How We Calculated This
Last updated: April 12, 2026
Every result shown on this site is assigned to one of three source categories. That transparency is part of the product, not a disclaimer buried at the bottom.
Documented Facts
Directly from the Iowa Department of Administrative Services (DAS) historical salary database and published benefits materials. Fiscal years, department names, salary figures, published premium tables.
Employee-Confirmed
Facts you supply because the salary database doesn't contain them: hire date, leave balances, benefit elections, retirement target, CGI offer terms.
Estimated Values
Projections based on the best available information and disclosed assumptions. Labeled clearly so you know where uncertainty lives.
Salary History
The historical salary database covers Iowa state employees for fiscal years 1993–2025. It contains approximately 2.23 million records with name, department, agency, position, base salary, total salary paid, and travel/subsistence amounts. This database is maintained by DAS.
The database does not contain hire dates, termination dates, leave balances, benefit elections, or durable cross-year employee identifiers. That is why the analysis collects those facts from you.
Identity Resolution
The same person may appear in many formats across the historical data — last-name-first, first-name-first, with or without middle initials, under a former married or maiden name, or with spacing and punctuation differences.
The search engine accepts both "First Last" and "Last, First" formats. When no comma is present, the engine searches for each name token independently so "Jane Smith" and "Smith, Jane" return the same results. Names are then normalized and grouped into candidate clusters by dropping middle initials and sorting tokens. You confirm which clusters are yours before any analysis is run.
The application never silently assumes a single database identity. Only records you explicitly select are used in your analysis.
Leave Value Model
Vacation Accrual Tiers
Per Iowa Code § 70A.1 and IAC 11—63.2, full-time permanent state employees accrue vacation based on completed years of service. The tiers below reflect the standard schedule; collective bargaining agreements may include additional intermediate steps.
| Years of Service | Annual Entitlement | Hours/Pay Period | ~Days/Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st – 4th year | 2 weeks | 3.08 hrs | 10 days |
| 5th – 11th year | 3 weeks | 4.62 hrs | 15 days |
| 12th – 19th year | 4 weeks | 6.15 hrs | 20 days |
| 20th – 24th year | 4.4 weeks | 6.769 hrs | 22 days |
| 25th year and beyond | 5 weeks | 7.69 hrs | 25 days |
Two unscheduled holidays are added to vacation each year. Maximum vacation carryover at fiscal year-end is twice the employee's current annual accrual rate (e.g., 160 hours for 0–4 years, 240 hours for 5–11 years, up to 400 hours for 25+ years). Hours above this cap are forfeited.
Sick Leave Accrual
Per IAC 11—63.3, sick leave accrual is tiered based on an employee's accumulated sick leave balance — not years of service. The rate decreases as the balance grows. There is no cap on the total amount that can be accumulated.
| Current Sick Leave Balance | Hours/Pay Period | ~Days/Year |
|---|---|---|
| 750 hours or less | 5.54 hrs | ~18 days/yr |
| More than 750, up to 1,500 hours | 3.69 hrs | ~12 days/yr |
| More than 1,500 hours | 1.85 hrs | ~6 days/yr |
Example: A new employee earning 18 days per year will reach the 750-hour threshold in approximately 5–6 years (depending on usage), at which point the accrual rate drops to 12 days per year. At 1,500 hours (about 187.5 days), the rate drops again to 6 days per year.
Part-time employees accrue sick leave on a prorated basis. Peace officer classifications under DNR and DPS follow a separate schedule.
Sick Leave Cash-Out at Separation
Under Iowa Code §70A.23, a state employee may receive a one-time cash payment for unused sick leave — up to a maximum of $2,000, paid on the final paycheck. This payment is subject to two cumulative requirements:
- The separation must be a retirement. Employees who are outsourced, laid off, terminated, or otherwise involuntarily separated are not retiring — and the cash-out provision does not apply to them at all, regardless of their age.
- The employee must be age 55 or older at the time of retirement. An employee who retires but is under age 55 also does not qualify.
