Question: State Law states that an employee is given 10 days of sick leave a year and, when a teacher uses all their sick days they have 20 additional days of being docked at what a substitute is paid a day. If I am understanding this correctly, we would be required to report those 20 days as days docked even though the state allows them to receive some of their pay and employees daily wages is over three times the sub pay.

Answer: We understand that for purposes of state reporting, employers do not include the 20 day grace period whereby a teacher can miss work and only be penalized for the cost of a substitute, however for OTRS purposes and procedures governing service credit, clients will receive credit for days they actually work or for days they are not penalized for missing. (For example paid vacation and paid sick leave whereby their pay is not docked, would not be considered days docked and accordingly would not be reported to OTRS as a day not worked or a day docked pay)
However, if a client does miss a day of work and was subsequently docked pay due to insufficient paid leave time, that day is considered a day penalized for not working and therefore would be reported to OTRS as a day docked pay.

Question: Our support negotiated agreement provides up to 5 days personal leave whereby day one is fully paid by the district. Days 2-5 are partially docked at increasing amounts each day, but never amounting to a full dock. Clearly day 1 would count for TR service credit, but what about days 2-5 where there were partial docks?

Answer: in this case, partial docks are still considered docks for days not worked and accordingly should be reported as a day docked pay which would reduce the total days worked field as well.

Question: when we start reporting days worked and the docked days (unpaid days taken from work), will the actual number of days credit for the year be reduced by the number of unpaid days they were not at work? For example, we have a support employee who is a 240-day (full year) employee, and he uses his sick leave each year, and then takes days without pay. So, if he continues to do this, let's say he takes 15 days of unpaid leave, will his # days for TR credit be reduced by those 15 days?

Answer: In all cases, if a client takes sick leave and is docked pay, indicating that it was sick leave in excess of all full paid sick leave, then yes, his TR credit will be reduced by those 15 days as indicated in your annual report which should show those 15 days as days docked pay.

Question: Are you saying that even though an employee who is still under contract for a school year, that because they were ill , missed more days than they had sick days, their pay had to be docked, they are not going to receive a full year of service credit?

Answer: Yes. That is what we are saying. If a client, does not work a day they should have or a day that is not covered by prior accrued sick leave or vacation, the effect of which the client was docked pay and likely the school incurred a cost to cover that day not worked, yes, the client will receive partial credit as they have not completely fulfilled their employment contract.

Question: I want to know how the days docked work for support. Do we only report fully missed contract days that did not have fully paid leave?
If a person works half of their day (both certified and support) and takes not fully paid leave, do we report the half days docked?

Answer: Support staff should adhere to the same standard as classified. If the client has contracted with the school to work 40 hrs /wk for 12 months (2080 hours) to receive full time service credit, but is docked 10 days (80 hours), they did not fulfill the full time
requirements. Service credit to be awarded is 96.2%. They would need an additional credit of 3.8% to fulfill the 100% requirement

Question: Per our negotiated agreement when a certified employee takes their third personal day they are docked at sub deduct to cover the sub for that day. Is that counted as a day deducted against their TR contracted days for that year?

Answer: Yes, if in any case a salaried employee is docked pay for leave taken without full pay, then that should be reported as a reduction in days worked and a day docked pay.

Question: As for pay docks on cost of sub, my understanding from reading the other Q & A’s is that staff, either certified or support, will receive a day for day year of service tied specifically to any dock of their salary. So the 960 hours is used as a minimum baseline for a year of service? It appears that a year of service is determined first by the member’s position and then by days worked and leave granted without any loss of pay. Is this correct?

Answer: As for pay docks for salaried employees to pay for a sub, any dock pay would indicate a day not worked and should then be reported as a reduction in days worked and a day docked pay. And yes, the 960 hours is used as a baseline for both hourly and salaried employees as is the district days.

Question: Employees are docked hourly for personal leave and overuse of sick leave. What would we do in this case?

