOP policy 03-503 and HOP policy 03-501.

An employee may use up to eight hours of sick leave each fiscal year to attend educational activities for the employee's children who are in pre-kindergarten through 12th grade. Educational activities are school-sponsored activities, including parent-teacher conferences, tutoring, volunteer programs, field trips, classroom programs, school committee meetings, academic competitions and athletic, music or theater programs. Employees must give reasonable notice of intention to use sick leave to attend such activities.

No deduction shall be made from the salary or wages of any employee who is called for jury service. Time allocated to jury duty includes time spent in the jury selection process, serving on a jury during a trial and the sentencing phase of a trial, and traveling to the jury duty location and the workplace.

An employee is entitled to time off at full pay or protected leave without pay for certain types of active or inactive duty in the state's military forces, a reserve branch of the U.S. Armed Forces, or a state or federally authorized urban search and rescue team. For more information, please see HOP policy 03-503.

SFA maintains a sick leave pool to benefit certain employees who suffer a catastrophic injury or illness. It provides up to 18 work weeks (720 working hours) of paid job-protected leave with doctor's certification.

For additional information, HOP policy 03-505. 

Sick Leave Pool Forms
Sick Leave Pool Request Packet

Full-time faculty and librarians whose duties include teaching, research, administration or the performance of professional services may be granted faculty development leaves for field observations, research, study, writing or other scholarly/creative activities. Faculty development leave may be awarded for one long semester at full base salary or for two long semesters at half the base salary.

Faculty awarded development leave will continue to participate in the programs and receive the benefits (retirement, insurance, etc.) made available by or through the university or the state to all other faculty members and will be eligible for salary increases, merit pay and all other fringe benefits awarded for the year following the expiration of the leave.

For additional information, see HOP policy 02-309. 

SFA also provides faculty and staff with leave of absence without a deduction in salary for certified red cross activities, participation in specialized disaster relief services as an amateur radio operator, volunteer firefighters/emergency medical services training, assistance dog training, serving as an organ or bone barrow donor, donating blood, Court Appointed Special Advocate training and volunteer services, complying with a subpoena and voting in national, state or local elections.

For more information about these types of leave, please see HOP policy 03-503.