The only remaining path to derive value from unused sick leave for an outsourced employee is through the Iowa Public Employees' Retirement System (IPERS) Sick Leave Insurance Program (SLIP) — which requires age 55 or older at retirement (a separate future event), eligibility for and receipt of a monthly IPERS benefit, and IPERS vesting (4 years for members hired before July 1, 2012; 7 years for those hired on or after). For employees separated before they meet those thresholds, the sick leave balance has no recoverable monetary value.
Retiree Health Insurance — Sick Leave Insurance Program
The Sick Leave Insurance Program (SLIP) allows eligible retirees to convert their unused sick leave balance into a dollar credit that pays the State's share of group health insurance premiums after retirement. The employee's own share of the premium (if any) remains the retiree's responsibility.
Eligibility Requirements
To participate in SLIP an employee must: (1) be at least age 55 at retirement, (2) be eligible for and begin receiving a monthly IPERS benefit, and (3) be the policyholder of a State group health plan at the time of enrollment.
How the Calculation Works
1. Start with total sick leave hours on last day of work.
2. Convert hours to dollars using a conversion rate table published by DAS. The rate depends on the employee's total sick leave balance at retirement — higher balances use lower conversion rates per hour because the program is actuarially capped.
3. Subtract the $2,000 sick leave cash-out (paid on final paycheck — applies only to employees age 55 or older at retirement) from the converted dollar amount.
4. The result is deposited into the employee's SLIP account as a dollar balance (not hours). DAS deducts the State's monthly health insurance premium share from this account each month until the balance is exhausted or until the retiree becomes eligible for Medicare (typically age 65).
Coverage period: SLIP covers only the window between retirement and Medicare eligibility (generally age 65). It does not provide supplemental coverage after Medicare begins. Because the conversion table is complex and updated periodically, this site models SLIP value as an estimate labeled accordingly. The exact SLIP account balance for a specific employee requires the current DAS conversion table and must be verified with DAS.
Benefits Comparison Model
State of Iowa premium figures are based on FY2026 DAS benefit rate sheets. CGI premium figures are based on available CGI benefit highlight documents. Both should be verified against current documents before relying on specific numbers.
The comparison shows employee-paid premium share only. Employer contribution structures also differ between the two employment contexts and affect total compensation value. Premium comparisons reflect a specific point-in-time snapshot — rates change annually.
Because plan types differ (PPO vs. HDHP), premium-to-premium comparisons understate the financial exposure shift. An employee moving from a $250 deductible to a $2,500+ deductible faces meaningfully higher out-of-pocket costs in any year they use significant healthcare, even if premiums were identical. The analysis calculates out-of-pocket maximum differences where data is available, but actual healthcare spending varies by individual and cannot be predicted.
Retirement Model — Iowa Public Employees' Retirement System
Benefit Formula
Annual benefit = 2.0% × Years of Covered Service × Final Average Salary (FAS)
FAS is the average of your highest-earning years, calculated as described below.
Final Average Salary — History and Grandfathering
The FAS calculation changed as part of the 2012 pension reform (Iowa Code § 97B, effective July 1, 2012):
| Hire Date | FAS Calculation |
|---|---|
| Before July 1, 2012 | Average of the highest 3 years of covered wages |
| On or after July 1, 2012 | Average of the highest 5 years of covered wages |
Grandfathering provision: For members with service before July 1, 2012, IPERS calculates both the high-3 average as of June 30, 2012 and the high-5 average at the time of termination. The member receives whichever calculation produces the higher benefit. This means longer-tenured employees retain the value of their pre-reform service history. This tool applies the member's cohort-appropriate FAS rule (3-year or 5-year) but does not model the dual-calculation grandfathering provision — IPERS performs that comparison at the time of actual benefit determination.
Wage spiking protection: If the high-3 average exceeds 121% of the control-year salary, the FAS is capped at 121%. For the high-5 average, the cap is 134%. These rules prevent artificial salary inflation in final working years.
