Family Leave Pool

The University of Texas at Tyler (UT Tyler) employees may donate sick and/or vacation leave hours to the family leave pool on a non-taxable or taxable basis. This pool allows eligible employees to request to withdraw hours due to an illness or injury or other eligible reason resulting in the exhaustion of earned leave. 

Eligibility

Family leave pool requirements are: 

• Employee has exhausted all available leave.
• Employee is not eligible for the sick leave pool.
• Supporting documentation must be provided, as applicable.

An employee is eligible to request and receive family leave pool hours for:

• The birth of a child
• Bonding – in the first year after child’s birth
• Placement of foster child or adoption of a child under 18 years of age
• Placement of any person 18 years of age or older requiring guardianship
• Serious illness of an immediate family member of the employee, including pandemic related illness
• An extenuating circumstance created by an ongoing pandemic, including providing essential care to a family member
• A previous donation of time to the family leave pool 

*In the event of adoption, a state employee who adopts a child under 3 years of age is to be treated as if he or she had undergone pregnancy and childbirth. Based on this, adoption of a child under placement of a foster child or adoption would be non-taxable. In the event of an extenuating circumstance, an example of a taxable even may be a school closure as this would not meet IRS medical emergency guidelines.

Pool Withdrawal

Employees may request to withdraw hours from the pool directly with Human Resources. 

Supporting Documentation Requirements

An employee requesting family leave pool hours may need to provide documentation to support your request.

Documentation that is acceptable is listed below.

• For birth of a child:

Physician or practitioner certification form for employee/family member.

• Bonding – in the first year after child’s birth:

Birth certificate – verify use of bonding within first year.

• Placement of foster child or adoption of a child under 18 years of age:

Adoption order.

• Placement of any person 18 years of age or older requiring guardianship:

Placement order.

• Serious illness of an immediate family member or the employee, including pandemic related illness:

Physician or practitioner certification form for employee/family member.

• An extenuating circumstance created by an ongoing pandemic, including providing essential care to a family member:

Physician or practitioner certification form for employee/family member.
Proof of closure of school or daycare.
Persons listed as dependents on your medical plan will not require additional documentation or proof of relationship.
Person not listed on your medical plan will require documentation that establishes your relationship (i.e. marriage certificate, birth certificate, etc.).

• A previous donation of time to the pool:

No documentation as previous donations should be tracked/recorded.

Pool Donations

Employees may donate to the pool during employment or at the time of separation. Donations made during employment must be in one-day increments; a separating or retiring employee may designate any number of unused accruals for donation to the pool. The dollar value of donated leave will be included in the donor’s income and appropriate payroll taxes will be withheld. The calculated tax is based on the donor’s compensation rate.

Human Resources thanks those employees who choose to donate available sick leave hours to the pool. Such generosity enables other employees to receive this benefit where unfortunate circumstances have caused them to exhaust their available paid leave.

Family Leave Pool Form

Family Leave Pool Donations – The donation form is used by employees to donate unused sick and/or vacation leave hours to the pool. All donations to the pool are voluntary; employees may choose to donate hours during his/her employment or may choose to donate at the time of termination or retirement. 

Resources

• UT Tyler HOP 4.18.10 Family Leave Pool
• Donating Sick Leave to Another Employee