Sick Leave Exchange Program (SLEP)

Under the Sick Leave Exchange Program (SLEP), employees in the SUNY Professional Services Negotiating Unit (UUP) and SUNY M/C employees may elect to reduce their sick leave accrual rate in exchange for a credit to be applied toward the cost of their New York State Health Insurance Program (NYSHIP) health insurance premiums for calendar year 2002. Employees must meet the program eligibility criteria to participate.

The election period for participation for calendar year 2002 of the program will run from November 1 through November 30, 2001. Eligible employees may elect to participate using forms available in campus personnel offices or on the internet at: http://www.brockport.edu/~hr/slep.htm . Employees who do not elect to participate during the designated election period will accrue sick leave at their regular rate and pay the normal employee share of the NYSHIP health insurance premium during calendar year 2002. Employees who participated in the SLEP during 2001 must re-enroll during the November 2001 election period if they wish to participate during calendar year 2002.

Full-time employees who enroll in SLEP for 2002 will receive a credit of up to $300 based on the amount of their biweekly health insurance premium. All part-time employees who enroll in SLEP will receive a credit of up to $150. This credit will be used to reduce the employee share of biweekly health insurance premiums paid in calendar year 2002. The reduction in health insurance rates will be implemented beginning with the paycheck distributed on January 2, 2002. The last paycheck reflecting the reduced health insurance rates will be distributed on December 18, 2002.

The credit cannot exceed the value of the employee share of NYSHIP health insurance premiums, even where they are less than $300 (or $150 for part-time employees). Therefore full-time employees who would normally pay less than $300 and part-time employees who would normally pay less than $150 in health insurance premiums during the calendar year may find that participation is not to their advantage.

Full-time employees who enroll in SLEP will earn 3 fewer days of sick leave during the period of their obligation in calendar year 2002. All part-time employees who enroll in SLEP will earn 1.5 fewer days of sick leave during the period of their obligation in calendar year 2002.

An employee's level of participation in SLEP is fixed for the calendar year based on status at time of enrollment. An employee who was full time at time of enrollment forfeits three (3) days of sick leave and receives a credit of up to $300 applied toward the employee share of his/her health insurance premium, even if the employee subsequently becomes an eligible part-time employee during the calendar year. Similarly, an employee who is part-time at time of enrollment forfeits 1.5 days of sick leave and receives a credit of up to $150, even if the employee subsequently becomes an eligible full-time employee during the calendar year.

In cases where employees move between individual and family coverage during the course of participation in SLEP, their health insurance contribution credit will be adjusted upward or downward if appropriate to reflect the change in the employee share of their health insurance premium. Under no circumstances will such adjustment increase the dollar value of the credit above the applicable $300 or $150 maximum.

Election to participate in the program is prospective, and applies to sick leave credits that the employee would otherwise be eligible to earn during the period of their obligation. Sick leave credits already accrued cannot be exchanged under this program.

As stated above, the election period for participation in calendar year 2002 of the SLEP program will run from November 1, 2001 through November 30, 2001. In all cases, employees who do not elect to participate within the designated election period will accrue sick leave at the regular rate and pay the normal employee share of the NYSHIP health insurance premium during calendar year 2002. Employees who participated in the SLEP during 2001 must re-enroll if they wish to participate during calendar year 2002.

Employees who elect to participate will be required to continue participation in the program through the end of calendar year 2002, unless they no longer meet applicable eligibility criteria (see "Eligibility" below). Employees cannot choose to withdraw once they have elected to participate for a given calendar year.

Participation in the program automatically ceases at the end of calendar year 2002. Employees return to earning sick leave at their normal rate and resume payment of the normal employee share of the NYSHIP health insurance premium, unless they file a new election form during November 2002 to participate in the program during calendar year 2003.

Employees must meet ALL of the following criteria to be considered eligible to enroll:

Once employees have successfully enrolled, ANY of the following events will result in loss of eligibility:

Employees who lose eligibility after electing to participate, but before January 1, 2002, will have their participation for calendar year 2002 cancelled. They will continue to pay health insurance premiums at the normal (non-SLEP participant) biweekly rate and will continue to earn sick leave at their normal contractually defined rate.

