Q: I transferred to the Federal Employees Retirement System from the Civil Service Retirement System during the 1998 open season. At the time of my transfer, I had accumulated 1,675 hours of sick leave. I understood at the time that the credit for sick leave to be applied toward my retirement would be the lesser of my balance at the time of my retirement or the 1,675 hours, whichever was less. This amount would be applied to the CSRS component. I now have 2,544 hours of sick leave accumulated. I have accumulated an additional 869 hours of sick leave since I transferred to FERS. Will I receive credit for the additional hours of sick leave accumulated toward the FERS component of my retirement calculations? I plan to retire in the spring of 2010. So I would assume that I would only receive half credit of the approximately 869 hours.
A: Your analysis is correct. Any unused sick leave that does not exceed the amount you had to your credit when you transferred to FERS will be applied to the CSRS component of your annuity; any hours above that amount will be divided by two and added to the FERS component.
