"An Act relating to teachers and public employees who take leaves of absence without pay. "

Some PERS/TRS employees have run into the problem of reaching the time when they can retire, then find they did not have the service credits they thought, due to an extended period of leave of absence without pay. The employee is then left with deciding if they want to continue working and make up that time, paying into the system and "buy" their time, or adjusting their retirement based on the lower credit time. PERS employees do not receive credit after 10 days of leave of absence without pay; for TRS employees, service credit is affected if they have fewer than 172 working days in a school year.

The purpose of SB 185 is to inform employees, who have reached these limits, how taking the leave will affect them and what their options are. This is accomplished by requiring the employer to notify the Division of Retirement and Benefits that an employee has 10 day, or 172-day mark. At that time the division sends the information to the employee.

By getting the information to an employee, at the time they are taking the leave, it will give the employee time to decide which route to take. It will also alleviate unpleasant surprises when the employee wants to retire - at least in terms of service credit and leave without pay.

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