11—64.16  (8A)  Sick leave insurance program.  The director is authorized to establish a sick leave insurance program (program) for employees not covered by a collective bargaining agreement. The program shall allow eligible employees to convert a portion of their sick leave balance at retirement into a sick leave bank with which the state will pay the state’s share of retiree health insurance. Employees of the department of natural resources or department of public safety who are classified as peace officers and are not covered by a collective bargaining agreement shall receive benefits at retirement consistent with the provisions of the negotiated collective bargaining agreement with the State Police Officers Council. The benefits for sick leave banks earned by all department of public safety peace officer employees shall be administered by the department of public safety.
	   64.16(1) To be eligible to participate in the program, the employee must be employed on or after July 1, 2006, and must retire under a retirement system in the state maintained in whole or in part by public contributions or payment prior to reaching Medicare eligibility.
	      a.    	  Participation in the program ceases when any one of the following occurs:
	       (1)  	  The employee’s sick leave balance is exhausted;
	       (2)  	  The employee reaches Medicare eligibility;
	       (3)  	  The employee terminates participation in the state’s group insurance program;
	       (4)  	  The employee returns to permanent employment with the state;
	       (5)  	  The employee fails to pay any required amount; or
	       (6)  	  The employee dies.
	      b.    	  A deceased employee’s sick leave bank is not transferable to another person, including a spouse.
	   64.16(2) Upon a participating employee’s termination of employment, the employee’s sick leave hours are multiplied by the employee’s regular hourly wage. The employee receives up to $2,000 of this amount on the employee’s final paycheck. The remainder is multiplied by a conversion factor, and that amount is placed into the employee’s sick leave bank. The conversion factors are as follows: If an employee has up to 750 hours, the rate is 60 percent; if an employee has over 750 hours and up to 1,500 hours, the rate is 80 percent; and if the employee has more than 1,500 hours, the rate is 100 percent. The employee’s sick leave balance before payment of up to $2,000 is used to determine the number of hours an employee has for conversion purposes. The amounts placed into the employee’s sick leave bank have no cash value, other than for purposes of paying the state’s share of retiree health insurance premiums under this program. The value of sick leave hours for peace officer employees of the department of natural resources and the department of public safety shall be calculated in the same manner as for those employees covered by the collective bargaining agreement with the State Police Officers Council.
	   64.16(3) Rescinded IAB 5/27/15, effective 7/1/15.
	   64.16(4) To participate in the program, an employee must complete a sick leave insurance program enrollment form upon retirement. Upon commencement of participation in the program, the employee may choose to continue the employee’s current health insurance plan selection or may choose any other state group health plan whose total cost is the same or lower than the total cost of the current plan selection. Except for employees eligible for benefits negotiated consistent with the collective bargaining agreement negotiated with the State Police Officers Council, employees may not apply the sick leave balance to a private insurance plan.
[ ARC 2000C , IAB 5/27/15, effective 7/1/15]