The Teachers’ Retirement System of the State of Illinois (TRS) requires the reporting of a Days Paid field in every Defined Benefit record. This article will explain how the Days Paid field is calculated.
The calculation process differs for regular employees paid with a typical wage item like Salary or Hourly compared to substitutes whose specific days worked are entered in the Attendance/Time Off/Substitutes area.
Regular Employees
Example 1: Typical School-Year Pay
Example 2: Leave of Absence
Example 3: Summer Teacher Pay
Substitute Employees
Miscellaneous Notes
Docked Days vs. Leave of Absence
Payment Reasons
Regular Employees
Regular employees’ Days Paid is calculated by comparing their work calendar to the pay period dates, and then subtracting dock days.
First, find the pay period start and end dates.
Second, look at that date range on the employee’s work calendar.
Third, count the number of Work Days and Paid Days Off within that date range.
Fourth, count the number of “Docked Days” each employee has in that date range (from the Employee Attendance/Time Off/Substitutes page or in the payroll register’s Time Off tab). Board-approved Leaves of Absence do NOT count as a “Docked Day” even though their wages may be docked. See below for more information about Docked Days vs Leaves of Absence.
Fifth, use the formula Work Days + Paid Days Off - Docked Days.
Example 1: Typical School-Year Pay
A pay period runs 11/16-11/30. All Mondays-Fridays are work days except 11/25-11/27, which are part of Thanksgiving Break.
(Green = Work Day; Yellow = Paid Day Off; Red = Other Non-Work Day)
There are 8 Work Days + 3 Paid Days Off = 11 Days Paid.
If the employee did not show up on 11/30 and was docked one day (they had no sick or personal days to use, and this was not a board-approved Leave of Absence), then their Days Paid shrink to 10.
Example 2: Leave of Absence
(Green = Work Day; Yellow = Paid Day Off; Red = Other Non-Work Day)
Using this example pay period from 11/16-11/30 again, let’s say this time the teacher is on a board-approved Leave of Absence which ended on 11/19. 11/20 was their first day back at work.
In this case, the employee would receive two defined benefit records with Days Paid:
| Payment Reason | Days Paid | Specific Dates Qualifying |
| BS (Base Salary) | 7 | 11/20, 11/23-11/27, 11/30 |
| LA (Leave of Absence) | 4 | 11/16-11/19 |
If the employee did not show up on 11/30 and was docked one day (they had no sick or personal days to use, and this was not a board-approve Leave of Absence), then the BS Days Paid would shrink to 6.
Example 3: Summer Teacher Pay
Over the summer, teachers will have 0 days paid because they do not work (assuming no summer school).
(Red = Other Non-Work Day)
If the pay period runs 6/15-6/30, but the work calendar’s last Work Day/Paid Day Off was on 5/29, then there will be no work days in the pay period. Days Paid = 0.
In this case, their pay will be marked Deferred. See TRS Deferred Pay (IL) for more details.
Substitute Employees
On substitute employees, who do not have a Salary or Hourly wage item, the Days Paid is calculated based on each entered day entered on the Employee Attendance/Time Off/Substitutes page.
For example, if you enter that a substitute worked on 11/16, 11/17, and 11/20, their Days Paid value will be reported as 3. We assume that they did NOT work other days in the pay period unless specifically entered.
This is one reason why it is generally advised that substitute employees should NOT be paid with an Hourly Wage Item. Using an Hourly Wage item means we have no way to track which days they were paid for, so we mark their Days Paid by comparing to the work calendar, like in Example 1 from Regular Employees above, which is generally an inaccurate method for substitutes.
Miscellaneous Notes
Docked Days vs. Leave of Absence
Please note that TRS distinguishes “Docked Days” from “Leave of Absence” days. A board-approved Leave of Absence (e.g. for parental leave) is reported as a Day Paid. A sudden extra absence because an employee ran of sick and personal days is reported as a Docked Day.
See Leave of Absence vs Dock Day (IL) section in our Docked Days article for more information about recording Docked Days and Leaves of Absence.
Payment Reasons
Per TRS regulations, Days Paid is always reported as 0 for the following payment reasons:
- ED (Extra-Duty/Stipends)
- FB (Flexible Benefit Plan)
- TX (Board Payments to a qualified tax-deferred plan)
- LS (Lump Sum Payments)
- NC (Non-Contributory)