(a) Upon certification by the employer or employers, a member shall be granted credit at service retirement for each day of accumulated and unused sick leave days for which full salary is allowed and to which the member was entitled on the member’s final day of employment with the employer or employers subject to coverage by the Defined Benefit Program during the last school term in which the member earned creditable compensation pursuant to Section 22119.2 or 22119.3. The system shall accept certification from each employer with which the member has accumulated sick leave days for that period, provided this leave has not been transferred to another employer.

(b) The amount of service credit to be granted shall be determined by dividing the number of accumulated, unused sick leave days by the number of base days, as defined in Section 22106.2.

(c) For members who are last employed with the state in a position in which there are no contracted base service days, the amount of service credit to be granted shall be 0.004 years of service for each day of unused sick leave certified to the board by the employer. The certification shall report only those days of unused sick leave that were accrued by the member during the normal course of the member’s employment subject to coverage by the Defined Benefit Program.

(d) When the member has made application for service retirement under this part, the employer shall certify to the board, within 30 days following the effective date of the member’s service retirement or the date the application for retirement is received by the system’s headquarters office, whichever is later, the number of days of accumulated and unused sick leave days that the member was entitled to on the final day of employment. The board may assess a penalty on delinquent reports.

(e) The member shall not receive credit for accumulated unused sick leave days if the member receives service credit in another public retirement system for the same unused sick leave days.

(f) This section shall be applicable to any person who retires on or after January 1, 1999.

(Amended by Stats. 2020, Ch. 275, Sec. 11. (AB 2101) Effective January 1, 2021.)