Other Leave Types

The Leave for Wellness Incentive consists of three components:

• Thirty minutes three times a week during work hours for exercise.
• Attending on-campus wellness seminars.
• Earning eight hours of additional leave time every 12 months.

Review the Leave for Wellness Incentive Fact Sheet for more information.

Important: All requested leave for wellness incentives are subject to supervisor approval. This approval is based on business need and may be revoked or revised as needed.

Benefits-eligible veteran employees may be granted up to 15 days each fiscal year of leave without a deduction in salary, personal leave time, earned overtime credit, or state compensatory time to obtain medical or mental health care administered by the Veterans Health Administration of the United States Department of Veterans Affairs. This includes physical rehabilitation.

Employees should submit their request for leave to their immediate supervisor in advance when possible. When submitting the absence request, employees should attach documentation of their health appointment at a Veterans Affairs Health Administration facility for validation.

Important: Documentation from facility or provider only needs to include the name of the VA facility, date of appointment and name of employee for verification. It should not include any personal medical information.

Holidays are determined from information provided by the Texas State Legislature and are approved annually by the president.

For a benefits-eligible employee to be entitled to a paid holiday, they must be in a paid status on the workday before and after the holiday, unless the holiday falls on the employee’s first or last workday of the month. If the holiday falls on the first workday of the month, you must be in a paid status the day after. If the holiday falls on the last workday of the month, you must be in a paid status the day before the holiday.

Benefits-eligible employees may use up to 8 hours of sick leave each fiscal year to attend educational activities of the employee’s children who are students attending pre-kindergarten through grade 12.

Educational activities include school‐sponsored activities such as parent‐teacher conferences, tutoring, volunteer programs, field trips, classroom programs, school committee meetings, academic competitions, and athletic, music or theater programs.

With supervisor approval, a benefits-eligible employee may take emergency leave with pay, not to exceed three work days (equivalent to 24 hours of paid leave), due to a death in the employee's immediate family.

Immediate family members are the employee’s (or their legal spouse’s): spouse, parent, brother, sister, grandparent, grandchild or child.

The President, or his or her designee, may also make a determination of other reasons for emergency leave when the benefits-eligible employees show good cause for such leave.

Benefits-eligible employees may take sufficient time off without a deduction in salary or accrued leave to donate blood, provided the supervisor has approved the employee’s request for time off.

Upon return to work, the employee must provide documentation of the blood donation during the period of absence. If an employee fails to provide such documentation, they will use leave, or be placed on leave without pay if no leave is available.

A benefits-eligible employee may receive time off under this section no more than four times in a fiscal year.

All benefits-eligible employees are eligible for time off to vote when it is not possible for them to vote before or after their normal working hours on an official election day.

No reduction in vacation allowance or salary will be made for time taken for this purpose. Employees must coordinate with their supervisors to schedule time off.

Except for disciplinary suspensions, active military duty and leave covered by Workers' Compensation benefits, all accumulated paid leave entitlements must be exhausted before LWOP is granted. Sick leave must be exhausted when applicable.

Benefits-eligible employees are entitled to a leave of absence without a deduction in salary for the time necessary to permit the employee to serve as a bone marrow or organ donor. The leave of absence may not exceed five working days in a fiscal year to serve as a bone marrow donor or 30 working days in a fiscal year to serve as an organ donor.

UTSA will grant up to 15 Days of paid military leave in any federal fiscal year (Oct. 1 – Sept. 30) to benefits-eligible employees for authorized training or duty in the National Guard or armed forces reserves. The law requires all employees to provide their employers with advance notice of military service and policy requires a copy of the orders be provided. An employee may carry forward from one federal fiscal year to the next the net balance of accumulated leave that does not exceed 45 days.

Benefits-eligible employees are entitled to Military Caregiver Leave for up to 26 weeks of unpaid time off to care for a family member (spouse, son, daughter, parent or next of kin) who is injured while serving on active military duty or for veterans who are undergoing medical treatment, recuperation or therapy for serious injury or illness that occurred any time during the five years preceding the date of treatment.

Benefits-eligible employees who do not qualify for FMLA and are giving birth, adopting or fostering a child are eligible to take a parental leave of absence. This leave is not to exceed 12 weeks. The employee must utilize all available vacation and sick leave during this time. This leave is limited to, and begins with the date of, the birth or the adoption or foster care placement of a child under three years of age.

A benefits-eligible employee summoned to jury duty or subpoenaed as a witness shall be excused from work. There is no salary or wage deduction of an employee who is called for jury service, nor is the employee required to account for any fee or compensation received for jury service. Employees are expected to work, if reasonably possible, the time when not actually in a court or administrative proceeding. At the discretion of their immediate supervisor, employees may be required to provide documentation of jury attendance.

The president, or his or her designee, may grant administrative leave with pay to a benefits-eligible employee as a reward for outstanding performance as documented by the employee's appraisals. This leave will not exceed 32 hours during a fiscal year.

Benefits-eligible employees who are volunteer firefighters or emergency medical services volunteers are granted up to five days of paid leave each fiscal year for attending fire service or emergency medical services training. This leave is not charged against the employee’s vacation or sick leave.

Benefits-eligible employees who are foster parents are entitled to a leave of absence without a deduction in salary for the purpose of attending:

• Meetings held by Department of Protective and Regulatory Services regarding the child under the foster care of the employee; or
• An admission, review, and dismissal meeting held by a school district regarding the child under the foster care of the employee.

Benefits-eligible employees who are certified disaster service volunteers of the American Red Cross, or who are in training for certification, may be granted leave up to 10 days each fiscal year to participate in disaster relief services for the American Red Cross. The employee must have:

1. Authorization from their supervisor,
2. A request to volunteer from the American Red Cross and
3. The approval of the governor.

A benefits-eligible employee who is a person with a disability is entitled to a paid leave of absence not to exceed 10 work days each fiscal year for the purpose of attending a training program to acquaint the employee with an assistance dog to be used by the employee.

If you have suffered a workplace injury, please review  Risk and Emergency Management's worker injury information and the Texas Department of Insurance.