Contribution Rates — History for Regular Members
Before FY2012, contribution rates were set by the Iowa Legislature as fixed statutory amounts. Beginning FY2012, the IPERS Investment Board was authorized to set rates annually based on actuarial valuation. Rates for recent years are shown below.
| Fiscal Year | Employee | Employer | Combined |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY2010 | 4.50% | 6.95% | 11.45% |
| FY2011 | 4.70% | 7.25% | 11.95% |
| FY2012 | 4.90% | 7.55% | 12.45% |
| FY2013 | 5.10% | 7.85% | 12.95% |
| FY2014 | 5.30% | 8.15% | 13.45% |
| FY2017 | 5.95% | 8.93% | 14.88% |
| FY2018 – present | 6.29% | 9.44% | 15.73% |
For complete historical rates and current maximums, see the official IPERS Contribution Rates page and the Iowa Legislature's regular member rate history document.
Vesting
The 2012 reform changed the vesting requirement:
| Hire Date | Vesting Requirement |
|---|---|
| Before July 1, 2012 | 4 years of service |
| On or after July 1, 2012 | 7 years of service |
This tool applies the correct vesting threshold based on the employee's hire date cohort (determined as described in the FAS section above). When no hire date can be determined, the 7-year threshold is used as the conservative default.
A vested member who leaves state employment before retirement retains a preserved IPERS benefit payable at normal retirement age based on their accrued service and FAS at separation.
Normal Retirement Eligibility
Regular members qualify for an unreduced retirement benefit under any of three rules:
| Rule | Requirement |
|---|---|
| Rule of 88 | Age + years of covered service ≥ 88 (minimum age 55) |
| Rule of 62/20 | Age 62 with 20 or more years of covered service |
| Age 65 | Age 65 with any vested service |
Early Retirement Reduction
The 2012 reform also increased the penalty for retiring before normal retirement age. The reduction is applied proportionally based on when service was earned:
| Service Earned | Early Reduction Factor |
|---|---|
| Through June 30, 2012 | 3% per year (0.25%/month) before normal retirement age |
| July 1, 2012 and after | 6% per year (0.50%/month) before age 65 |
Retirement Model — 401(k)
The 401(k) projection uses a standard future-value annuity formula at the employee's stated contribution rate and growth rate assumption. Default 6% — based on the S&P 500's long-term inflation-adjusted average. Not a forecast. A balanced portfolio with bonds would historically return less.
For comparison framing, the model applies a 4% safe-withdrawal rate to the projected balance to produce an approximate annual income equivalent. This is a rough comparison tool — not a guarantee or financial advice.
All retirement gap and lifetime figures on this site are presented in nominal (not inflation-adjusted) dollars. Actual purchasing power at the time benefits are received will be lower. This is a standard simplification — applying a specific inflation assumption would add precision that implies forecasting accuracy this model does not claim.
Pre-1993 Service
The Iowa salary database covers fiscal years 1993 through 2025. If an employee's career began before FY1993, the database does not contain those early records. The employee may enter a known start year, and the application labels any pre-1993 estimates clearly. Where leave accrual models use pre-1993 years, those values are marked as estimated.
Corrections Policy
If you identify an error in any calculation, source citation, or factual claim, contact us. Verified corrections are incorporated promptly with a dated changelog.
Tax Treatment
All dollar values produced by this analysis — leave payouts, IPERS benefits, 401(k) projections, and SLIP estimates — are gross (pre-tax) figures. Actual amounts received will be reduced by applicable federal and state income taxes.
Vacation payouts and sick leave cash-outs at separation are taxed as ordinary income in the year received. IPERS monthly benefits and 401(k) distributions are also taxed as ordinary income when withdrawn. This analysis does not model tax rates because individual tax situations vary widely. Users should consult a qualified tax professional for after-tax projections specific to their circumstances.
Scope of These Estimates
This project analyzes employee-facing financial impacts and illustrative public-finance effects of outsourcing. It is not a comprehensive cost-benefit analysis of state outsourcing as a whole, which would require evaluating operational savings, service quality, and other factors beyond this project's scope.
Final Design Principle
The emotional framing of this site can be sharp.
The math cannot be sloppy.
The strongest version of this analysis is pointed in tone, careful in sourcing, transparent in assumptions, and unambiguous in its conclusions.