(a) Scope of Section. Sick leave contributed to a specific employee will not be returned to the employee who contributed the leave. This section provides the restrictions and procedures for the return of sick leave contributed to the sick leave pool.
(b) Restrictions.
  (1) An employee or employee's immediate family member must suffer an illness or injury, not necessarily catastrophic, to have the employee's sick leave pool contribution returned.
  (2) Regardless of the number of requests, the number of hours that may be returned to an employee shall not exceed the total number of hours he or she has contributed since the beginning of the program, June 1, 1990.
  (3) All accrued sick leave must be exhausted by the employee before hours will be returned from a previous contribution.
  (4) The maximum number of hours that may be returned per request shall not exceed the amount needed. The amount needed is determined from the information provided by the health care provider.
  (5) If the pool balance cannot accommodate the amount needed, the employee shall be refunded one-third the balance of the pool.
  (6) An employee who is planning to retire and who has contributed sick leave to the pool may not have his or her contributions refunded in order to receive a retirement credit.
(c) Procedures.
  (1) The employee shall complete a request for the return of sick leave.
  (2) The human resources officer shall verify all sick leave balances and the date and time all accrued sick leave was or will be exhausted.
  (3) The pool administrator shall review the request and approve or deny the transfer of hours from the sick leave pool to the employee's personal sick leave account.

Source Note: The provisions of this §4.55 adopted to be effective October 27, 1995, 20 TexReg 8479; amended to be effective March 24, 1997, 22 TexReg 2637; amended to be effective November 22, 1998, 23 TexReg 11657; amended to be effective November 1, 2008, 33 TexReg 8546; amended to be effective January 6, 2016, 41 TexReg 292