Q. I am a FERS employee who has 846 hours of sick leave as of Feb. 13. I will be 69 years old in June and have 24 years (including military time) at the Veterans Affairs Department. I would like to retire next January. I am a GS5-8. Is January the best time to retire? A. The best day to retire is the one that fits your physical, emotional and financial needs. In general, it ought to be at the end of a pay period, so you can get credit for any annual and sick leave you earned during those…
Browsing: sick leave
Q. Is there a maximum amount of sick leave that can be applied toward retirement? A. There is no limit if you are covered by CSRS. If you are covered by FERS, you’ll only get half credit unless you retire after Dec. 31.
Q. I will be RIF’ed on July 29 with 24 years and seven months of service. Do I qualify for a discontinued service retirement? How much will my annuity be reduced? I am 43 years of age. I am covered in a law enforcement officer position. Additionally, I have six months of sick leave. Can I use this time to meet the 25-year DSR time period for any age? A. You aren’t eligible for a discontinued service retirement. To be eligible for a DSR, you’d have to be age 50 with 20 years of service or any age with 25.…
Q. I’m planning on retiring at the end of the year. I’m not sure if I should retire Dec. 31, a Tuesday, which would be the first week of pay period #2, or wait until Jan. 11, the end of pay period #2. I will have 42 years, four months and five days of service as of Dec. 31. A. The difference is simple. If you retired Dec. 31, you’d receive one extra day of pay and be on the annuity roll in January. If you retired Jan. 11, 2014, you’d earn an additional two weeks pay, plus any annual…
Q. Am I allowed to take any sick leave and then apply for retirement while I am still on sick leave status? A. While you can retire while on sick leave, you can only take sick leave if you meet the criteria for doing so. That usually involves you producing convincing medical evidence of the need to take that leave.
Q. Because of the budget cuts, my job will be terminated soon. I have been working on a four-year term position (this is the second term, back to back) receiving both full annuity and full salary. I receive and accrue annual leave and sick leave. When I retired some years ago after 29 years of service, I was paid a lump sum for unused leave. In my current situation, will I be eligible to get a lump-sum payment for unused annual leave when I am terminated from this tour? I will not be retiring again, but I will be terminated.…
Q. I am a CSRS employee, and I already qualify for an immediate retirement. I plan to retire on May 3 at 4:30 p.m. On the retirement application (SF 2801) under Section B, block 2 is called “date of final separation.” I entered May 3 because it is at the end of a pay period. Will I receive eight hours of annual leave since my last work day is at the end of the pay period. Will my first retirement check come on June 1 since I retired during one of the first three days of a month? A. If…
Q. I plan on retiring June 28. I have a service computation date of Sept. 14, 1978. I will have 795 hours of sick leave. Are my calculations correct that I will have 35 years and two months for retirement? A. To confirm how much service time you’ll have for annuity computation purposes, go to www.opm.gov/retirement-services/publications-forms/csrsfers-handbook/c050.pdf and scroll to Section 50A3.1-4.
Q. I am eligible for retirement in July. I started under CSRS and transferred to FERS. I know that after Jan. 1, 2014, I will get time of service for all of my sick leave. How is that figured? Do 2,080 hours add one year of service? A. No, 2,087 hours equals one year. Therefore, a month of additional credit is roughly 174 hours. Be aware that unused sick leave isn’t treated separately. It’s added to any hours that weren’t used in the computation of your annuity. There are usually some hours left over because your annuity is based on…
Q. My wife, who is terminally ill, is covered by FERS and is an employee of the Postal Service. She is running out of sick and annual leave. If she goes on leave without pay and passes away while on leave without pay, will I, as her current husband (25 years +) still be eligible for the basic employee death benefit (50 percent of final salary plus $15,000)? A. If your wife had more than 18 months service but less than 10 years, you’d receive a lump-sum payment of $31,316.46 plus a lump-sum of the higher of 50 percent on…