Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS)

Policy

Emergency leave requests may be approved by the DFPS commissioner or designee for the following reasons:

for a death in an employee's family (up to 24 work hours). For more information, see Chapter 5, Work Leave (K. Emergency Leave; Family Death);
to prepare a disciplinary action rebuttal (up to two working days). For more information, see Chapter 11, Disciplinary Actions (D. Rebuttal and Disciplinary Action Notice Process; Policy);
to fulfill jury duty (time needed to serve). For more information, see Chapter 5, Work Leave (K. Emergency Leave; Jury and Grand Jury Duty);
to vote (time needed to vote). For more information, see Chapter 5, Work Leave (K. Emergency Leave; Voting);
to respond to a national guard emergency (up to 22 working days). For more information, see Chapter 5, Work Leave (M. Military Leave; Federal Active Duty);
to attend authorized military training or duty (up to 15 working days). For more information, see Chapter 5, Work Leave (M. Military Leave; 15 Workdays of Paid Military Leave);
to provide one hour per month of emergency leave to an employee on unpaid military leave (up to one hour per month);
to perform certain duties as a foster parent (time needed to attend certain meetings, admissions, or reviews). For more information, see Chapter 5, Work Leave (K. Emergency Leave; Foster Parents);
to attend volunteer firefighters training (up to five working days per fiscal year). For more information, see Chapter 5, Work Leave (K. Emergency Leave; Volunteer Firefighters);
to attend emergency medical services volunteers training (up to five working days per fiscal year). For more information, see Chapter 5, Work Leave (K. Emergency Leave; Emergency Medical Services Volunteers);
to attend assistance dog training for an employee with a disability (up to ten working days per fiscal year). For more information, see Chapter 5, Work Leave (K. Emergency Leave; Assistance Dog Training);
to attend reserve law enforcement officer training (up to five working days per fiscal biennium). For more information, see Chapter 5, Work Leave (K. Emergency Leave; Reserve Law Enforcement Officer Training);
to donate an organ (up to 30 working days per fiscal year). For more information, see Chapter 5, Work Leave (K. Emergency Leave; Bone Marrow or Organ Donation);
to donate bone marrow (up to five working days per fiscal year). For more information, see Chapter 5, Work Leave (K. Emergency Leave; Bone Marrow or Organ Donation); and
to donate blood (time needed to donate, up to four times per fiscal year). For more information, see Chapter 5, Work Leave (K. Emergency Leave; Blood Donation).

Emergency leave requests may be approved by the DFPS commissioner or designee for the following reasons:

to wait for the outcome of an investigation that could result in disciplinary action (up to ten working days). For more information, see Chapter 11, Disciplinary Actions (B. Actions Pending Disciplinary Action Decision; Policy);
to wait for the outcome of an arrest or indictment (up to ten working days). For more information, see Chapter 2, Employment Testing, Examinations, and Investigations (C. Criminal Background Check and Registry Clearance; Self-Reporting and Emergency Leave);
to wait for the confirmation of an employee's medical condition or physical capacity to perform job duties (up to ten working days). For more information, see Chapter 5, Work Leave (K. Emergency Leave; Medical Condition or Physical Capacity);
to wait for the results of a reasonable suspicion alcohol or controlled substance test (up to three working days). For more information, see Chapter 2, Employment Testing, Examinations, and Investigations (D. Alcohol and Controlled Substance Testing; Procedures for Reasonable Suspicion Testing);
to respond to being subpoenaed as a witness, outside of the employee's job duties (up to two working days). For more information, see Chapter 5, Work Leave (K. Emergency Leave; Witness Leave);
to provide on-call duty from location other than the employee's regular place of business or assigned duty point (up to two working days per month). For more information, see Chapter 5, Work Leave (K. Emergency Leave; On-Call Duty); and
to allow employee affected by a reduction-in-force to interview for jobs (up to 16 hours). For more information, see Chapter 15, Reorganization, Reduction-in-Force and Business Continuity Staffing Plans (B. Reduction-in-Force; Outplacement and Support Services).

Only the DFPS commissioner may grant emergency leave in excess of the limitation set out in each of the reasons described above, or for all other business reasons, such as the following:

to retain an employee affected by outsourcing, as part of a business continuity staffing plan (a defined amount of work hours). For more information, see Chapter 15, Reorganization, Reduction-in-Force and Business Continuity Staffing Plans (C. Business Continuity Staffing Plans; Recommended Retention Strategies);
to attend mandatory training or to perform volunteer services for Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) (up to five work hours per month). For more information, see Chapter 5, Work Leave (K. Emergency Leave; Court Appointed Special Advocate Leave); and
to participate in specialized disaster relief services for the American Red Cross (up to ten working days each fiscal year). For more information, see Chapter 5, Work Leave (K. Emergency Leave; Red Cross Disaster Services Volunteers).

