Houston ISD staff who take more than 15 days of leave could get fired, policy says

HOUSTON - Employees at Houston ISD say they’re confused about the district’s paid leave policy. This comes after a memo making the rounds said staff could face automatic termination if they use more than the 10 allotted days off provided. 

Jackie Anderson with the Houston Federation of Teachers says the union's attorneys are now reviewing the policy. 

"You could get a bad case of the flu and have to be out 10 days. You could have surgery and be out more than 10 days. If it can get any lower, this would cause low morale because it means that they don't care about you as a person," Anderson said. 

Jessica Neyman, HISD's Chief Human Resource Officer said the district’s absence policy went into effect in August for the new school year. 

Neyman clarified that any HISD employee who uses more than 15 days of discretionary or non-discretionary leave, would be in violation of the district's high absenteeism policy. Those employees could possibly face disciplinary action, including termination as a result, if approved by a supervisor, who reviews the situation case-by-case. 

"So, whether you chose to take a leave day because you wanted to go to an event in the community, we call that discretionary; it was just at your discretion. You were able to physically report to work but you decided not to, that's what we refer to as discretionary, or in that 15-day time, you didn't report to work because you had a sickness. Both are included in that 15-day total," Neyman said. 

However, she says the rules are different for teachers and support staff. 

"We don't ever at Houston ISD, engage in automatic termination of a teacher, because a teacher is what’s called a Chapter 21 contract employee," Neyman said. "We actually lawfully could engage in immediate termination of at-will employees, which includes the employee cohorts such as bus drivers, nutrition service workers, and a myriad of support staff on campuses. But we choose not to."

HISD says employees will receive a warning after three consecutive days off in a row without a doctor's note. A supervisor who issues the warning could also possibly write the employee up. HISD says employees are expected to limit their consecutive time-off to two days in a row. 

HISD also says that employees, who have any prolonged medical conditions, would have to rely on Family and Medical Leave or Temporary Disability Leave. 

Staff are also not allowed to take time off the day before or the day after a holiday, according to district policy.