Mississippi Administrative Code › Title 27 - STATE PERSONNEL BOARD › Part 210 - PERS, Regulations for Retirement Plans Administered by the Board of Trustees › Chapter 51 - Administration of Certification of Accumulated Unused Leave for Service Credit and Lump Sum Payments of Leave at Termination/Retirement › Section 27-210-51-101 - General Requirements for Certification of Accumulated Unused Leave

Current through June 25, 2024
The following regulation confirms and reaffirms prior
				  construction of law, practice, and procedure of the Public Employees'
				  Retirement System of Mississippi (PERS) relative to the administration of
				  additional service credit for lawfully accumulated unused leave and for the
				  payment of unused leave for retirement purposes. Since May 15, 1984, Miss. Code
				  Ann. §
									25-11-109
				  (1972, as amended) has allowed for the certification of accumulated unused
				  leave upon termination of employment or retirement on or after that date. Such
				  leave must be certified to PERS by the governing authority. Effective July 1,
				  1984, the state's leave law was amended to allow accumulated unused personal
				  and major medical leave of state and university employees to be certified to
				  PERS upon termination of employment.
Except as otherwise provided by law, PERS follows the
				  specific statutory provisions which authorize or limit the accrual of, or
				  payment for, leave applicable to state and university employees, public school
				  personnel, employees of counties, municipalities and other juristic entities,
				  elected officials, court reporters, etc. The following guidelines apply in the
				  accumulation, record keeping, and certification of leave by the
				  employer.
1.
Lawfully Adopted
				Leave Policy
Any accumulated unused leave certified to PERS by the
				  employer must have been accumulated by the employee pursuant to a lawfully
				  adopted and written leave policy. Such policies may be found in statutory law,
				  as in the case of state employees and employees of the institutions of higher
				  learning, and/or in written policies adopted by the applicable governing body
				  of a public school, county, municipality, community college or other juristic
				  entity covered by PERS. Such policies, or the modification thereof, may not be
				  adopted or applied retroactively. Accumulated unused leave certified to PERS
				  pursuant to such policies may not exceed that which could have been accrued
				  under the state's leave law.
Accumulated unused leave certified to PERS by the employer
				  upon termination or retirement of the employee must be leave that is viable
				  under the terms of the policy and available for use by the employee in
				  accordance with the intended purpose, i.e., personal (vacation) leave or major
				  medical (sick) leave. Employers may not create or authorize leave to be accrued
				  for "retirement purposes only" nor may employers certify leave which expires
				  because it may not be carried forward from year to year. Further, employers may
				  not create and certify other categories of leave which are not available to and
				  certifiable on behalf of state employees. Leave certified to PERS must be
				  eligible for use or payment in the form of wages as any other leave under the
				  applicable policy to be certifiable to PERS.
2.
Requirement that Records Be
				Maintained
Inherent in the certification of accumulated unused leave is
				  the requirement that accurate leave records be kept of such leave by the
				  employer. In the absence of appropriate records, no leave may be certified to
				  or granted by PERS. Leave certified to PERS by an employer must be based on
				  documented policies and records which exist at the time of certification of
				  such leave and which reflect any remaining lawfully accumulated unused leave.
Generally, once accumulated unused leave is properly
				  certified to PERS, it may not be later "decertified" by the employer or
				  reinstated by the same or another employer, except in the case of wrongful
				  termination where an employee is reinstated to employment back to the date of
				  termination with full compensation, rights, and privileges.
3.
Qualifying Leave that May Be
				Certified to PERS
The state leave law provides that only accumulated unused
				  personal leave and major medical leave accrued under Miss. Code Ann.
				  §§
										25-3-93
				  and
				  25-3-95
				  (1972, as amended) by the individual employee can be certified to PERS at the
				  time of termination or retirement. Accumulated unused personal or major medical
				  leave (or their equivalent) certified to PERS pursuant to other lawfully
				  adopted policies or statutes may not exceed that which could have been accrued
				  and certified under the state's leave law.
4.
Leave That May Not Be Certified to
				PERS
a. Accumulated unused
				compensatory leave or any other employer created category of leave other than
				personal leave or major medical leave may not be certified to PERS for
				additional service credit.
b. Leave
				donated or transferred from one employee to another employee may not be
				certified to PERS as unused leave of the recipient employee. The accumulation
				of leave is personal to the individual employee. Only qualifying leave which
				has actually been accumulated by and which remains unused by the individual
				employee at termination of employment may be certified to PERS for service
				credit.
c. Leave created, granted,
				or available "for retirement purposes only" may not be certified to PERS. There
				is no authority for the creation of a category of leave that is available for
				"retirement purposes only." Leave provided to an employee which cannot be
				carried over from year to year, and which expires at the end of each year, may
				not be certified or "banked" for purposes of later certification to PERS.
d. Accumulated unused leave
				associated with a refund of contributions may not be used for service credit.
				Leave accumulated and unused during a period of employment for which
				contributions are made to PERS and subsequently refunded to the terminated
				employee becomes void when the refund is made. If the refund is repaid in full,
				any accumulated unused leave associated with the reinstated service credit may
				also be reinstated, provided that such leave is or has been certified to PERS.
				If only a portion of the refund is repaid, the leave remains void and no part
				of it may be used for additional service credit.
e. Leave accumulated with a governmental
				employer outside the State of Mississippi, i.e., leave associated with
				out-of-state service, or under the limited reemployment provisions as a retiree
				under Miss. Code Ann. §
										25-11-127
				(1972, as amended), may not be certified to PERS for additional service credit.
				Further, leave accumulated with any other non-covered employment, including
				leave accumulated with an employer prior to the employer joining PERS or any
				leave earned while participating in the Optional Retirement Plan or any other
				plan administered by PERS, may not be certified to PERS for additional service
				credit.