Emergency Leave
Emergency Leave for Death of a Family Member
Eligible Texas A&M University employees who need to take time off due to the death of an immediate family member are eligible for emergency leave. Immediate family members are defined as an employee's spouse, or the employee's or spouse's child, stepchild, parent, stepparent, brother, stepbrother, sister, stepsister, grandparent, step grandparent, great grandparent, step great grandparent, grandchild, step grandchild, great grandchild or step great grandchild.
Approval
A department head or designee may approve up to five (5) working days of emergency leave with pay for the death of an employee's family member. The approval of the appropriate Vice President, or designee, is required for emergency leave with pay when such leave exceeds five working days. The Vice President may approve 41-80 hours.
Approvals Required for Emergency Leave
|
|
Death of a Family Member |
Other Emergencies |
|
up to 40 hours |
Department Head |
Vice President / Dean |
|
41 – 80 hours |
Vice President / Dean |
President |
General Provisions
- Employees are not required to attend the family member's funeral in order to be entitled to use emergency leave.
- Emergency leave hours are not required to be used consecutively; however, granted hours must be taken within 6 months from the date of the family member's death.
- Relationships that exist due to marriage will terminate upon death or divorce. For example, emergency leave for an ex-spouse's death would not apply, nor would it apply for the death of an ex-spouse's family member.
- Emergency leave for the death of a family member may not be used after an employee has terminated employment and is on the payroll to exhaust his or her vacation leave.
Justified Other Emergency Leave
Eligible Texas A&M University employees may receive paid Justified Other Emergencies Leave of Absence for situations not covered in Texas A&M rules or regulations.
Upon requesting emergency leave not covered in Texas A&M rules or regulations, an employee must show good cause for the leave and have exhausted all accumulated vacation and compensatory time. The routing approval authority for Justified Other Emergencies Leave is Vice President (CEO) or designee (must have a delegation of authority if anyone other than the Vice President or Dean is approving). If the employee has not exhausted their own annual (vacation) leave, compensatory time, and administrative leave, the employee must provide an explanation of why they are requesting Justified Other Emergencies leave when they have leave balances available.
Employees may be allowed up to five (5) working days of leave with pay with Vice President approval, for a severe personal crisis or catastrophic situation which requires the employee's immediate attention.
Severe personal crises or catastrophic situations are defined as a situational occurrence so severe that delayed attention to the crisis by the employee would reasonably result in emotional trauma, financial hardship, and/or extended grief. Examples of such situations include, but are not limited to, house fires, natural disasters, personal crises which fall within close time proximity, etc.
Approval for more than five days of Justified Other Emergencies Leave must be approved (via a memorandum) to the President. HROE recommendation is for no more than 80 hours.