Standard sick leave plan
KERS and SPRS members in Tier One receive unlimited sick leave toward retirement and insurance eligibility. All KERS and SPRS members are in the Standard sick leave plan. In the Standard plan, members do not receive any monetary payment for sick leave reported to KPPA at the time of retirement.
An agency participating in CERS and the Standard plan may purchase service credit for up to six (6) months of unused sick leave toward retirement eligibility and health insurance benefits. Depending on that agency's sick leave policy, a CERS agency can pay for additional sick leave in excess of six months. Agencies may pay either the entire cost of sick leave or the cost of sick leave in excess of six (6) months can be split with you; a cost is calculated upon request at the time of retirement. Additionally, some CERS agencies pay a percentage of sick leave balances to you, and the remaining balance is reported to KPPA as service.
Alternate unused leave
If your agency participates in the alternate sick leave program, you are compensated for as many accumulated, unused sick leave days as your agency’s sick leave policy provides. Payment for unused sick leave days at the time of your retirement is then incorporated into your final compensation. The number of sick leave days for which you are compensated is divided by 21 and rounded to the nearest number of whole months. This number of months is added to your total service credit and to the number of months used to determine creditable compensation, up to 60 months total.
If you are a member employed with a CERS agency, contact your HR representative or contact KPPA to determine if your agency participates in a sick leave plan.