{"data":{"id":"us-ky/krs-78.616","jurisdiction":"us-ky","citation":"KRS 78.616","heading":"Purchase of service credit for unused sick leave -- Employer's election","body":"to participate -- Accumulated  sick leave added  to employee's service\ncredit  -- Payments  by  employer  and  employee  -- Alternative\ncompensation  -- City of first class -- Statute not applicable to employees\nwho  began participation on or after January 1, 2014.\n(1) Any employer participating in the County Employees Retirement System which\nhas formally adopted a sick-leave program that is universally administered to\nits employees may purchase service credit with the retirement system for up to\nsix (6) months of unused sick leave for each retiring employee.\n(2) Participation under this section shall be at the option of each participating\nemployer. The election to participate shall be made by the governing authority\nof the participating employer and shall be certified in writing to the system on\nforms  prescribed by the board. The  certification shall provide for equal\ntreatment of all employees participating under this section.\n(3) (a) Upon  the member's  notification of retirement as prescribed in KRS\n61.590, the employer shall certify the retiring employee's unused,\naccumulated sick-leave balance to the system. The member's sick-leave\nbalance, expressed in days, shall be divided by the average number of\nworking days per month in county service and rounded to the nearest\nnumber  of whole months. A maximum  of six (6) months of the member's\nsick-leave balance, expressed in months, shall be added to his service\ncredit for the purpose of determining his annual retirement allowance\nunder KRS  78.510 to 78.852 and for the purpose of determining whether\nthe member  is eligible to receive a retirement allowance under KRS\n78.510 to 78.852, except as provided by paragraph (d) of this subsection.\nAccumulated sick-leave in excess of six (6) months shall be added to the\nmember's service credit if the member  or employer pays to the retirement\nsystem the value of the additional service credit based on the formula\nadopted by the board, subject to the restrictions provided by paragraph\n(d) of this subsection.\n(b) The employer may elect to pay fifty percent (50%) of the cost of the sick\nleave in excess of six (6) months on behalf of its employees. The\nemployee shall pay the remaining fifty percent (50%). The payment by the\nemployer shall not be deposited to the member's account. Service credit\nshall not be credited to the member's account until both the employer's\nand employee's payments are received by the retirement system.\n(c) Once  the employer elects to pay all or fifty percent (50%) of the cost on\nbehalf of its employees, it shall continue to pay the same portion of the\ncost.\n(d) For a member  who begins participating in the retirement system on or\nafter September 1, 2008, but prior to January 1, 2014, whose employer\nhas established a sick-leave program under subsections (1) to (4) and (6)\nof this section:\n1. The  member  shall receive no more than twelve (12) months of\nservice credit upon retirement for accumulated unused sick leave\naccrued while contributing to the retirement system from which the\nretirement benefit is to be paid;\n2. The service added to the member's service credit shall be used for\npurposes of determining the member's annual retirement allowance\nunder KRS 78.510 to 78.852;\n3. The service added to the member's service credit shall not be used\nto determine whether a member  is eligible to receive a retirement\nallowance under KRS 78.510 to 78.852; and\n4. The cost of the service provided by this paragraph shall be paid by\nthe employer.\n(4) The  system shall compute the cost of the sick-leave credit of each retiring\nemployee and bill each employer with whom  the employee accrued sick leave\naccordingly. The employer shall remit payment within thirty (30) days from\nreceipt of the bill.\n(5) (a) As an alternative to subsections (1), (3), (4), and (6) of this section, any\nagency participating in the County Employees Retirement System which\nhas  formally adopted  a  sick-leave program  that is universally\nadministered to its employees, or administered to a majority of eligible\nemployees in accordance with subsection (6) of this section, shall, at the\ntime of termination, or as provided in KRS  161.155 in the case of school\nboards, compensate  the employee  for unused  sick-leave days the\nemployee has accumulated which it is the uniform policy of the agency to\nallow.\n(b) The rate of compensation for each unused sick-leave day shall be based\non  the daily salary rate calculated from the employee's current rate of\npay. Payment for unused sick-leave days shall be incorporated into the\nemployee's final compensation if the employee and employer make  the\nregular employee  and  employer contributions, respectively, on  the\nsick-leave payment.\n(c) The  number of sick-leave days for which the employee is compensated\nshall be divided by the average number of working days per month in\ncounty service and rounded to the nearest number of whole months. This\nnumber  of months shall be added to the employee's total service credit\nand to the number of months used to determine creditable compensation,\npursuant to KRS  78.510, but no more than sixty (60) months shall be\nused  to determine final compensation. For an employee who  begins\nparticipating on or after September 1, 2008, but prior to January 1, 2014,\nthe number of months added to the employee's total service credit under\nthis paragraph shall not exceed twelve (12) months, and the additional\nservice shall not be used to determine whether a member  is eligible to\nreceive a retirement allowance under KRS 78.510 to 78.852.\n(6) Any city of the first class that has two (2) or more sick-leave programs for its\nemployees may purchase service credit with the retirement system for up to six\n(6) months of unused sick leave for each retiring employee who participates in\nthe sick-leave program administered to a majority of the eligible employees of\nthe city. An employee participating in a sick-leave program administered to a\nminority of the eligible employees shall become  eligible for the purchase of\nservice credit under  this subsection when  the employee  commences\nparticipating in the sick-leave program that is administered to a majority of the\neligible employees of the city.\n(7) The  provisions of this section shall not apply to employees  who  begin\nparticipating in the system on or after January 1, 2014, and no service credit\nshall be provided for accumulated sick leave balances of those employees who\nbegin participating in the system on or after January 1, 2014.","path":["KRS Chapter 78"],"source_url":"https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/statutes/statute.aspx?id=50795","current_through":"Includes enactments through the 2026 Regular Session","vintage":"09/05/2026","retrieved_at":"2026-09-05T20:49:39Z","sha256":"1e7c341e9440e7da3cca6d450107a8edaee2ed08cbc7a39a015f378234493515","source_id":"us-ky","stale":false,"prev":"us-ky/krs-78.615","next":"us-ky/krs-78.620"},"notice":"GroundRules: Original legal text. Not legal advice."}