Answer: Since you will be reporting to us at the end of the year and dock sick and vacation leave by the hour instead of by the day. Our advice is to think of sick leave and vacation as a running total rather than assess whether each days counts as a day docked or not. So, at the end of the year, total up all the hours docked, and divide by the number of hours required in your work day. Round down the remainder to a whole number.

For example if you docked a client 29 hours and your work day is 7 hours on a contract of 190 days, you would report 4 days docked (29 hours divided by 7 hours = 4.14), 186 days worked and 190 days required to work.

Question: On the days worked field..........”actually worked”......does this mean on a partial credit year that a person will not get credit for days they take annual or sick leave?

Answer: Paid leave such as paid vacation and paid sick leave whereby a client was not docked pay would need to be counted as a day worked.

Question: What about a teacher who is receiving donated sick leave? Would those days be counted as days worked since the days are not actually docked?

Answer: Two things about sick leave, donated sick leave time cannot count towards the sick leave service credit awarded at retirement for the balance of sick leave. However, for earning annual service credit, donated sick leave can be used to continue the client’s contract without a loss of service or pay to the client. Put in other words, days not worked but covered by donated sick leave should be treated the same as personal allowed sick leave, whereby if the client is not docked, then those days should not be counted as days docked pay and should instead be counted under the days worked.

Question: How is TR determining how many days an employee has worked compared to their contracted days? Does it go off of the gross salary for the year or does it pull from our leave system to see the number of days docked without pay?

Answer: You should be reporting that to OTRS in your annual report. We will receive days worked, days required to work (contracted days should go here) and days docked pay. Days worked and days docked pay cannot be less than the days required to work.

Question: when I think 'hourly', I think of someone paid from the clock. But, are you saying 'hourly' as in our non-certified employees?

Answer: When we say hourly, we truly mean clients who are paid by the hour, when they do not show up for work, they are not paid and at the end of the year you actually know how many hours they worked.

Question: “School Days to Hours” - There may be less than 180 working “days” in a year if the local Board of Education sets their school year based on 1080 hours rather than 180 days. The day number can fluctuate throughout the year based on the school calendar development and instructional days off as a result of the “extra minutes in a day”.

Answer: School districts also have a calendar they use to inform the public of their school days. Easiest way to accomplish this is to use those days and report to us the district days requirement. In short, covert the hours to days.

Question: Can you tell me how worker’s comp will affect employees. Our district adjusts the pay of injured workers that receive worker comp benefits because compensation from the workers comp insurance is not taxable. This adjustment would cause a shortage in teacher’s contract pay. Would those days be considered pay docks for OTR?

Answer: Worker’s compensation is considered a protected leave as is FMLA leave. Accordingly, a client cannot be penalized retirement service for days missed. In accordance with IRS Laws, OTRS policy allows a client to earn service credit for the days missed while on this protected leave, however they must pay for the missing contributions should there be any. OTRS procedures require the client to contact OTRS to remedy. As far as employers’ responsibility in this process, employers should report days docked pay while on protected leave as a reduction in days worked and days docked pay but not a reduction in days required to work.

For example, A client with a 200 day contract who misses 90 days on protected leave and was docked pay for 80 of those days has in fact missed 80 days of work in excess of paid vacation and leave and should report 120 days worked, 80 days docked pay and 200 days required to work. The Client would then initially receive 60% service credit. The client would then contact OTRS to pay for and earn the 80 days of protected leave to earn their remaining 40% service.

Previously, many employers have sent in a partial month of contributions for insurance purposes or because workers comp only pays up to a portion of their salary. Partial credit cannot be awarded with this partial payment. It is best to contribute the entire monthly burden or do not contribute at all until the employee returns from their protected leave
Service Credit (Years of Service)

Question: I had read in the handbook that no more than one year experience would be awarded in a single year. How will a teacher get credit for extra days worked in a year – i.e. summer school? Could this extra credit be used to make up pay dock days?

