By Reg Jones
Unused sick leave
February 24th, 2012 | Sick leave
Q: As a postal worker under FERS, I will retire with 35 years service with a balance of one year of unused sick leave. Will I be credited as if I had worked 36 years? I earn $60,000 annually. How many retirement years will it take me to receive and realize the year of sick leave I turn back?
A: If you retire after December 31, 2013, you’ll get full credit for your unused sick leave. If you have 2,087 hours, you’ll receive one year’s credit in your annuity calculation. Therefore, using your figures, instead of the formula being 0.01 x $60,000 x 35, it will be 0.01 x $60,000 x 36. Since I have no idea what you are getting at with your second question, I can’t respond to it.
Tags: FERS, Postal Service
Length of service
February 17th, 2012 | Sick leave
Q: I am 7 days short of my 40 years of service, But with the sick leave , it puts me at 40 years, 3 months. Do I get a 40-year pin and certificate?
A: Whether you get a pin and a certificate is up to your agency. However, these forms of recognition are only given to employees who have actually completed a service milestone. While unused sick leave can be added to your length of service when you retire, it can’t be used to increase your service time while you are still working.
Tags: LEAVE
Agency-to-agency sick-leave transfer
February 1st, 2012 | Annual leave LEAVE Sick leave
Q. If someone was to transfer from one federal agency to another (Postal Service to Federal Aviation Administration), would his annual leave and sick leave carry over?
A. Yes.
Annuity contribution limit for CSRS employees
February 1st, 2012 | Creditable service: CSRS CSRS annuity computation RETIREMENT Sick leave
Q. I’m told employees stop getting the government contribution to their retirement at 41 years, 1 month, of service, but can get a lump sum when they retire. This doesn’t quite make sense to me. Is there any other option? I will reach this much service time in February 2012. I am age 67, in the Civil Service Retirement System, and plan on continuing to work.
A. Here’s the story. When a CSRS-covered employee has worked for 41 years and 11 months, he’s earned the maximum annuity based on actual service that’s allowed under law: 80 percent of his high-3. Although retirement deductions continue to be taken from his pay, they will be returned to him, with interest, and he will have the option of accepting the payment or using it to buy additional annuity that isn’t subject to the 80 percent limit. Note: Credit for unused sick leave also isn’t subject to the 80 percent limit.
How does unused sick leave factor into annuity?
January 17th, 2012 | Creditable service: CSRS Sick leave
Q. I am a federal firefighter who will retire in the next year and I have a question about my sick leave. I am under the Civil Service Retirement System, and at retirement, I will have 35 years of creditable service. I understand I should get the 80 percent maximum entitlement of my base pay at retirement. I want to clarify how my unused sick leave will be calculated into my retirement annuity. At retirement, I will have almost 5,000 hours of sick leave. I was told that I would receive an additional 2 percent added to my retirement annuity for each year of sick leave I have accrued when I retire. I will have the equivalent of two years of sick leave, which should add an additional 4 percent to my annuity, for a max of 84 percent. Is this correct?
A. Unused sick leave isn’t subject to the 80 percent limit on an earned annuity. Unused actual service hours are added to unused sick leave hours to create additional months (and even years) of credit in the annuity calculation. A month is roughly 174 hours long and a year 2,087. Each additional month would be worth 1/6 percent and each year, around 2 percent. Note: Since since sick leave is accrued at a rate of 4 hours for each biweekly pay period, you can only accrue 104 hours of sick leave in a year. If you never took a single day of sick leave in a 35-year career, you would only have 3,640 hours to your credit.
Sick leave for retirement
December 22nd, 2011 | Sick leave
Q: I will have about 1,100 hours of sick leave. Can I retire about five months earlier than expected with this?
A: No. First you have to meet the age and service requirements to retire. After that, if you are a CSRS retiree, you’ll get credit for any unused sick leave and have it used in the computation of your annuity. If you are a FERS retiree, you’ll only get credit for half of your unused sick leave, unless you retire on or after January 1, 2014.
Tags: RETIREMENT
Using sick leave toward retirement
July 20th, 2011 | Sick leave
Q: I will be 60 in December 2013 but will not have 20 years until April 2014. I have 1,000 hours of sick leave at this point. Can I use that leave beginning Jan 1, 2014, to reach the April milestone?
A: No. You must meet the actual age and earned-service requirements to be eligible to retire. Unused sick leave can only be added after you meet those requirements.
Tags: RETIREMENT
Applying sick leave toward retirement milestone?
July 5th, 2011 | LEAVE RETIREMENT Sick leave
Q: I will be 60 in December 2013 but will not have 20 years of service until April 2014. I have 1,000 hours of sick leave. Can I use that leave beginning Jan. 1, 2014, to reach the April milestone?
A: No. You must meet the actual age and earned service requirements to be eligible to retire. Unused sick leave can only be added after you meet those requirements.
Tags: leave at retirement, RETIREMENT, sick leave, unused leave, unused sick leave
Repaying leave balances
July 5th, 2011 | Annual leave LEAVE RETIREMENT Sick leave
Q: My retirement date was July 1. I have negative-170 hours of sick leave and negative-32 hours of annual leave. I will receive an annuity, but I will get an interim amount first: How much will I have to pay back?
A: Unless your agency waives payment, you will owe a debt that must be repaid. Whether they will require you to pay it before you separate or ask the Office of Personnel Management to withhold the required amount from your annuity is a decision they will have to make. You need to talk to someone in your personnel office immediately.
Tags: annual leave, annuity, LEAVE, leave at retirement, sick leave
Early-out option
June 30th, 2011 | Sick leave
Q: I am a federal employee with just more than 29 years of service. I am 56 and I am under CSRS. If offered, I will take the early-out in December. What will happen to my sick leave?
A: Any unused sick leave hours will be added to any hours of actual work that don’t add up to a full month. Any additional months created will be added to your actual service and used in the computation of your annuity. For retirement purposes, those months are 174 hours long. Any hours left over will be dropped.
Tags: CSRS