University Administration gets caught with their hands in the cookie jar:

A bill before the Louisiana legislature can save Louisiana millions by taking leave time away from university employees. Supposedly the impetus for the bill is to make sick leave more flexible in allowing its use for more than just one's own sickness but to take time off to care for others, too. Or, perhaps, use the leave as you damn well please. What's not to like? Of course, its complicated but the Louisiana Legislative Fiscal Office is salivating at what else the bill could do:

“The proposed legislation may result in an indeterminable decrease in expenditures that could be substantial.

This legislation empowers higher education management boards to change leave policy, converting sick and annual leave to “Personal Time Off” or “PTO” as long as the resulting changes in leave policy do not result in an employee gaining more leave than currently permitted in present law.

Depending on how a management board structures its leave policy, provisions of this bill could result in considerable cost savings to the system because the amount of accrued leave that an employee can accumulate may be limited.

Any measure that restricts or discourages such accumulation could save the agency from such a payouts at time of separation. The LFO cannot estimate the amount of such savings.

The proposed legislation may also reduce the state’s long term retirement costs to the extent that accrued leave balances, which are currently allowed to add to an employee’s years of service, are potentially reduced.

Note - higher education personnel are paid from a variety of means of financing including State General Fund, Self-Generated Revenues, Federal Funds or from off-budget restricted accounts.”

End of quote. See the complete report at http://www.legis.state.la.us/billdata/streamdocument.asp?did=481272