Allowing certain municipal plan participants to use accrued leave toward credited service upon retirement

SB 1013 allows municipal police and firefighters in West Virginia to convert their accrued annual or sick leave into additional retirement service credit. Specifically, they can use unused leave days (at a rate of 1 day for 1 day, with monthly credits calculated at 20 days per month) to increase their retirement pension. However, this converted service cannot count toward the mandatory 20-year service requirement for retirement, and the additional pension benefit is capped at 1% of the member’s average annual salary. The bill applies to participants in municipal pension plans overseen by the Municipal Pensions Oversight Board.