Guidance for Leave of Absence Reporting

July 6, 2026
Circular Letter: 200-031-26
Topic: Membership

To: All CalPERS-Covered Employers

Purpose

The purpose of this Circular Letter is to provide you with guidance on reporting a leave of absence (LOA) in myCalPERS. This ensures compliance with the California Public Employees’ Retirement Law (PERL), timely reporting, and accurate service credit calculations for members.

Reporting

You must report all leaves of absence in myCalPERS. This includes when the member is receiving California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) reportable compensation, such as vacation or sick leave while on a LOA.

It is important to enter accurate beginning and end dates for a LOA, if the leave is later extended, you must update the end date. LOA begin and end dates must be different. This ensures the leave record in myCalPERS accurately reflects the member’s actual leave duration. Before reporting a new LOA, make sure any previous leaves have been updated with an end date. Members should not have overlapping leave periods.

If you receive an error when attempting to report a LOA, or receive a payroll reporting error, contact us for assistance.

Types of Leaves of Absence to Report

  • Educational
  • Family
  • Industrial Disability
  • Military
  • Maternity/Paternity
  • Non-Industrial Disability
  • State Disability
  • Service
  • Sabbatical – Full Pay
  • Sabbatical – Partial Pay
  • Unpaid
  • Workers’ Compensation

Note: Do not report intermittent family leaves of absence, such as sick or partial sick days.

Returning From Leave

You must report an end date for the LOA in myCalPERS as soon as the member returns to work. If the member does not return from a LOA, report the separation date. When reporting both an end and separation date, the two dates should be different to ensure accurate reporting. The last day on a LOA can’t be the separation date.

Appointments With Health Benefits

You should report the LOA and offer employees the option to elect direct pay or cancel their health coverage. Once members return from leave, they must be re-enrolled as an active member.

Some employers continue to pay for health benefits while employees are on leave. In these cases, the employee should still be enrolled in direct pay, and the employee can submit the premium bill to the employer for payment to the health plan directly or reimbursement to the employee.

Our health team is currently working on a system enhancement that will allow you to keep employees on a LOA on active health coverage when they choose to pay for health benefits. This functionality will be available on October 17, 2026.

While there are no set days or hours a member needs to work to maintain health benefits, if the member works enough to cover the health premium for the month, they can remain enrolled.

Employer Responsibility

You are required to report leaves accurately in myCalPERS to ensure compliant reporting and accurate service credit calculation. Leave reporting must comply with PERL Government (Gov.) Code sections, including but not limited to:

  • Gov. Code section 20630: Defines compensation and its exclusions
  • Gov. Code sections 20990-20998: Addresses military leave and service credit eligibility
  • Gov. Code section 20305: Establishes membership eligibility based on hours or days worked

Recommendations for Proper Reporting

To ensure compliance, you should:

  • Develop internal systems to track leave types and durations
  • For military leave, provide members with a copy of A Guide to Your CalPERS Military Service Credit Options (PUB 15) (PDF) and advise them of their potential compensation and service credit rights
  • Notify members of their rights and responsibilities regarding leave reporting
  • Periodically review payroll reports and myCalPERS submissions for accuracy
  • Register periodically for our instructor-led and online Business Rules classes 
  • Train payroll and human resources staff on PERL requirements for compensation reporting during leaves of absence

To have a compensation compliance analysis, submit a review request by selecting the Request Compensation Compliance Analysis left-side navigation link on the employer’s myCalPERS homepage. Refer to Unit 8, Scenario 3 of the myCalPERS Payroll Reporting (PDF, 4.1 MB) student guide for detailed instructions.

Risk of Not Reporting

Many risks are involved when a member’s LOA isn’t reported, such as:

  • Discrepancies in service credit calculations; these may impact the member’s retirement benefits
  • Erroneous auto separation in myCalPERS
  • Erroneous penalties assessed when a member retires with an active appointment in myCalPERS
  • Late fees and penalties may be assessed for not reporting payroll accurately and timely
  • The member may continue to have access to the agency’s myCalPERS account as an authorized user, potentially leading to inappropriate use or exposure of sensitive information

Additional Resources

The following are some resources we offer to assist you with LOA reporting:

The following myCalPERS reports are available to monitor leaves of absence:

  • Business Partner Info Report
  • Business Partner On Leave Report
  • Participant Appointment Details Report

For more information including the roles required to run these reports, refer to the myCalPERS Reports Catalog webpage.

Questions

If you have questions, call our CalPERS Customer Contact Center at 888 CalPERS (or 888-225-7377888-225-7377). Questions related to compensation compliance and reporting can be sent via inquiry from the myCalPERS employer landing page, utilizing the Request Compensation Compliance Analysis left-side navigation link.

Brad Hanson, Chief
Employer Account Management Division