Current through Reg. 49, No. 12; March 22, 2024
(a) Required
training or education. Pursuant to Texas Government Code, §
RSA
656.045, the Commission may require an
employee to attend, as all or part of the employee's duties, a training or
education program if the training or education is related to the employee's
duties or prospective duties.
(b)
Use of funds. The Commission may spend public funds as appropriate to pay the
salary, tuition and other fees, travel and living expenses, training stipend,
the expense of training materials, and other necessary expenses of an employee
who is required to participant in a training or education program.
(c) Use of Commission resources. An employee
who is engaged in training pursuant to this section and who does not perform
his or her regular duties for three or more months as a result of the training:
(1) may use Commission equipment or resources
such as personal computers, printers, copiers, fax machines, e-mail, internet
connections, etc.; and
(2) may be
required by the supervisor or division director to use a Commission vehicle to
attend the training.
(d)
Agreement of understanding. The employee shall sign an agreement of
understanding and assume the following mandatory obligations, pursuant to Texas
Government Code, §§
RSA
656.103 and
RSA
656.104:
(1) If the employee receives training paid
for by the Commission, and during the training period the employee does not
perform the employee's regular duties for three or more months as a result of
the training, the employee shall agree in writing that the employee will either
work for the agency following the training for at least one month for each
month of the training period or pay the Commission for all the costs associated
with the training that were paid during the training period, including any
amounts of the employee's salary that were paid and that were not accounted for
as paid vacation or compensatory leave.
(2) If the employee does no work for the
Commission following its reimbursement to the employee for training costs,
works for some but not all of the required amount of time, or fails to pay the
Commission amounts reimbursed for training costs, and the Commission does not
release the employee from the obligation to either provide the services or make
the payments, the employee is liable to the Commission for all costs associated
with the training that the Commission paid, including any amounts of the
employee's salary that were paid during the training period and that were not
accounted for as paid vacation or compensatory leave, and for the Commission's
reasonable expenses incurred in obtaining payment, including reasonable
attorney's fees.
(3) The Commission
may waive the requirements prescribed under paragraph (1) of this subsection
and release an employee from the obligation to meet those requirements only if
the Commission finds that such action is in the best interest of the agency or
is warranted because of an extreme personal hardship suffered by the employee
and enters an order to that effect in open meeting.