by Curtis Williams
As a part-time member enrolled in the California State Teachers Retirement System (CalSTRS), what happens to my sick leave balance when I retire? Most of us have heard it can add to your total service credit at retirement from CalSTRS, but the details can be confusing.
Part-time faculty members earn service credit in CalSTRS. The number of hours of sick leave you earn is governed by your collective bargaining agreement at each college throughout your career. If you don’t use all your accrued sick leave, these hours can be converted to service and added to your retirement. Unused basic sick leave is funded by 0.25% of the members’ creditable compensation reported to CalSTRS.
According to the California Ed Code regarding Community Colleges, one year of service credit for a full-time faculty employee is 1050 hours per school year. Most annual school terms are 175 days long, but a year may differ for counselors and librarians. 1050 hours divided by 175 days works out to a 6-hour day.
Full-time faculty’s remaining sick leave balance in hours will be converted to days and reported to CalSTRS at retirement. According to the Ed Code, the calculation is a simple six hours equal to one day for full-time faculty. Unfortunately, this conversion rate from hours to days is inconsistent across the state. Many districts use the six-hour-per-day figure, but some count as little as four hours per day, and others use a rate as high as eight hours per day. When you retire, your district reports these remaining sick leave hours as days andCalSTRS converts those days into Service Credit.
Beginning in 1996, the state changed the definition of full-time equivalents (FTE), which is the basis for determining Compensation Earnable for part-time community college instructors (what the part-timer would have made if they had worked full time at their highest average hourly rate). Currently, the FTE for part-time instructors is a minimum of 525 hours. If you want to know what your district uses for base hours, look in your collective bargaining agreement. If you are paid for office hours, the minimum standard of hours is increased by these hours.
To see how many hours your district calculates for a full-time equivalent rate, log into your mycalstrs.com account, look at the Retirement Progress Report, and click the Employer Details section. The Base Hours column will have what your district reports to CalSTRS. CalSTRS states, “The base hours listed are the minimum full-time equivalent reported by your employer.”
Previously, if you taught at multiple districts, you had a limited time to move unused sick leave to your new employer. Fortunately, because of a change in the law in 2020, you can now ask former districts to transfer your sick leave hourly balance to your current employer. This 2020 Legislation eliminated the transfer time limit previously in effect. Some districts have transfer forms, while others do not.
Sick leave is an excellent benefit; if you need it, use it. Taking time off for medical appointments is permitted during class time but can be disruptive to the flow of a class. Many faculty don’t use their sick leave, and many retire with every hour they ever earned. Some faculty only use sick leave when they are out for an extended period and can arrange for a long-term substitute. The benefit is that using sick leave allows you to continue being paid and earn the service credit for working. Each hour of sick leave covers your absence hour for hour.
Here is where this becomes a problem. Districts use the same sick leave hours per day for their full-time and part-time faculty. Full-time faculty are compensated for all their service (1050 hours), part-time faculty are compensated only for in-class time (not less than 525 hours for CalSTRS Compensation Earnable), plus office hours. Districts convert these remaining sick leave hours to days using their standard formula and then they report these days to CalSTRS. CalSTRS accepts these reports of days and calculates the service credit using the 175-day year. Because of this, part-time faculty receive a lower value for their remaining sick leave balance.
For example, if you had 120 hours of sick leave remaining at retirement, here is how different districts would convert hours to days and service credit:
| District variation | Conversion Rate | Base Hours/Year | Days Converted | Service Credit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| District #1 | 8 hours/day | 1400 | 15 days | 0.086 year |
| District #2 | 6 hours/day | 1050 | 20 days | 0.114 year |
| District #3 | 4 hours/day | 700 | 30 days | 0.171 year |
| Part-time* | 3 hours/day | 525 | 40 days | 0.228 year |
The solution is to have districts report “hours” rather than “days” to CalSTRS. CalSTRS already knows the Base Hours for part-timers in each district so that the remaining sick leave hours can be converted to accurate service credit for the retiring part-time faculty. Legislation will be required to correct this issue.
Curtis Williams has been employed by five different community colleges, three CSUs, and two private universities since 1996. He has taught students at all levels in subjects including geology, geophysics, geography, history, and business information systems. Curtis is a part-time faculty member at Long Beach City and in the Coast Community Colleges. He has been a union advocate throughout his career.