During the period a member participates in the Family Medical Leave Act and is paid sick leave and/or annual leave, the employer must continue to remit retirement contributions as part of the employer’s file data. If the member is compensated with leave pay , the employer should continue to submit contributions based on the leave pay. However, if the hours reported for the pay period are less than what is defined for eligibility under a URS retirement system, the member’s service will be prorated.
When members don’t receive compensation for sick or annual leave during Family Medical Leave periods, no retirement service credit is granted and service cannot be adjusted or purchased.
Example: An employer pays the remaining balance of 18 hours of sick leave to a member who is on Family Medical Leave. This is considered compensation subject to retirement even though the hours are less than what is defined for eligibility under a URS retirement system. The employer must remit retirement contributions on the 18 hours that will result in the service being prorated on the member’s account. Additionally, because the sick leave reported for the pay period falls below the minimum required for eligibility in a URS retirement system, the employer completes Sections A and B of the Leave Notification and submits a copy to URS. With the next report period, the employee is in a true leave without pay status. The employee should not be included on the regular file transmission and will not receive retirement service credit until the employer returns the original Leave Notification form, with Section C completed, to indicate the end of the Family Medical Leave period.