Answer: You are correct in that no more than one year of experience can be awarded in a single year, with the exception of sick leave bonus year awarded at retirement.
Docked days cannot be made up in a year, however working extra days will help a client by increasing the salary earned and contributions. Holding to the principle that they did not fulfill their annual contract, and took leave in excess of accrued vacation, another subsequent contract would not be entitled to accrue service credit, as service credit is based on an annual contract and not extra duties.

For example, A client with a 200 day contract who misses 90 days on protected leave and was docked pay for 80 of those days has in fact missed 80 days of work in excess of paid vacation and leave and should report 120 days worked, 80 days docked pay and 200 days required to work. The Client would then initially receive 60% service credit. The client would then contact OTRS to pay for and earn the 80 days of protected leave to earn their remaining 40% service.

Previously, many employers have sent in a partial month of contributions for insurance purposes or because workers comp only pays up to a portion of their salary. Partial credit cannot be awarded with this partial payment. It is best to contribute the entire monthly burden or do not contribute at all until the employee returns from their protected leave.

Question: When I read TRS 715:10-3-1 Requirements for creditable service, it states “...No member shall receive one (1) year of service credit for less than 960 hours of employment. (This does not mean that a member working 960 hours is automatically entitled to receive one (1) year of creditable service.)”.

Based on our certified staff’s contract day of 7.33 hours for 185 days, am I to understand their school year must meet 131 days physically worked to equal a year of service?

Answer: If a staff’s contract is for 185 days, and they are considered full time employees, then they must work or be paid for 185 days to earn 100% service credit. Working 131 days would earn them 70.8%.

Our rule states no one may receive credit for less than 960 hours. Credit is awarded based on fulfillment of contract. At the minimum if that contract is less than 960 hours, they will not receive a full year of service. It is the floor only

715:10-3-1. Requirements for creditable service

All members of Teachers' Retirement System must be employed a specified amount of time as related to their educational employment position, and earn a minimum salary, before creditable service will be awarded. No service performed as a unpaid volunteer shall be counted as service credit. For service performed on or after July 1, 2013, creditable service will be awarded based upon the information provided by each employer certifying full-time equivalent for each position, subject to approval by TRS.

No more than one (1) year of creditable service shall be awarded for all service in any one (1) school year. For service performed on or after July 1, 2013, fractional service will be awarded for less than full-time employment performed during the contract no member shall receive one (1) year of service credit for less than 960 hours of employment. (This does not mean that a member working 960 hours is automatically entitled to receive one (1) year of creditable service.) year. (Note: Please refer to Client Handbook for explanation of creditable service qualifications. The Client Handbook, which is periodically modified, can be found at www.ok.gov/TRS).

[Source: Amended at 29 Ok Reg 857, eff 8-1-12]

Question: Does 120 days of banked retirement still count as a year of service credit or is this changing to 180 days as well?

Answer: Nothing has changed regarding sick leave service credit awarded. 120 days of sick leave will still get you an extra year of service. However, the changes do allow you to receive a partial year of service for less than 120 days of sick leave. For example, 60 days would get you half a year. In the past, 119 days got you zero, now we can allow any number of sick days to count towards retirement.

Additionally, there is nothing magic or prescribed about 180 days. We have simply used that as a description as it is the most common contract with our clients. However, each district and client may and likely will have their own specific contract, from which OTRS will derive a service credit calculation.

Question: I see that we are to list the sick leave balance on our end of year report . State law allows districts to negotiate their maximum number of sick days as long as they allow a minimum of 60, the overage we keep track of for retirement purposes but is not a true balance. Are you wanting me to report the retirement days as well as the sick leave days? I assume you are want to track the days that total 120?

Answer: Thanks for the feedback, we are looking for the total sick days that would be eligible for retirement, so in this case we would want you to report sick leave days plus banked sick leave retirement days.