Iowa Administrative Code › Agency 495 - Iowa Public Employees' Retirement System › Chapter 6 - Covered Wages › Rule 495-6.3 - Ipers Coverage for Various Forms of Compensation

Current through Register Vol. 47, No. 3, July 24, 2024
The following is a list of various types of compensation and
				the corresponding IPERS coverage treatment:
(1)
Vacation pay or annual leave
			 pay.
Vacation pay or annual leave pay means the amount paid to an
			 employee during a period of vacation.
(2)
Sick pay.
Sick pay means
			 the amount paid to an employee during a period of sick leave.
(3)
Workers' compensation payments
			 and other third-party payments.
Workers' compensation payments,
			 unemployment payments, or short-term and long-term disability payments made by
			 an insurance company or third-party payer, such as a trust, are not included as
			 wages. Payments for sick leave which are a continuation of salary payments if
			 paid from the employer's general assets, regardless of whether the employer
			 labels the payments as sick leave, short-term disability, or long-term
			 disability, are covered wages.
(4)
Compensatory time.
Wages include amounts paid for compensatory
			 time taken in lieu of regular work hours or when paid as a lump sum. However,
			 compensatory time paid in a lump sum shall not exceed 240 hours per employee
			 per year or any lesser number of hours set by the employer. Each employer shall
			 determine whether to use the calendar year or a fiscal year other than the
			 calendar year when setting its compensatory time policy. The wages reported to
			 IPERS must reflect the employer's policy.
(5)
Banked holiday pay.
If
			 an employer codes banked holiday time as holiday or additional accrued vacation
			 time, the banked holiday pay will be vacation pay under subrule 6.3(1). If an
			 employer codes banked holiday time as compensatory time, the banked holiday pay
			 will be combined with compensatory pay and subject to the limits set forth in
			 subrule 6.3(4).
(6)
Special
			 lump sum payments.
Wages do not include special lump sum payments made
			 during or at the end of service as a payoff of unused accrued sick leave or of
			 unused accrued vacation. Wages do not include special lump sum payments made
			 during or at the end of service as an incentive to retire early or as payments
			 made upon dismissal, severance, or a special bonus payment intended as an early
			 retirement incentive. Wages do not include: catastrophic leave paid in a lump
			 sum, bonuses, tips, honoraria, or student loan repayment compensation.
			 Exclusion of payments as described in this subrule applies whether the payment
			 is in a lump sum or in installments.
(7)
Covered wage treatment for
			 supplemental payments.
a. Payments
			 excluded from covered wages as bonuses include the following:
(1) Recruitment payments.
(2) Retention payments.
(3) Payments to members who achieve
			 improvements in their employer's financial status or performance
			 ratings.
(4) Employee performance
			 incentive payments.
(5)
			 Extraordinary job performance payments.
(6) Payments for the possession, attainment,
			 or maintenance of special skills or professional certifications (does not apply
			 to advancements in a member's placement in wage or salary schedule, or
			 placement in a higher tier wage or salary schedule).
(7) Payments to members made in lieu of merit
			 increases because the members' wage or salary scales are capped.
(8) Payments similar in substance to those
			 enumerated above without regard to the payments' titles, tag lines, labels or
			 classifications by employers.