Payments from an employer for authorized paid absences from
work are basic salary.
(1)
Leave
payments earned for services rendered: Most LEOFF members earn a certain
number of leave hours per month, such as sick leave. The leave hours are earned
by rendering service during the month the leave was accumulated. The payment a
member receives when he or she uses an earned leave day is a deferred salary or
wage for services previously rendered. It is basic salary.
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Example:
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Assume a member accrues eight hours sick leave per
month. The accrued leave in the member's sick leave balance is earned for
personal services rendered during a payroll period. When the member is absent
from work and uses the sick leave, the sick leave payment is basic
salary.
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Leave payments earned for services rendered are
basic salary only to the extent that they are equivalent to the basic salary a
member would have earned had the member been working. The portion of any leave
payment that exceeds that amount is not basic salary.
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(2)
Leave payments not earned for services rendered: If an employer
authorizes a period of paid leave but does not require the use of leave
previously earned for services rendered, the payment is not a salary or wage
for services rendered. However,
RCW
41.26.197 authorizes service credit for all
periods of paid leave. Because the periods are creditable, the pay received is
considered basic salary to the extent that it is equal to the basic salary the
member would have earned had he or she been working. The portion of a leave
payment that exceeds that amount is not basic salary.
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Example:
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An officer is placed on administrative leave with
pay pending an investigation. Although the officer is not rendering services,
the period is creditable as an authorized paid leave period under
RCW
41.26.197.
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(3)
Payments upon reinstatement or in lieu of reinstatement are paid leave
and therefore qualify as basic salary. The payment will count as basic
salary for the payroll periods when the person would have earned the payment
had he or she been working.
(a) In order for
a payment in lieu of reinstatement to qualify as paid leave the person's
termination date must occur after the payroll period(s) when the payment would
have been earned.
(b) Payments
under WAC
391-45-410 are basic salary for
the period(s) covered by the reinstatement.
(c) Payments upon reinstatement or in lieu of
reinstatement are basic salary only to the extent that they equal the basic
salary a member would have earned had the member been working.
(4) Union leave.
Periods of authorized leave to serve as an elected official of a labor
organization which meet the requirements of
RCW
41.26.197 qualify for service credit. The
salary payments provided by the employer subject to reimbursement from the
union qualify as basic salary for LEOFF Plan I to the extent that the payments
do not exceed the basic salary for the highest paid job class covered by the
collective bargaining agreement negotiated between the labor organization and
the employer. The portion of any payment identified as paid leave in excess of
that amount is not basic salary.
