Texas Attorney General Opinion: DM-214 Page: 1 of 3
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Office of the gttornep generall
btate of texas
DAN MORALES
ATTORNEY GENERAL March 31, 1993
David R. Smith, M.D. Opinion No. DM-214
Commissioner of Health
Texas Department of Health Re: Impact of "leave without pay"
1100 West 49th Street provisions of the General Appropriations
Austin, Texas 78756-3199 Act on the Workers' Compensation Act,
V.T.C.S. article 8307c (RQ-476)
Dear Commissioner Smith:
You have asked this office to clarify an apparent conflict between the General
Appropriations Act and the Workers' Compensation Act, V.T.C.S. article 8307c. In your
letter, you indicate that the Department of Health ("the department") is concerned because
the General Appropriations Act appears to prohibit state agencies from permitting
employees to take more than 12 months of unpaid leave,' while the Workers' Compen-
sation Act states that an employer cannot terminate an employee for filing a claim in good
faith. Currently, the department has an employee who filed a good-faith compensation
claim and will need to be on unpaid leave for longer than 12 months. You ask whether the
department is required to terminate this employee.
We conclude that the department is not required to terminate an employee simply
because that employee has been on unpaid leave in connection with a work-related injury
for more than 12 months. In our opinion, the General Appropriations Act does not
conflict with the Workers' Compensation Act for two reasons. First, we read the appro-
priations act to except employees on leave for work-related injuries from the 12-month
limit. Second, the appropriations act permits agency heads to grant exceptions to the 12-
month limit for employees who are on unpaid leave in connection with work-related
injuries.
The pertinent subsection of the General Appropriations Act states as follows:
I 1. Agencies may grant employees leave without pay or leave of
absence without pay subject to the following provisions:
a. Except for disciplinary and workers compensation situations
all accumulated paid leave entitlements must be exhausted before
granting such leaves, with the additional provision that sick leave
'The act refers to a "leave without pay or leave of absence without pay." In this opinion, we will
use the phrase "unpaid leave" to encompass both.p. 1132
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Texas. Attorney-General's Office. Texas Attorney General Opinion: DM-214, text, March 31, 1993; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth274022/m1/1/: accessed July 10, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.