Each contract of insurance purchased under § 36-12-6 — § 36-12-14 shall contain a provision, in terms approved by the director, to the effect that any insurance thereunder on any employee shall cease upon the termination of his or her employment subject to a provision which shall be contained in the contract of insurance for temporary extension of coverage under conditions approved by the director and for conversion to an individual policy of life insurance for the employee, except that the director may by appropriate general regulation provide that an employee who retires, under the provisions of any retirement system of the state of Rhode Island, with the exception of that provided in § 42-28-22, shall have his or her life insurance only, in effect at the time of retirement, continue in the amounts for which he or she would have been insured from time to time had his or her salary payments continued at the same rate as on the date of cessation of employment.