Q: Can an employee under the Civil Service Retirement System retire prior to his 55th birthday if sick leave is calculated? For instance, I will turn 55 in June, so with six months of sick leave on the books, can I retire at 54 1/2 years old without penalty? A: Sick leave cannot be added to actual service to qualify you to retire. It can only be added after you have met the age and service requirements to retire.
Browsing: sick 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,…
Recently a reader who is approaching retirement sent the following question to the Federal Times website: “What will get me the most bang for the buck, start using a lot of sick leave or going straight for the annuity?” I answered: “This is mother speaking: ‘Son, it’s attitudes like yours that give federal employees a bad name.’ Sick leave may only be used for approved purposes. Using it just because you want to is a violation of law.” Tough words, but true. Sick leave is a benefit that may only be used when appropriate. I think one reason employees consider inappropriate…
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: An employee told me that if you retire (under the Civil Service Retirement System) with your full 41 years, 11 months, or more of service, and have more than one year of sick leave, you have the option to receive the cash payout for the sick leave instead of taking the extra 2 percent. Is there any truth to this rumor? A: No, there isn’t. Unlike annual leave, sick leave has no cash value. On the other hand, it can be added to actual service time after you become eligible to retire and used to increase the amount of…
Q. I have a question. I have 2,300 hours of sick leave. I am under CSRS. I have been having some back problems that will require extended sick leave. I am eligible to retire with 37.5 years of service. My question is this: Is it more advantageous to take a year off on sick leave or to retire and use the sick leave as an additional year of service? I know it adds 2 percent for the sick leave. A. You have a bigger problem than deciding which approach is the most advantageous to you. You aren’t the only player…
Q. We are getting feedback from fellow retiring co-workers that there is now an option passed by OPM approximately a year ago to either use unused sick leave for added annuity calculations or cash unused sick leave in for a cash buyout the same as a buyout for unused annual leave.Any truth to this? A. While unused sick leave can be added to actual service after an employee qualifies for retirement and used in the computation of his annuity, it has no cash value. Note: For the present, FERS employees only get credit for one-half of their unused sick leave.
Q. I was activated to military service in February and just returned home. I’m currently a civil service employee. I was told that I’m not able to accrue vacation or sick leave during this period; is this correct? A. Yes, that’s correct
Q. I am a postal employee under CSRS who will retire later this year. I have calculated my sick leave to use toward my retirement time. My question is, does the Postal Service calculate sick leave hours (credit) differently than OPM? The reason I ask is I was told that the Postal Service does not require as many hours as OPM and this could affect how my sick leave credit is computed when OPM does my service time. A. What you were told is untrue. Calculating the value of sick leave in determining your retirement annuity is the exclusive province…