Q. I am a FERS employee who plans to retire at the end of 2013. At that time, I hope to have around 448 hours of annual leave (240 hours carried over from 2012).
What is the best date for me to retire without losing any annual leave? I will be 65 on Nov. 10, 2013.
A. Before I get to your question, let me remind you that if you retire before Jan. 1, 2014, you’ll only get half credit for any of your unused sick leave. With that out of the way, you can retire on any day up to Jan. 11, 2014 and get a lump-sum payment for all of your unused annual leave. Leaving on Jan. 11 makes the best sense because you’d get credit for any sick and annual leave you earned during that pay period.
