Sick Leave Challenge: The Comments

By the way, the sick leave challenge is generating a lot of e-mail. Some samples:

• "I have only worked 35 years and 4 months. I have only used 1 day during this time for 3664 hours of sick leave. I do not plan on working another nine years. But I did read about a lady that worked for the director of the FBI that retired with 45 years of service and never took one day off."
• "It would be interesting to calculate just how much in dollars the 4000-plus hours of sick leave are actually worth. For starters, under CSRS he will receive approximately 84.2% of his high-3 avg when he retires......that's 4.2% above the max rate (80%) that most folks receive when they reach 42 years of service. "I have about 2100 hours of sick leave and recently found out there isn't any 'cap' on the number of sick leave hrs one can accumulate and have applied to the high 3 average computation. So, if Mr. Gibbs continues to accumulate sick leave the 82.4% figure can definitely go higher. Also, Mr. Gibbs is now accumulating his 7% retirement contribution in a special account which he will get back (plus 3% interest) when he retires. Once a person completes 41 years, 11 months of service their retirement contributions are considered paid in full. So, Mr Gibbs is accumulating a tidy additional sum that he will get back upon retirement, plus 3% interest. By the way, these dollars are tax-free since taxes have already been paid on the retirement contribution. However, the 3% interest is taxable."
• "Cannot beat [the record] but not far behind, with 4328 hours and counting with less than 44 years of service."
• "My annual leave is used for vacations and 'personal take care of stuff days.' My sick days are for exactly what they are. As for the 44 years of time tht will be paid for, I have a life outside of work. When I move on work won't remember me and I will certainly try not to remember it."
• "Now, probably he has come to work from time to time with a cold or sore throat or bad cough when he should have stayed home, thus passing it along to his coworkers, who subsequently needed to take sick leave ... So no, they couldn't have accumulated as many hours as he did over that same amount of time ... because they were sick at home (where they should have been in that case)."
• "Good thing he's not under FERS ... he'd lose every bit of it. Those of us in FERS make no attempt to save sick leave. I keep 450 hours for emergencies which I will use up when I close in on retirement."

And finally, this, in response to the question posed in the original post as to whether anyone could beat the record: "Who would want to?"

Oh, one more thing: If you're interested in exploring the subject of what happens to your sick leave when you retire in more depth, see Tammy Flanagan's Feb. 9 Retirement Planning column.