Q. I have over 1,000 hours of accrued sick leave and I am eligible for retirement in August 2014. How should I use it?
A. You can only use sick leave if you have a legitimate need to do so. Therefore, burning it off is out of the question. That leaves only one possibility. Once you have the years and service to retire, those hours of sick leave will be added to your actual service and used to increase the amount of your annuity. If you are a CSRS retiree, you’ll get credit for all those hours. If you are a FERS employee, you’ll only get half credit. Only those FERS employees who retire on or after Jan. 1, 2014, will get full credit.
