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HomeGovernment CodeDiv. 5Pt. 3Ch. 11Art. 3§ 20965 Unused Sick Leave Credit

§ 20965 Unused Sick Leave Credit

Government Code·California
AI Summary·Official Text·Key Terms·Related Statutes·References
AI SummaryVerified

§ 20965 Unused Sick Leave Credit

Key Takeaways

  • •If you work for a local government and retire soon after quitting, you get extra retirement credit for unused sick days.
  • •You get 0.004 years of extra retirement time for each unused sick day, but only if your boss confirms it.
  • •Your boss can't lie about your sick days to give you more retirement money—if they do, they'll get caught and your benefits will be fixed.
  • •This rule doesn’t apply to all workplaces—only those that choose to follow it in their contracts.

Example

You work for a city as a firefighter and retire one month after quitting. You had 10 unused sick days left.

The city will check your sick days and give you extra retirement credit for those 10 days. But if they try to say you had 20 days to give you more money, they’ll get in trouble, and your retirement benefits will be fixed.

AI-generated — May contain errors. Not legal advice. Always verify source.

Official Source
View on CA.gov

§ 20965 Unused Sick Leave Credit

(a) A local miscellaneous member and a local safety member, whose effective date of retirement is within four months of separation from employment with the employer that granted the sick leave credit, shall be credited at the member’s retirement with 0.004 year of service credit for each unused day of sick leave certified to the board by the member’s employer. The certification shall report only those days of unused sick leave that were accrued by the member during the normal course of the member’s employment and shall not include any additional days of sick leave reported for the purpose of increasing the member’s retirement benefit. Reports of unused days of sick leave shall be subject to audit and retirement benefits may be adjusted where improper reporting is found. (b) (1) This section shall not apply to any contracting agency nor to the employees of a contracting agency until the agency elects to be subject to this section by contract or by amendment to its contract made in the manner prescribed for approval of contracts, except that an election among the employees is not required, or, in the case of contracts made after September 26, 1974, by express provision in the contract making the contracting agency subject to this section. (2) This section shall only apply to members who retire after the effective date of the contract amendments. (c) Any contracting agency that is a school district, county office of education, or community college district that elects to contract for unused sick leave conversion under this section or participates in a risk pool pursuant to Section 20840 shall be subject to the provisions of Section 20963.5. (Amended by Stats. 2019, Ch. 330, Sec. 14. (SB 782) Effective January 1, 2020.)

Last verified: January 22, 2026

Key Terms

retirementemploymentseparationeducationbenefitsemployeeschoolport

Related Statutes

  • § 20969.2 Furlough Service Credit Protection
  • § 21025.5 School Member Public Service
  • § 21029 Military Service Pension Credit
  • § 22960.85 Employee Account Distribution Options
  • § 22960.86 Retirement Benefit Application Rules

References

  • Official text at leginfo.legislature.ca.gov
  • California Legislature. Government Code. Section 20965.
View Official Source