WSR 16-10-122
PERMANENT RULES
DEPARTMENT OF
RETIREMENT SYSTEMS
[Filed May 4, 2016, 11:58 a.m., effective June 4, 2016]
Effective Date of Rule: Thirty-one days after filing.
Purpose: RCW 41.26.476, enacted in 2010, invalidates a clause in WAC 415-104-380 concerning shared leave. This amendment strikes the invalid clause.
Citation of Existing Rules Affected by this Order: Amending WAC 415-104-380.
Statutory Authority for Adoption: RCW 41.50.050(5).
Adopted under notice filed as WSR 16-06-097 on March 1, 2016.
Number of Sections Adopted in Order to Comply with Federal Statute: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; Federal Rules or Standards: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; or Recently Enacted State Statutes: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.
Number of Sections Adopted at Request of a Nongovernmental Entity: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.
Number of Sections Adopted on the Agency's Own Initiative: New 0, Amended 1, Repealed 0.
Number of Sections Adopted in Order to Clarify, Streamline, or Reform Agency Procedures: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.
Number of Sections Adopted Using Negotiated Rule Making: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; Pilot Rule Making: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; or Other Alternative Rule Making: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.
Date Adopted: May 4, 2016.
Marcie Frost
Director
AMENDATORY SECTION (Amending WSR 97-01-016, filed 12/6/96, effective 1/6/97)
WAC 415-104-380 Disability payments.
(1) Disability leave supplement. Under certain circumstances, LEOFF II members are entitled to a disability leave supplement for periods of disability leave. See RCW 41.04.500 through 41.04.550.
(a) Employer contributions to the disability leave supplement under RCW 41.04.510(3) are not a salary or wage for services rendered and do not qualify as basic salary. Although the payments are paid leave, they are specifically excluded from basic salary by RCW 41.04.525.
(b) The member paid portion of the disability leave supplement is funded through use of the member's accumulated sick or vacation leave. This portion of the disability leave supplement is, therefore, basic salary, see WAC 415-104-373. The member will receive only partial service credit for the accumulated leave portion of the disability leave supplement.
(c) A member may apply to receive full service credit for some periods of duty disability under RCW 41.26.470(3).
(2) Workers' compensation. Payments made to a member under Title 51 RCW are neither a salary or wage for services rendered nor paid leave. The payments are not basic salary for LEOFF II. This is true whether the payments come from the workers' compensation trust fund or from an employers' self-insurance program authorized under Title 51 RCW.
(3) Private insurance. Some employers provide additional disability insurance as a supplement to workers' compensation. Any payment from a third party insurance company is neither paid leave nor payment for services rendered. It does not qualify as basic salary for LEOFF Plan II.
(4) Disability leave banks. If an employer maintains a disability leave bank which may be used to make salary replacement payments for members during periods of disability, such payments are paid leave and qualify as basic salary subject to the provisions of WAC 415-104-373((: Provided, however, That if the leave provided to an employee is based upon leave earned by another employee then it is a form of shared leave and does not qualify as basic salary)).