Sick Leave Credit Conversion Program

Overview

The Sick Leave Credit Conversion Program allows unused sick leave to be converted to credits to pay for State Group Health Insurance after you leave state employment. State Group Health Insurance includes pharmacy and optional Uniform Dental benefits.

Sick leave credits cannot be used to pay premiums for Medicare Part A or B, any other health insurance plan, supplemental dental insurance plans (PPO Select or PPO Select Plus Premier), or vision insurance plan. Sick leave credits only cover State Group Health Insurance and Uniform Dental Insurance premiums.

For information on options to continue other plans review Employee Benefits at Retirement (UWS 73).

Eligibility

You are eligible for the Sick Leave Credit Conversion Program if you are enrolled in the State Group Health Insurance program and:

• Retire with five or more years of WRS creditable service or
• Terminate employment with 20 or more years of WRS creditable service or
• Are permanently laid off or
• Upon death

If you retire and are not enrolled in the State Group Health Insurance program at the time of termination, you are not eligible for the Sick Leave Credit Conversion program. There is no monetary value for sick leave other than through the credit conversion program. If you are covered under a non-State Group Health Insurance plan and wish to preserve your sick leave credits, you may enroll in the Access Plan for one month prior to retirement. More information about preserving sick leave credits is found below under Escrowing Sick Leave Credits and on the Department of Employee Trust Funds (ETF) How to Save Your Sick Leave Credits web page.

Programs

There are two programs that determine the value of sick leave credits:.

• Accumulated Sick Leave Conversion Credit (ASLCC) Program: With this program, unused accumulated sick leave hours are multiplied by your highest basic pay rate in a qualifying position and converted to credits to pay for State Group Health Insurance in retirement (or in the other instances listed above).
• Supplemental Health Insurance Conversion Credit (SHICC) Program: If you are eligible for the ASLCC Program you may be eligible for the SHICC Program. The SHICC program provides employees who have at least 15 years of continuous state service with sick leave credits in addition to those provided by the ASLCC Program. Eligible employees earn up to a maximum of 52 hours of additional sick leave credits for each year of service for the first 24 years of continuous service and up to a maximum of 104 hours of additional sick leave credits for each year of continuous service over 24 years.
  • Protective employees accrue credits at a different rate under the SHICC Program. Review the Sick Leave Credit Conversion Brochure (ET-4132) for details.
  • Crafts workers are generally not eligible for SHICC. See UW System Administrative Policy 1238 Crafts Workers, section 4.F. for more information.
  • The number of supplemental credits provided may not exceed the actual number of sick leave credit hours an employee has accumulated.

If you are eligible for the Sick Leave Credit Conversion Program your sick leave credits will automatically be certified by the Universities of Wisconsin with the Department of Employee Trust Funds (ETF).

Escrowing Sick Leave Credits

Escrowing your sick leave means to preserve or bank your sick leave credits for use at a later date.

To escrow your sick leave credits, you must be covered by the State Group Health Insurance program on the day you terminate state employment either as an employee or as a covered dependent and be eligible to convert sick leave credits to pay State Group Health Insurance premiums.

If you retire and are not enrolled in the State Group Health Insurance program at the time of termination, you would not be eligible for the sick leave credit conversion program. If you are covered under non-state health insurance plan and you want to escrow your sick leave credits at retirement, you may enroll in the Access Plan for one month prior to retirement, request to escrow your sick leave credits, and cancel coverage.

The non-State Group Health Insurance plan must be deemed comparable coverage by ETF to be able to escrow the sick leave credits. More information regarding comparable coverage can be found on the ETF How to Save Your Sick Leave Credits web page.

You may escrow your sick leave credits at any time during the year, but you can only re-enroll for State Group Health Insurance coverage during the annual benefits enrollment period (unless you have an involuntary loss of your comparable non-state coverage). You must also continuously maintain comparable non-state health insurance coverage while your sick leave credits are in escrow.

After you retire, you can escrow your sick leave credits multiple times, though no more than once each year.

Estimating Value of Sick Leave Credits

Use the Sick Leave Credit Conversion Program Estimator to estimate the value of your sick leave credits at retirement.

Forms & Resources

• Sick Leave Credit Conversion Program Brochure (ET-4132)
• Sick Leave Credit Conversion Program Chart (UW 1048)
• Sick Leave Credit Conversion Program Estimator
• Sick Leave Credit Conversion Program Video Series from ETF
• How to Save Your Sick Leave Credits
• Sick Leave Credit Escrow Application (ET-4305)