Campbell

Respondent was employed by appellant as a police officer for a period of some 27 years. He was relieved from duty due to physical disability (i.e., heart disease) arising out of his employment and placed on leave of absence with full pay in accordance with Labor Code section 4850. 1 After being thus accommodated for a period of approximately six months and following a determination by appellant that respondent’s condition was permanent and stationary, respondent was terminated by disability retirement effective February 1, 1975, as a participant in the Public Employees’ Retirement System (PERS). Respondent disputed the propriety of the retirement date, essentially on the ground that Govem *344 ment Code section 21025.2 2 required appellant to continue him as an employee until such time as he had exhausted 861/2 days of accumulated sick leave. When appellant declined to do so, respondent, on January 30, 1976, filed his complaint for damages, which, through various procedures not requiring description, became his petition for writ of mandate to compel the result sought. Following hearing on February 14, 1977, and on the basis of the filed pleadings and oral argument by…

I concur.

A contract member of the state Public Employees’ Retirement System has a right under state law to exhaust accumulated sick leave prior to retirement for disability. But entitlement to sick leave is a matter of local rule set by the local public agency, whose governing body establishes and defines the amount, accrual, and duration of sick leave. In delineating the scope of sick leave the public agency may be as generous or as niggardly as it chooses; and, conceivably, it could deny its employees sick leave altogether. However, once a public agency participant in the state retirement system has adopted and formulated a system of sick leave, *354 state law entitles an employee who qualifies for sick leave under the local rule to exhaust accumulated sick leave prior to retirement for disability. (Gov. Code, §§ 20493, 21025.2; Marsille v. City of Santa Ana (1976) 64 Cal.App.3d 764 [ 134 Cal.Rptr. 743 ].)

Patton v. Governing Board (1978) 77 Cal.App.3d 495 [ 143 Cal.Rptr. 593 ], does not hold to the contrary. In Patton the local rule required that an employee be sick and unable to work in order to qualify for sick leave. The local rule thus distinguished between sickness and…

Respondent was employed by appellant as a police officer for a period of some 27 years. He was relieved from duty due to physical disability (i.e., heart disease) arising out of his employment and placed on leave of absence with full pay in accordance with Labor Code section 4850. [1] After being thus accommodated for a period of approximately six months and following a determination by appellant that respondent's condition was permanent and stationary, respondent was terminated by disability retirement effective February 1, 1975, as a participant in the Public Employees' Retirement System (PERS). Respondent disputed the propriety of the retirement date, essentially on the ground that Government Code section 21025.2 [2] required appellant to continue him as an employee until such time as he had exhausted 86 1/2 days of accumulated sick leave. When appellant declined to do so, respondent, on January 30, 1976, filed his complaint for damages, which, through various procedures not requiring description, became his petition for writ of mandate to compel the result sought. Following hearing on February 14, 1977, and on the basis of the filed pleadings and oral…