Annual Conversion to Cash. At the end of each calendar year, if an employee has an accrued sick leave balance of 200 hours or more of sick leave, fifty percent (50%) of all hours accrued in excess of 200 hours shall be converted to a cash equivalent at the end of each calendar year. The annual cash conversion shall be calculated at the employee’s hourly rate including additional pay such as POST Pay, Bilingual Pay and Longevity Pay then in effect at the end of the calendar year. The 2021 - 2023 Memorandum of Understanding City of Berkeley Berkeley Police Association annual cash conversion shall be limited to 50% of the hours an employee has accrued in excess of 200 hours as of December 31st of each year. The City shall pay the annual cash equivalent into an employee’s retiree PORAC medical trust account on behalf of the employee member. Upon retirement, any sick leave hours that have not been converted onto an employee’s PORAC medical trust account, used for the purpose of additional retirement service credit as provided in PERL Section 20965, or “catastrophic/service time” bank shall be forfeited. The remaining fifty percent (50%) of accrued hours in excess of 200 hours, up to a maximum of 500 hours, shall be maintained in the employee’s separate “catastrophic/service time” bank. These hours are available for the employee’s use in the event that the employee has a catastrophic illness or injury and has exhausted all accrued sick leave hours and compensatory time off hours. At the time of the employee’s retirement or termination, any sick leave balance in the catastrophic/service time bank may only be used for additional retirement service credit as provided in PERL Section 20965 and the employee cannot cash it out at retirement or separation.
