Browsing: Sick leave

Q. I plan to retire on Dec. 31. I have 2,396 hours of sick leave and understand that any unused hours leave will be used to increase my annuity. I want to find out how many hours I can use before the end of the year without affecting the maximum number of hours that will be used to increase my annuity. A. I can’t tell you how many hours you can use. What I can tell you is that annuities are based on all years and full months of service. Any days that exceed a full month will be added…

Q. I’ve reached my minimum retirement age and have 29 years under FERS. I have more than 2,400 hours of sick leave. Will the sick leave time be added to my actual service and make me eligible to retire? A. No, it won’t. Sick leave is only added after you have reached the right combination of years and service to retire on an immediate annuity.

Q. I resigned from the U.S. Postal Service 2.5 years ago. At the time I had over 2,500 hours of unused sick leave. My problem with the Post Office was that from day one we were told to bank your sick leave, which I did. I think it is very unfair not to benefit from saving all of those hours, which would have given me an extra boost to my retirement when I apply for it. A. Employees who retire on an immediate annuity will have any hours of unused sick leave included when calculating their annuity. Employees who resign…

Q. I’m a CSRS employee with 41 years and 10 months of service. Is there a maximum annuity calculation? Is it based on my high-3 during that final three years or will it include the salaries of any years after that? A. Your high-3 will be based on your highest three consecutive years of basic pay whenever they occur in your career. If you work for 41 years and 10 months, you’ll be entitled to the maximum earned annuity, which is 80 percent of your high-3. While retirement contributions will continue to be taken from your pay, when you retire…

Q. I’m retiring with four months of sick leave, bringing my total time in FERS to 32 years, 1 month at age 65. In the interest of increasing final annuity, I have been using annual leave, rather than sick leave, for medical appointments and when ill. In retrospect, it seems I did not accomplish much, and that using sick leave as intended and preserving annual leave to increase lump sum payout might have been a better strategy. Correct? A. Maybe, maybe not. There are too many variables. While unused annual leave will be paid out at the hourly rate you…

Q. I’m a FERS employee who is planning to retire in December of this year. When is the best day to do that? A. Because you are a FERS employee, you’ll have to retire no later than the last day of a month to be on the annuity roll in the following month. If you retire at the end of business on Dec. 21, you’ll have satisfied that requirement and be entitled to any annual and sick leave you earned during that pay period. If you retire after that date but before Jan. 1, you wouldn’t have worked for a…

Q. I’m a FERS employee. When can I cash in my unused sick leave – only at retirement or before? A. Regardless of whether you are covered by the CSRS or FERS, you can’t cash in your sick leave. That’s because it has no cash value. However, any unused sick leave you have to your credit when you retire will be added to your actual service and – if there’s enough of it – used to increase your annuity.

Q. I’m retiring with 4 months of sick leave, bringing my total time in FERS to 32 years, 1 month at age 65. I feel I really didn’t accomplish much as far as increasing final annuity and I would have been better off to have used the time up and would have been ahead of the game. Correct? A. Since “burning off” unused sick leave would be a violation of law and regulation, your question is moot.

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