ENROLLED
H. B. 216
(By Mr. Speaker, Mr. Thompson and Delegate Armstead)
[By Request of the Executive]
[Passed June 25, 2008; in effect from passage.]
AN ACT to
amend and reenact §5-5-6 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to payments to certain state
employees for unused sick days; clarifying the formula for
"daily rate of pay"; creating the
State Employee Sick Leave
Fund; and requiring the Secretary of the Department of
Administration to promulgate rules related to reimbursement
for payments made to employees whose salaries are funded in
whole or in part by a source other than the General Revenue
Fund.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §5-5-
6 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be
amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 5. SALARY INCREASE FOR STATE EMPLOYEES.
§5-5-6. Payment for unused sick leave.
(a) Every eligible employee, as defined in section one of this article, who is entitled upon retirement to credit his or her
accrued annual and sick leave for extended insurance coverage as
provided in section thirteen, article sixteen of this chapter, and
who has accumulated at least sixty-five days of unused sick leave
may be paid, at his or her option, for unused sick leave in an
amount of days as designated by the employee not to exceed the
number of sick leave days that would reduce an employee's sick
leave balance to less than fifty days. The employee shall be paid
at a rate equal to one quarter of their usual rate of daily pay
during that calendar year. The "daily rate of pay" of an employee
paid a monthly salary is calculated by multiplying the monthly
salary by twelve and dividing that number by the number of workdays
for that calendar year. As used in this section, "workday" does
not include weekends. Any payment for unused sick leave may not be
a part of final average salary computation.
(b) Payment for unused sick leave may be made only once per
fiscal year on either the pay day immediately following the first
full pay period in July or the first full pay period in December.
Payments shall be made out of the fund established in subsection
(e) of this section.
(c) Any eligible employee opting to receive payment in
exchange for unused sick leave must contract, in a form to be
prescribed by the Department of Administration, agreeing to
reimburse the fund for the amount exchanged plus twelve percent per annum if the employee elects to separate from employment within
sixty months of the date of the exchange pursuant to subsection (a)
of this section. The Department of Administration shall pursue
collection of the obligation, either by itself, or by contracting
with a collection agency. For purposes of this section,
"separation" does not include separation from employment by death
or retirement, but does refer to any other manner in which
employment may be terminated.
(d) Payments shall be made in the order that eligible
employees apply for the payments so long as funds are available.
In the event the fund is insufficient to pay all employees who have
applied for payment in a fiscal year, employees who do not receive
payment are eligible for payment in the next fiscal year, are not
required to reapply and shall receive payment in the order in which
they first applied, unless the employee chooses to withdraw the
application prior to the next fiscal year.
(e) Effective the first day of July, two thousand eight, there
is created a special revenue account within the State Treasury to
be known as the State Employee Sick Leave Fund. The fund shall
consist of moneys appropriated by the Legislature, moneys deposited
into the fund in accordance with administrative rules of the
Department of Administration, and any interest or other return to
moneys in the fund. The fund shall be administrated by the
Secretary of the Department of Administration.
(f) The secretary shall promulgate rules pursuant to article
three, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code to implement the
provisions of this section. The rules shall include, but not be
limited to, provisions for the application process and a rule
authorizing the secretary to obtain reimbursement, where available
and appropriate, to the State Employee Sick Leave Fund from any
spending unit for a pro rata share of payments made under the
provisions of this section to any employee whose salary is paid, in
whole or in part, from a funding source other than the General
Revenue Fund.
(g) Each spending unit, as defined in section one of this
article, shall verify to the secretary whether an employee is
eligible for payment under this section, shall verify the funding
source or sources of the employee's salary, and shall verify the
total number of unused sick leave days for all employees at least
once per year. The secretary shall maintain sick leave records for
all spending units. All sick leave days for which an employee is
paid as provided in this section shall be deducted from the
employee's sick leave balance by the secretary and the secretary
shall verify to each spending unit the amount of days that have
been deducted from an employee's sick leave balance. An employee
shall not be permitted to reacquire any sick leave days for which
he or she received payment under the provisions of this section.