Section 20963.

(a) A state, school, or school safety member, whose effective date of retirement is within four months of separation from employment with the employer subject to this section that granted the sick leave credit, shall be credited at his or her retirement with 0.004 year of service credit for each unused day of sick leave certified to the board by the employer. The certification shall report only those days of unused sick leave that were accrued by the member during the normal course of his or her employment and shall not include any additional days of sick leave reported for the purpose of increasing the member's retirement benefit. Reports of unused days of sick leave shall be subject to audit and retirement benefits may be adjusted where improper reporting is found. For purposes of this subdivision, sick leave shall not include sick leave earned as a National Guard member as described in Section 20380.5.

(b) Until receipt of certification from an employer concerning unused sick leave, the board may pay an estimated allowance pursuant to this section. At the time of receipt of the certification, the allowance shall be adjusted to reflect any necessary changes.

(c) Notwithstanding any other provisions of this part, this section shall not apply to local members other than local miscellaneous members employed before July 1, 1980, by a school district that is a contracting agency or those school safety members employed before July 1, 1980, by a contracting agency that is a school district or community college district, as defined in subdivision (i) of Section 20057.

(d) This section shall not apply to any of the following:

(1) A person who becomes a school member on and after July 1, 1980, and any person who becomes a local member employed, on and after July 1, 1980, by a school district that is a contracting agency whether or not the person was ever a school member or local member prior to that date.

(2) A state employee, with respect to sick leave credits earned as a state member under Section 21353.5, except that the member shall be entitled to receive credit under this section for the sick leave he or she has earned as a state member subject to any other retirement formula, provided the member has a sick leave credit balance remaining at the time of retirement.

(e) For the purposes of this section, sick leave benefits provided to state employees pursuant to the state sick leave system shall be construed to mean compensation paid to employees on approved leaves of absence because of sickness.

(Amended by Stats. 2007, Ch. 355, Sec. 17. Effective January 1, 2008.)