Q. I will be retiring at the end of December or beginning of January 2014, depending on your answer. I am a FERS employee who will have about eight years, so my annuity will be small (I retired from the Air Force with 25 years of service). I am thinking it would be better for me to retire Jan. 11, 2014, instead of Dec. 31, 2013, because a full paycheck will be quite a bit more than the monthly annuity, so it would be worth skipping an annuity payment in favor of a paycheck. I just want to make sure I don’t accidentally lose my “use-or-lose leave” because I retired too late. From reading your column, it looks like if I retire on Jan. 11, 2014 the last day of the leave year, I will be paid for all of my leave and not lose any. Is that correct, or do I need to retire earlier to ensure no lost leave?
A. As I said, if you retire no later than Jan. 11, 2014, you’ll be paid for all of your unused annual leave.
