Early Payoff: Resignation or Retirement

Each year, many employees retire or resign and leave the District prior to the end of the payroll year, which runs from August 1 to July 31 each year.  Since many employees, earn their pay at a different rate than they are paid this usually means the final “payoff” check is not just another regular paycheck.  Salary that has been earned but not paid must be paid off and there are any number of regular deductions and leave balances that need to be reviewed and sometimes adjusted to calculate this final payoff.  Because of the many variables that flow into this final payoff process, it is difficult for us to accurately estimate the payoff before the Payroll System updates its regular routine.  Many times, these employees do not wish to wait for the end of the pay period in which they retire/resign to receive their final paycheck.  Frankly, we have had some problems with employees who are leaving our employment wanting an accurate check immediately upon their leaving.  Here is what we want to try to do in the future for these employees:

 

  1. Resigning or retiring employees should make an appointment with the Payroll Department bookkeeper for their location (see page 152 of this section) to review their accrued pay and leave balances shortly before leaving the District’s employment to ensure sick leave, vacation, non-duty days, etc. have been recorded correctly and to review our best estimate of what their final payoff will be.
     

  2. The payroll bookkeeper will issue a copy of our best estimate of what the final gross and net pay will be with details of which and how much each deduction will be.
     

  3. Preferably, we will allow the payroll system to update in the regular course of its semi-monthly cycle and then issue the final payoff check.  If an employee has a valid reason for requiring a check prior to the date the Payroll System would normally issue this final payoff check, we will attempt to advance 90% of the estimated payoff to the employee and deduct it from the system-generated final check.  This will be done at the discretion and approval of the Director of Accounting and/or the Associate Superintendent for Human Resources. 
     

  4. Finally, the employee should contact the Personnel Department to initiate the Request for Payoff.  Personnel will make the necessary changes to the employee’s base records and Payroll will edit and review the payoff for accuracy and issue the live check.

 

Early Separation Pay

An employee retiring under provisions of the Teacher Retirement System and who has been continuously employed by the District in a position eligible for sick leave prior to August 1, 1980 shall be eligible for separation pay upon retirement.  The amount of separation pay is relative to the number of unused local sick leave hours up to a stated maximum, and the annual salary of the employee at the time of retirement.

Employees shall submit a written resignation verifying the date of retirement and shall include a waiver releasing all claims to further payment for accumulated sick leave.  Any sick leave accumulated beyond the maximum allowed for payment shall be forwarded to the school year in which the employee retires.

An employee eligible for separation pay may elect to receive a lump sum payment for such pay at the end of the preceding school year.

Further, the employee may exercise a one-time option to receive their separation pay in two equal installments, or for a number of equal installments equal to the number of months remaining until the employee retires, or a combination of lump sum and equal installments.  An employee may not receive the payment for early accumulated sick leave prior to his or her retirement unless and until the Superintendent has formally accepted the employee’s retirement.

 

Reconciliation of Salary

The sick leave policy of the Texas Education Agency and Pasadena Independent School District provides for the earning of state personal and local sick leave based on the number of days actively employed during a school year.  Active employment is defined as “being on pay status while physically present for duty or on pay status while absent from duty by using earned leave or vacation.”  By this definition, an absence from duty without pay does not qualify as a day of active employment. 

At the beginning of each school year, according to Board Policy DEC (Local), all employees are advanced personal and local sick leave based on the scheduled workdays of an employee.  In order to implement the policy correctly, an employee who is absent from duty without pay is not qualified to earn the maximum personal and local sick leave.  Thus the District will make the appropriate adjustment to reflect the over use of leave days on the next payroll check following the completion of your scheduled work days for the school year.  For example, if you worked days that earned you only eight of the ten leave days advanced to you, but used all ten leave days, your payroll check will reflect a reduction in salary for the two days that were not earned.  This salary adjustment will occur after the end-of-year leave audit is complete.