Once an employee has begun participation in the program in January 2002, if eligibility is lost, participation for the remainder of the calendar year will be cancelled. Such employees who continue in employment status will return to paying health insurance premiums at the normal biweekly rate if they continue to be enrolled in NYSHIP and will earn sick leave at their normal contractually defined accrual rate, if otherwise eligible. Employees will have their sick leave balance re-credited in accord with the rules presented below (see "Re-crediting Sick Leave").

With the exception of those granted a waiver of NYSHIP premiums, employees on leave without pay (LWOP) continue to participate during calendar year 2002, receiving the health insurance contribution credit and paying the applicable health insurance premiums. Employees who go on LWOP during the period during which they would otherwise be required to forfeit sick leave will continue to receive the health insurance contribution credit even though they are not eligible to earn sick leave.

Under no circumstances may any portion of the credit be applied toward the employer share of the health insurance premium. For example, a participating employee who would normally pay an employee health insurance premium of $200 over the calendar year elects to participate in SLEP and receives a credit of $200 toward the employee share of her health insurance premium. If she goes on LWOP during the course of her participation in calendar year 2002, her credit will remain capped at $200 despite the increased out-of-pocket expenses associated with her responsibility to pay the employer share of the premium while on LWOP.

Employees who receive a waiver of NYSHIP premiums will have their participation in the program terminated and, if appropriate, be re-credited in accord with the rules presented below in the section on re-crediting sick leave.

Employees on LWOP whose NYSHIP coverage is cancelled (voluntarily or because of failure to make payment of premiums as required) will lose eligibility to participate for the remainder of the calendar year and, if appropriate, sick leave will be re-credited in accord with the rules presented below (see "Re-crediting Sick Leave").

Employees who go on Workers' Compensation Leave continue to participate in SLEP so long as they make any required premium payments. They continue to receive the health insurance contribution credit during the calendar year of SLEP participation. For employees eligible to defer payment of NYSHIP premiums until return to the payroll, only that portion of the employee share premium which is not offset by the health insurance contribution credit, if any, is deferred until the employee returns to the payroll. Participating employees who are eligible to earn leave credits during a period of Workers' Compensation Leave will be required to forfeit leave as appropriate under the guidelines presented below.

 LEAVE ACCRUALS

Employees who are full-time when they elect to participate during calendar year 2002 will earn three (3) fewer days of sick leave than they normally would between January 1, 2002 and December 31, 2002. The reduction in accrued sick leave will be assessed from the first day of the program until such time that the employee would have normally accrued 3 days of sick leave. This will often create situations in which participating employees will be entitled to some fraction of their normal monthly accrual during the last month in which sick leave accrual is reduced in accord with the program. For example, a full-time calendar year employee with 7 years of service would normally earn 21 days of sick leave (1 3/4 days/month) during the calendar year. If such an employee elected to participate in SLEP during calendar year 2002, he or she would accrue no sick leave during January, the first month of participation (a forfeiture of 1 3/4 days). During February, the second month of participation, that employee would accrue 1/2 day of sick leave (a forfeiture of 1 1/4 day). Thereafter, the employee would accrue leave at his or her normal rate of 1 3/4 days per month for the remainder of calendar year 2002. This would result in a total accrual of 18 days of sick leave for calendar year 2002.

Employees who are part-time when they elect to participate during calendar year 2002 will earn 1 1/2 fewer days of sick leave than they normally would between January 1, 2002 and December 31, 2002. For example, a part-time calendar year employee who earns 1/2 day of sick leave per month would accrue no sick leave for the first three months of participation (a forfeiture of 1 1/2 days). Thereafter, the employee would accrue leave at his or her normal rate of 1/2 day per month for the remainder of calendar year 2002. This would result in a total accrual of 4 1/2 days of sick leave for the calendar year.

