H. B. 4493

(By Mr. Speaker, Mr. Kiss, By Request,
and Delegates Boggs, Mahan and Capito)
[Introduced February 19, 1998; referred to the
Committee on Government Organization then Finance.]



A BILL to amend and reenact section three, article five, chapter five of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to accrued and unused annual leave for state employees.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section three, article five, chapter five of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:

ARTICLE 5. SALARY INCREASE FOR STATE EMPLOYEES.
§5-5-3. Optional payment to employee in lump sum amount for accrued and unused annual leave at termination of employment; no withholding of any employee contribution deduction; exception.
Every eligible employee, as defined in section one of this article, at the time his or her active employment ends due to resignation, death, retirement or otherwise, may be paid in a lump sum amount, at his or her option, for accrued and unused annual leave at the employee's usual rate of pay at such time. The lump sum payment shall be made by the time of what would have been the employee's next regular payday had his employment continued. In determining the amount of annual leave entitlement, weekends, holidays or other periods of normal, noncountable time shall be excluded, and no deductions may be made for contributions toward retirement from lump sum payments for unused, accrued annual leave, since no period of service credit is granted in relation thereto; however, such lump sum payment may not be a part of final average salary computation; and where any such deduction of employee contribution may have been heretofore made, a refund of such shall be granted the former employee and made by the head of the respective former employer spending unit: Provided, That the superintendent of the department of public safety shall make deductions for retirement contributions of members of the department, since retirement benefits are based on cumulative earnings rather than period of service.
In determining annual leave, every eligible employee is entitled to annual leave computed as follows:
Years of ServiceCarry Forward Days
Less than 5 years40 days
5 to 10 years45 days
11 to 15 years50 days
16 years or more55 days




NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to increase the annual leave carryover for state employees.

Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.