Q. Retirement credit includes full years of service plus whole months (30 days). When sick leave is fully credited for retirement longevity in January 2014, can the days of work service, not amounting to a whole month, be added to the sick leave balance for longevity credit? For example, suppose you have 29 years and 20 days of work and 1,927 hours of sick leave. Can the 20 days be converted into hours (i.e., 160 hours) and then these 160 hours be added to the 1,927 hours of accumulated sick leave (1,927 + 160 = 2,087)? If so, because 2,087 hours equals a full year of work + can one additional year of service credit be added for longevity by combining sick leave and work days not amounting to 30 days? In this example, that would result in 30 years of service for retirement credit.
A. Let’s cut to the chase. Unused sick leave can’t be used to increase your length of service. It is only added after your meet the age and service requirements to retire and is then used in the computation of your annuity.
