Article 4. Absences From Employment of California Government Code >> Division 5. >> Title 2. >> Part 3. >> Chapter 11. >> Article 4.

A member is absent on military service when he or she is absent from state service by reason of service with the uniformed services. Uniformed services means the Armed Forces of the United States of America, the Army National Guard and the Air National Guard when engaged in active duty for training, inactive duty training or full-time National Guard duty, the commissioned corps of the Public Health Service, and any other category of persons designated by the President in time of war or emergency. Service in the uniformed services means the performance of duty on a voluntary or involuntary basis in a uniformed service under competent authority and includes active duty, active duty for training, initial active duty for training, inactive duty training, and a period for which a member is absent from a position of employment for the purpose of an examination to determine the fitness of the member to perform any duty. The system shall comply with Chapter 43 (commencing with Section 4301) of Title 38 of the United States Code, as that chapter may be amended from time to time.

Any member who was absent on military service and whose contributions are not paid for him or her by his or her employer as provided in Section 20997, may make the contributions upon his or her return to state service at times and in the manner prescribed by the board. If he or she does so contribute, he or she shall receive credit for the absence as state service in the same manner as if he or she had not been absent from state service.

When a member makes the contributions as provided in Section 20991, the same contributions shall be made by the state or contracting agency with respect to the absence that would have been made if the member had not been absent on military service, except that the contributions shall be determined by the employer rate of contribution in effect when the contributions are made and may be included in the employer rate of contribution at the next valuation.

Any employee of a contracting agency who is or was absent on military service on the effective date of the contract and who would become or would have become a member if he or she were not absent becomes or became a member on the effective date, with the same status and rights of membership as if he or she were not or had not been so absent on the effective date. Any such employee and any other employee of a contracting agency who was absent on military service prior to the effective date shall receive credit as prior service for time during which he or she was absent on military service prior to the effective date provided the employee is entitled to receive prior service credit pursuant to Section 20933 or 20934 and he or she returned to employment of the contracting agency within six months of the termination of his or her active service with the uniformed services under conditions other than dishonorable or within six months after any period of rehabilitation afforded by the United States government other than a period of rehabilitation for purely educational purposes.

Any person in the employ of the state who was or is absent on military service on the date when he or she otherwise would have become or would become a member, became or becomes a member on that date, with the same status and rights of membership as if he or she had not been or were not absent.

An employee of a contracting agency who is or was absent on military service on the effective date of the contract and who would become or would have become a member if he or she were not absent becomes or became a member on that effective date, with the same status and rights of membership as if he or she were not or had not been absent on that effective date. The employee and any other employee of a contracting agency who was absent on military service prior to that effective date shall receive credit as prior service for time during which he or she was absent on military service prior to that effective date provided that employee is entitled to receive prior service credit pursuant to Section 20933, 20934, or 20972 and he or she returned to employment of the contracting agency within six months of the termination of his or her active service with the uniformed services under conditions other than dishonorable or within six months after any period of rehabilitation afforded by the United States government other than a period of rehabilitation for purely educational purposes. This section shall not apply to any contracting agency nor to the employees of a contracting agency until the agency elects to be subject to this section by amendment to its contract made in the manner prescribed for the approval of contracts or in the case of contracts made after January 1, 1989, by express provision in the contract making the contracting agency subject to this section.

