Katosh v. Sonoma County Employees' Retirement Ass'n

**Retirement Timing Dispute Over Sick Leave** This case involved a dispute about when a Sonoma County employee's retirement should officially begin. The employee, Katosh, stopped working on June 26, 2000, but had accumulated sick leave that wasn't used up until October 28, 2004. She wanted her retirement to start from her last day of actual work in 2000. However, the county's retirement board said her retirement couldn't officially begin until all her sick leave was exhausted in 2004. The court sided with the retirement board. The judge ruled that under the retirement law, sick leave counts as "regular compensation," which means the employee was still technically receiving pay through her sick leave benefits. Therefore, her retirement date had to be pushed back to October 2004 when her sick leave was fully used up. **What this means for workers:** If you're planning to retire and have accumulated sick leave, understand that your official retirement date might not be when you stop working. Unused sick leave could delay your retirement start date for benefit calculation purposes. When planning retirement, check with your HR department about how accumulated leave time affects your official retirement date and benefits.