Employees who move between full-time and part-time after enrollment continue to forfeit sick leave and receive a health insurance contribution credit based on their status at time of enrollment. For example, an eligible part-time employee enrolls in SLEP during the November 2001 enrollment period. Her normal sick leave accrual rate as a part-time employee is 1/2 day per month. In January, 2002, she forfeits 1/2 day of sick leave. On February 1, she moves to a full-time position. Based on length of service, her monthly accrual rate as a full-time employee is 1 3/4 days per month. However, since the employee still owes 1 of the 1 1/2 days of sick leave she agreed to forfeit, she forfeits 1 day for the month of February and earns 3/4 of a day. The employee has fulfilled her obligation under SLEP by forfeiting a total of 1 1/2 days (a half day in January and a full day in February). She receives a health insurance contribution credit of up to $150 for the calendar year divided over 26 biweekly payroll periods.

Employees who lose eligibility to participate or whose NYSHIP coverage is cancelled or who separate will be re-credited with sick leave, for which they are otherwise eligible, in proportion to the number of remaining biweekly pay periods in the calendar year for which they will not receive the health insurance contribution credit.

However, credits cannot be restored which were not actually forfeited because the employee did not meet the eligibility criteria to earn the credits. For example, a full-time employee who was not in pay status for a major portion of January and February, the months when he would forgo sick leave accruals, would not be entitled to be re-credited at time of separation or loss of eligibility or cancellation of NYSHIP coverage.

Depending upon whether they are full or part-time employees, participants earn 3 or 1.5 fewer days of sick leave during the calendar year and receive a credit of up to $300 or $150 to be applied against health insurance premiums paid between January 1, 2002 and December 31, 2002. The health insurance contribution credit is divided among the 26 biweekly pay periods which fall during that period.

There are two basic re-crediting rates possible under the program. For employees who forfeited three days of sick leave, sick leave credits are restored at the rate of .115 of a day (3 days divided by 26 pay periods) for each biweekly payroll period in the calendar year following separation or loss of eligibility or cancellation of NYSHIP coverage for which the health insurance contribution credit will not be received. For employees who forfeited 1.5 days of sick leave, sick leave credits are restored at the rate of .058 of a day (1.5 days divided by 26 pay periods).

For example, a full-time employee begins participation on January 1 and submits a resignation at close of business on June 6, 2002. The employee has forfeited three days of sick leave and received the health insurance contribution credit for 13 biweekly payroll periods (12 checks during active employment and one lagged paycheck distributed on June 19, two weeks after separation). He is entitled to be re-credited with 1.5 days of sick leave for the 13 biweekly payroll periods for which he will not receive the health insurance premium credit (.115 day x 13 pay periods = 1.5 days, rounded to the nearest quarter of a day).

The basic re-crediting rates (either .115 or .058 day per pay period of unused credit) assume that the employee has forfeited the full amount of leave required under the program. If the employee has not forfeited the full amount of leave required, any difference between the amount actually forfeited and the full forfeiture required by the program MUST be subtracted from the amount yielded by the basic re-crediting calculation. In cases where the result is equal to or less than zero, no leave will be re-credited to the employee.

For example, a part-time employee enrolls in SLEP during November 2001 and then goes on LWOP between December 1, 2001 and February 1, 2002. The employee returns to work on February 2, 2002 but subsequently separates effective at the close of business on March 16, 2002. The employee will receive the health insurance contribution credit for 8 biweekly pay periods (7 pay periods in which the employee was on the payroll and one lag check issued on April 10, 2002). The employee forfeited 1/2 day of sick leave in February and 1/2 day in March but did not forfeit any leave in January due to the period of LWOP.

Participation in SLEP reduces the amount deducted from biweekly checks to pay employee share health insurance premiums. If an employee currently has that amount deducted on a pre-tax basis, the SLEP credit will reduce the size of that pre-tax deduction. This will increase the amount of income that such participants pay taxes on by the amount of the SLEP credit received. Therefore, while such employees will realize an overall savings as a result of participation in SLEP, their net savings as a result of participation will be less than the full amount of the SLEP credit that they receive.

Enrollees who participate in the pre-tax premium contribution program (PTCP) and wish to make changes to their health insurance coverage are still governed by the PTCP rules regarding qualifying events. Reduction or elimination of the employee share premium under SLEP does not in any way alter these regulations.

 RECORD KEEPING

Participation in the program does NOT alter the requirement to maintain employee attendance records, including records for those months in which sick leave accruals are not earned due to participation in the program.