Emergency leave may:

only be granted when the approval authority believes in good faith that the employee being granted the emergency leave intends to return to the employee’s position with the agency on expiration of the period of emergency leave; and
not be authorized for the purpose of keeping a departing or departed employee on the payroll (i.e., as severance or part of a settlement).

Note: When approving emergency leave in CAPPS using the Time Reporting Code of EMGNY (for Emergency Leave), the approval authority must include the following in the Comments field:

the reason for the authorized leave, and
a statement that the leave is not authorized to keep a departing or departed employee on the payroll.

For more information on the time reporting codes used in CAPPS for emergency leave, see Emergency Leave Time Reporting Codes and Guidance.

Authority

The Texas Government Code, Chapter 661, authorizes the DFPS commissioner to grant emergency leave for a death in the family or for other reasons when good cause exists.

Family Death

Emergency leave is granted for a death in the employee's family, specifically for the death of

the employee's spouse; or
the employee's or spouse's parents, children, children's spouses, siblings, grandparents, grandchildren, foster parent, or foster children.

A parent includes an individual who stood in loco parentis (role of parent) to an employee.

The employee may request to use other accrued leaves, as appropriate, to attend the funeral services of other relatives or friends not listed above.

Amount of Leave for Family Death

An employee may take up to 24 work hours of emergency leave for the death of a family member, as defined in Chapter 5, Work Leave (K. Emergency Leave; Family Death).

The leave is prorated for part-time employees.

Requesting Leave for Family Death

Employees request emergency leave for a death in the family by submitting a request to the supervisor using the leave request screen in CAPPS.

The agency may require employees to submit an obituary or some other form of documentation to the supervisor.

Temporary Removal and Investigation

The DFPS commissioner or designee may authorize up to ten working days of emergency leave to remove an employee pending an investigation that could result in disciplinary action against the employee.

Employees who are placed on emergency leave to temporarily remove them from the workplace during an investigation must remain available to their supervisors during regular work hours. Although temporarily relieved of their regular assigned duties, employees on emergency leave are considered to be on an alternate assignment and are subject to being recalled to regular or alternate duties.

Employees must provide management with a contact phone number and respond to any DFPS request within one working day.

Temporary Removal Pending Outcome of Arrest or Indictment

For information on the use of emergency leave to temporarily remove an employee who has a duty to self-report pending the outcome of an arrest or indictment, see Chapter 2, Employment Testing, Examinations, and Investigations (C. Criminal Background Check and Registry Clearance; Self-Reporting and Emergency Leave).

Medical Condition or Physical Capacity

The DFPS commissioner or designee may place an employee on up to ten working days of emergency leave, pending an investigation of the employee's medical condition, or the employee's submission of required medical documentation, when:

an employee's medical condition or physical incapacity presents a contraindication to continued employment, or
the employee's supervisor has reason to believe that the employee's medical condition or physical incapacity presents a contraindication to continued employment.

Jury and Grand Jury Duty

Employees are granted a paid leave of absence to cover the time needed to serve for jury duty or grand jury duty.

An employee called to jury duty on:

a regularly scheduled workday receives paid leave for the hours served, including reasonable time to travel to and from the court,
a regularly scheduled day off does not receive compensatory leave for the number of hours served on jury duty that day,
an authorized state or national holiday will not receive compensatory leave for the number of hours served on jury duty that day, and
unpaid leave status is not granted paid leave or compensatory leave for the number of hours served on jury duty (an employee must be in an active duty status to receive paid leave for jury duty).

The time absent for jury duty or grand jury duty must be supported by the summons, if less than one day, or a statement from the court if one day or more.

Employees request leave for jury duty or grand jury duty by:

submitting a request to the supervisor using the leave request screen in CAPPS, and
providing the summons or statement to the supervisor.

Witness Leave

Under specific conditions, the DFPS commissioner or designee may authorize up to two working days of emergency leave for employees who are subpoenaed as a witness in a civil or criminal court proceeding.

An employee's time when called to appear in a court proceeding as an official representative of the agency is accounted for as time worked.

An employee testifying as an expert witness, but not as an official representative of the agency, must use accrued leave or compensatory time whenever the employee will be paid for those services.

