Q: I served two dependent-restricted tours in South Korea (1988-1989 and 2001-2002). I retired from the Army in 2006. I now work for the Army as a civilian. Does the time I spent in Korea count toward leave accrual? For example, I accrue four hours of annual and sick leave per pay period. Would that time allow me to accrue six hours per pay period, and would I get that credit from the time I began my federal civilian service in March 2009? A: No, it wouldn’t. For retired members of the military, leave accrual credit is only given for…
Browsing: LEAVE
Q: How is an annual leave buyout calculated? Is it “accumulated hours x current hourly wage”? Is this considered unearned income? I have also heard they take 40 percent in taxes for this. A: Lump sum annual leave payments are calculated using the hourly rate of basic pay you would have received had you remained on the agency’s rolls. Therefore, if you were to retire before the annual pay adjustment becomes effective, any hours before that will be computed at the old rate and those after on the new rate. Any step increase that would have occurred after you retired…
Q: I’m a Federal Employees Retirement Service employee, 54 years old with 25 years of service. I have a 91-year-old father with Alzheimer’s disease who requires full-time care. Is there any program where I could take an early retirement to care for him? Also, I have an upcoming background investigation due. If I didn’t provide this, could I be fired, but still be eligible for immediate retirement? A: Along with receiving approval for the use of annual or sick leave, you could request up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act. Whether you would…
Q: If someone has two catastrophic illnesses, years apart, and applies for leave donations for both events, is there a cumulative limit on the number of hours one may accept as donated leave in a career? A: There isn’t any limit on the amount of donated annual leave a recipient can receive.
Q: If I retire Jan. 31, 2012, what happens to my use-or-lose leave, since the leave year ends Dec. 31, 2011? A: The answer should be obvious. If you retire after the end of the leave year, any annual leave you have that exceeds the annual limit is lost. That’s why it’s called “use or lose” leave.
Q: In reading your article on key dates for federal retirement in the Oct. 4 issue of Federal Times, you say that “CSRS employees get full credit for unused sick leave.” I am eligible to retire by age and years under the Civil Service Retirement System, but have been told that only increments of 174 hours of sick leave will be “rolled” into my retirement calculation. A: At retirement, any days and hours of actual service that don’t add up to a full month are added to any hours of unused sick leave. To provide retirees with 12 equal monthly payments,…
Q: I plan to retire Jan. 3. At the end of this year, I will still have 40 hours of “use or lose” leave. Will I be paid for that leave in my final lump-sum annual leave payment, or will I forfeit this leave? A: In 2011, the leave year end date is Jan. 1. If you retire after that date, any unused annual leave in excess of 240 hours would be lost. You would receive a lump-sum payment for those 240 hours.
Q: From Oct. 28, 2009, to Dec. 31, 2013, half of of sick leave may be credited toward retirement time. Is that correct? If so, does a Federal Employees Retirement System employee who retires in that window receive payment for the other half of the unused sick leave, or is it just lost? Do FERS retirees receive full payment for unused vacation time? A: Any FERS employee retiring between now and Dec. 31, 2013, will only receive credit for half of his unused sick leave. The rest is lost. After that date, full credit will be given. All employees, whether…
Q: I understand that under the Civil Service Retirement System, we can use unused sick leave toward federal service time that is used to determine the amount of time considered under the CSRS retirement pay formula. Also, I understand that under CSRS, the maximum time allowed is 42 years, which translates to 80 percent of the average salary in a worker’s “high-3” years. My questions are, if someone is covered by CSRS, if they add up their military and civil service time and get 42 years, can unused sick leave be added to the 42 years to get more than…
Q: My nephew has a term-hire job, and he just found out he will be deploying to Iraq soon. It looks like he will be leaving three weeks before the end of his contract. Will he be able to work those three weeks when he gets back? Also, it sounds like they were going to extend the contract, so would that mean he would also get that extension when he comes back? And, does a term hire get any paid military leave? A: When he goes on active duty, during those three weeks he will be on military leave, called…