Q. I plan to retire at the end of 2013. This includes two years’ Navy time, which I have paid back some years ago. My service computation date is April 1, 1974. I have a sick leave balance of 2,700 hours. My work schedule is nine-hour days Monday — Thursday and four hours on Friday. How much credit will I earn for my unused sick leave? How will not working a standard eight-hour day affect the sick leave credit calculation?
A. Your nonstandard work schedule has nothing to do with how your sick leave will be credited. You’ll get one year’s credit for 2,087 hours. And, since each month is worth 174 hours, you’ll get three more months’ credit for 522 hours. You’ll end up with a balance of 91 hours, which could be added to any days of actual employment that don’t add up to a full month and used to create an additional month or months. Just remember that those unused days are converted into the same kind of hours used for crediting sick leave. Therefore, one of those days is 5.797-plus hours long. That number is derived by dividing 2,087, the number of hours in a work year, by 360, the number of days in 12 30-day months. To assure that a retiree receives equal payments across a year, all months are treated as if they are the same length.