An employee subpoenaed to testify in court proceedings on matters that are not directly related to the agency's business may receive emergency leave for the absence provided that the employee:

is not the plaintiff, defendant, or named party in the litigation,
does not receive a fee for the testimony, and
provides a copy of the subpoena to the supervisor for authorization of paid leave.

Eligible employees are granted emergency leave for witness duty under the same conditions as jury and grand jury duty. Employees in an unofficial capacity and on personal leave (subpoenaed or not) may accept fees for witness duty.

Voting

In most cases, employees should have ample time to vote before or after work hours. In other cases, employees should be allowed sufficient time off to vote, without a deduction in salary or leave.

Employees are encouraged to take advantage of available early voting and on-site voting, so as to not disrupt work.

Foster Parents

A state employee who is a foster parent to a child under the conservatorship of TDFPS is entitled to a paid leave of absence for the purpose of attending:

meetings held by TDFPS regarding the child under the foster care of the employee; or
an admission, review, or dismissal meeting held by a school district regarding the child under the foster care of the employee.

Volunteer Firefighters

A state employee who is a volunteer firefighter is entitled to a paid leave of absence, not to exceed five working days in a fiscal year, to attend fire service training conducted by a state agency or institution of higher education.

The DFPS commissioner or designee may grant paid leave to a volunteer firefighter to respond to emergency situations. This leave is not charged against the employee's vacation or sick leave accruals.

Emergency Medical Services Volunteers

A state employee who is an emergency medical services volunteer is entitled to a paid leave of absence, not to exceed five working days in a fiscal year, to attend medical emergency services training conducted by a state agency or institution of higher learning.

The DFPS commissioner or designee may grant paid leave to an emergency medical services volunteer to respond to emergency medical situations. This leave is not charged against the employee's vacation or sick leave accruals.

Assistance Dog Training

A state employee with a disability as defined by the Human Resources Code, §121.002, is entitled to a paid leave of absence to attend a training program to acquaint the employee with an assistance dog.

This leave may not exceed ten working days in a fiscal year.

Reserve Law Enforcement Officers

A state employee who is a reserve law enforcement officer is entitled to a paid leave of absence, not to exceed five working days in a fiscal year, to attend required continuing education training courses. Reserve law enforcement officers eligible for this leave include:

reserve deputy sheriffs,
reserve deputy constables, and
reserve police officers.

This leave is not charged against the employee's accrued leave balances.

Bone Marrow or Organ Donation

An employee is given time off with pay to donate:

an organ (maximum of 30 working days in a fiscal year), or
bone marrow (maximum of five working days in a fiscal year).

The employee must submit documentation sufficient and acceptable to the agency to qualify for this leave.

Blood Donation

An employee may receive time off, not to exceed four times in a fiscal year, to donate blood, with approval from the supervisor.

Immediately after returning, the employee must provide proof of having donated during the requested time off.

Failure to provide proof may result in the leave amount being deducted from the employee's salary or accrued leave, whichever the employee chooses.

On-Call Duty

The DFPS commissioner or designee may authorize up to two working days of emergency leave per month to offset all or part of the time an employee spends performing on-call responsibilities. On-call duty is most often performed at an employee's personal residence. Emergency leave cannot be accrued.

Emergency Leave for Business Continuity Staffing

The DFPS commissioner or designee may authorize emergency leave for DFPS employees

whose functions are being transitioned to a private vendor, and
who have been identified as essential during periods of transition and outsourcing.

For more information on business continuity staffing, see Chapter 15, Reorganization, Reduction-in-Force and Business Continuity Staffing Plans (C. Business Continuity Staffing Plans).

Court Appointed Special Advocate Leave

Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) is an organization that trains and organizes volunteers who are appointed by judges to oversee and advocate for abused and neglected children as they move through the legal and social services system. The DFPS commissioner or designee may grant an employee up to five hours off with pay each month to participate in mandatory training or to perform volunteer services for CASA.

Red Cross Disaster Service Volunteers

A state employee who is or is in training to become a certified disaster service volunteer of the American Red Cross may be granted up to ten working days of paid leave each fiscal year to participate in specialized disaster relief services for the American Red Cross.

This leave is not charged against the employee's accrued leave balances if taken:

at the American Red Cross' request,
with the DFPS commissioner or designee's authorization, and
with the governor's approval.

Leave Accruals

Sick leave and vacation leave continue to accrue when an employee is on emergency leave, but accruals are not credited to the employee's leave balances until the date that the employee returns to duty.

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