(a) Notwithstanding any other provision of this part, for each member other than a National Guard member absent without compensation due to military service pursuant to Section 20990, the employer shall contribute an amount equal to the contributions that would have been made by the employer and the employee during the absence. The employer's contribution pursuant to this section shall be based upon the member's compensation earnable and the contribution rates in effect at the commencement of the absence, if any of the following apply:
  (1) The member returns to state service within six months after receiving a discharge from military service other than dishonorable.
  (2) The member returns to state service within six months after completion of any period of rehabilitation offered by the United States government, except that for purposes of this section, rehabilitation solely for education purposes shall not be considered.
  (3) The member is granted a leave of absence from the state employer as of the same date the member was reinstated to that employment from military service, provided that the member returns to state service at the conclusion of the leave.
  (4) The member is placed on a state civil service reemployment list within six months after receiving a discharge from military service other than dishonorable and returns to state service upon receipt of an offer of reemployment.
  (5) The member retires from this system for service or disability during the course of an absence from state service for military service.
  (6) The member dies during the course of an absence from state service for military service.
  (b) Any member on leave from state service for military service who elects to continue contributing to this system shall be entitled to a refund of those contributions upon request.
  (c) Any member who withdrew contributions during or in contemplation of his or her military service is entitled to the benefits of this section irrespective of whether the contributions are redeposited. The rate for future contributions for the member shall be based upon the member's age at the time the member commenced a leave of absence from state service for service in the military.
  (d) The employer's contribution pursuant to this section may be made either in lump sum, or it may be included in its monthly contribution as adjusted by inclusion of the amount due in the employer rate at the valuation most near in time to the event causing the employer's liability for those contributions. The employer's contributions pursuant to this section shall be used solely for the purpose of paying retirement and death benefits and shall not be paid to the member whose contributions are refunded to him or her pursuant to Section 20735.

If a member for whose absence on military service employer's contributions are paid or payable under Section 20997 withdraws or has withdrawn or is or has been paid his or her accumulated contributions after his or her return to state service from military service, and thereafter reenters or reentered state service without redepositing the amount of the accumulated contributions last withdrawn by or repaid to him or her, he or she is nevertheless entitled to be credited with the employer's contributions for his or her absence on military service under Section 20997, and to receive credit for service for the period of his or her absence on military service, the same as if he or she had not withdrawn or been repaid his or her accumulated contributions. The future contribution rate of a member shall be based upon an age determined by deducting the period of his or her absence on military service so credited to him or her from his age at the time of his or her last re-entry into state service.

A member who returns to active state service following an employer-approved leave of absence because of his or her serious illness or injury may elect to receive service credit for that period of uncompensated absence at any time prior to retirement by making contributions as specified in Sections 21050 and 21052. The purchase of additional service credit pursuant to this section shall not reduce the amount of service credit that the member is eligible to purchase pursuant to this chapter. A member may purchase service credit pursuant to this section for a leave of absence that occurred either before or after the effective date of these provisions.

Time during which a member is absent from state service by reason of injury or illness determined within one year after the end of the absence to have arisen out of and in the course of his or her employment shall be considered as spent in state service for the purpose of qualification for retirement and death benefits, but not for calculation of retirement benefits, except as he or she receives compensation as distinguished from disability indemnity under the Labor Code, during the absence, and then only to the extent of compensation received.

"Leave of absence" also means absence from state service because of illness or injury that arose out of and in the course of employment and for which the member received temporary disability benefits under the Labor Code during the absence and did not receive full compensation as distinguished from the disability benefits for the period of absence.

Time during which a member is absent from state service under leave of absence because of injury or illness that arose out of and in the course of employment, and for which he or she receives full or part salary in lieu of disability indemnity, shall be considered as time spent in state service for purposes of requirement of employer and member contribution, computation of service credit and qualification for and calculation of benefits as though he or she had not been absent.

(a) "Leave of absence" also means any time during which a state member was excused from performance of his or her duties on approved leave for the purpose of further education. Any member electing to receive service credit for that leave of absence shall make the contributions as specified in Sections 21050 and 21052. However, any eligible member who applies to make that election between January 1, 2001, and December 31, 2003, may, instead of making those contributions, make the payment calculated under this article as it read on December 31, 2000, which payment shall be made in the manner described in Section 21050.
  (b) Credit granted under this section may not exceed two years.
  (c) This section shall be applicable to persons who are members or became members of this system on and after January 1, 1975.

