Governor Signs State Employee Sick Leave

Governor Thompson signs SB 144 at a ceremony at the Mead Public Library in Sheboygan. Joining him are (left to right) Mickey Kaiser, president of WEAC Council #1; Michael Moore, Council #1 UniServ director; Steve Rolzin, a teacher at Kettle Moraine; State Employment Relations Secretary Jon Litscher; and State Sen. Cal Potter.

Governor Thompson has signed a bill – SB 144 – that improves retirement benefits for teachers who are employed by the State of Wisconsin.

Under the new law, state teachers who earn supplemental pay for a higher educational degree will end up with better health insurance coverage after retirement.

The law includes supplemental pay as part of base pay, which is used to calculate an employee’s sick leave credit. Upon retirement, accumulated sick leave is converted to credits for payment into the state’s health insurance plan. This allows an employee to maintain his or her health insurance for a limited time after retirement.

Higher base pay results in more sick leave credits, which extend the length of health insurance for a retiree.

Here is an example of how the bill would impact a member:

A state-employed teacher retires with 20 years and 2,000 hours of sick leave. With supplemental credits negotiated last contract this amount increases to 3,040. Base pay is $22.21 per hour, with an add-on of $2.60. Without SB 144, the teacher would get $67,518.40 upon retirement to purchase health insurance. With SB 144, the teacher will get $75,422.40; a difference of $7904.00.

Posted April 29, 1998