No. HB 1065
Filed under Local Government.
Public Employee Housing Benefits; Provides requirements for receipt of Heroes Reward benefit; authorizes accrued sick leave & annual leave balances be combined in certain circumstances; provides that leave balances for Heroes Reward benefit are counted separately from other programs & leave balances are updated at time of payment; requires that payments be made using employee's current base pay; authorizes public employer to make payment directly to specified person; requires payments to be made within specified timeframe; requires DMS to adopt rules, authorizing political subdivisions to take certain actions to implement specified provisions.
Plain English Summary
AI-GENERATEDPublic employers may let employees cash out sick and annual leave in a single payout to help buy a primary residence, but nothing requires any employer to offer this.
Annual leave can be cashed out with no cap, but a sick-leave payout must still leave the employee with at least 21 days banked afterward.
The payout doesn't count as pay for pension calculations, and leave used this way can't later be paid out again as terminal leave.
At the employee's request, the employer must wire the money straight to the closing agent within three business days of the scheduled closing.
AIA public employer may give a full-time, benefits-eligible employee a one-time payout of accrued sick or annual leave, or both, to help buy a primary residence -- verified by a signed purchase agreement and a final closing disclosure, not estimated or unsigned paperwork.
AIThe payout is not terminal pay, severance pay, or compensation for retirement calculations under chapter 121, and leave already paid out this way cannot later be counted toward a terminal leave payout or other leave-conversion program.
AIAn employee must keep at least 21 days of accrued sick leave after the payout, but may redeem any amount of accrued annual leave with no maximum cap, as long as the other conditions in this section are met.
AIAt the employee's written request, the employer must send the approved payout by wire transfer directly to the closing or escrow agent, no later than three business days after the scheduled closing date.
AIThe Department of Management Services must adopt rules to implement the program, a political subdivision may adopt it by ordinance, resolution, policy, or bargaining agreement, and no public employer is required to establish or maintain the benefit at all.