"Leave of absence" also means any time during which a member is granted an approved leave for the purpose of service with a university; college; local, state, federal or foreign governmental agency; or nonprofit organization, if he or she returns to employment within the terms and conditions under which the leave was granted. A member may elect to receive service credit for that leave of absence at any time prior to retirement by making the contributions as specified in Sections 21050 and 21052. However, any eligible member who requests costing of service credit between January 1, 2001, and December 31, 2003, may, instead of making those contributions, make the payment calculated under this article as it read on December 31, 2000, which payment shall be made in the manner described in Section 21050. In no event shall a member receive service credit in excess of two years for each approved leave of absence.

Time during which a member is excused from performance of his or her duties, whether or not he or she is required to perform any portion of those duties during that time, and for which he or she receives compensation, but in an amount less than the full compensation earnable by him or her while performing his or her duties when not so excused, such as sabbatical leave, shall be credited as service in the proportion that the compensation paid to the member bears to the full compensation that would be earnable by him or her while performing his or her duties on a full-time basis. However, the member shall receive full-time credit for the time if after returning to the employment from which he or she was excused and at any time prior to retirement he or she elects to, and does, make the contributions as specified in Sections 21050 and 21052. However, any eligible member who requests costing of service credit between January 1, 2001, and December 31, 2003, may, instead of making those contributions, make the payment calculated under this article as it read on December 31, 2000, which payment shall be made in the manner described in Section 21050.

"Leave of absence" also means time during which a state member is excused from the performance of a portion of his or her duties and did not, during the absence, receive full compensation if the partial leave of absence was formally granted by the employer for one of the purposes specified in this article. The contributions and interest required of the member shall be determined by the section that defines the purpose of the leave and by the amount of service credit the member would have received had he or she not been absent.

Unless otherwise provided in this article, a member electing to receive service credit for time during which he or she was absent from state service shall contribute in a lump sum or by installments over that period and subject to such minimum payments as may be prescribed by regulations of the board, an amount equal to (a) the contributions he or she would have made to this system for the period for which current service credit is granted, assuming that the rate of contribution under his or her employer's formula at the rate age applicable to him or her at the beginning of his or her first subsequent period of service in membership and his or her compensation earnable on that date had applied to him or her during the period for which credit is granted, plus (b) those added contributions as may be specially required under this article as a condition for crediting a particular absence, plus (c) the interest that would have accrued to those contributions if they had been on deposit at the beginning date of his or her first subsequent period of service in membership, from that date until the date of completion of payments. The beginning date of the first subsequent period of service for purposes of computation of contributions and interest shall be deemed to be the end of the period of service credited for a member who has no subsequent return to service. For a member who is subject to Section 21076 or 21076.5, and Section 21077, the service and contribution rate to be used for purposes of computation shall be deemed to be the service and contribution rate that would have been used had the member not been subject to Section 21076 or 21076.5, and Section 21077. Service shall be credited as current or prior service, or both, as it would be credited if the member had been in state service during his or her absence. All contributions of a member under this article shall be considered to be and shall be administered as normal contributions.

Notwithstanding Section 21010, for a member electing to receive service credit for time during which he or she was absent from state service who is subject to Section 21076 or 21076.5, and Section 21077, the contribution rate to be used for the purposes of computation shall be deemed to be the contribution rate that would have been used had the member not been subject to Section 21076 or 21076.5, and Section 21077.

Benefits based on service credited under this article for an absence that are in excess of the portion paid from member contributions shall be paid from contributions of the employer from whose employment the member was absent.

"Leave of absence" also means any time, up to one year, during which a member is granted an approved maternity or paternity leave and returns to active state service at the end of the approved leave for a period of time at least equal to that leave. Any member may elect to receive service credit for that leave of absence at any time prior to retirement by making the contributions as specified in Sections 21050 and 21052. This section applies to both past and future maternity or paternity leaves of absences by members of the system.