Taking Your (Sick) Leave

I promised last week that I'd have something for the folks covered by the Civil Service Retirement System this week. So I'm focusing on credit for sick leave, which (in general) CSRS retirees get and Federal Employees Retirement System retirees don't. But even if you're in FERS, you should read on for more details.

Evaporating Leave

Over a 20-year career, a federal employee who has worked in government can accumulate a year's worth of sick leave. Since there is no limit to how much sick leave an employee can carry over from year to year, this is an invaluable resource in the event of illness or accidental injury. It can even be used to care for a family member. It is very important for employees to conserve a comfortable balance of sick leave to cover unexpected situations.

But what happens to those hours of sick leave when an employee departs? It depends on several factors.

The sick leave evaporates when an employee resigns, unless the worker returns to federal service to have the balance of sick leave hours restored. And under FERS, it also is lost when an employee retires. The only exception is if the employee who transferred to FERS had at least five years of creditable service under CSRS. In this case, the employee would receive credit for the lesser of the number of sick leave hours on the date of transfer or the number of hours on the date of retirement. FERS was patterned after corporate pensions, which typically do not factor in unused sick leave.

There are some who believe allowing credit for sick leave toward the FERS retirement computation would reduce sick leave abuse among employees, but Congress hasn't moved to take such action yet.

Getting Credit

In the computation of retirement annuities under CSRS, on the other hand, employees get credit for all of the sick leave hours they have accumulated. While this may create a temptation to preserve such leave, as I noted in my Jan. 19 column, it is generally better to use sick leave if you're in a situation where you're qualified to do so, rather than annual leave.

If you plan to retire at the end of a month or the first three days of a month, here's a tip (courtesy of reader John Pochodowicz) on figuring out how many hours of sick leave you will need to maintain to preserve your months and years of service.

• Look at your service computation date. For example, if it's June 18, 1973, use 18 as the date. (If your service computation date is 30 or 31, use the "0" row on the chart below.)
• Using the chart, go across from your date and find the number lower than and the number higher than your current sick leave balance. For example, if your sick leave balance is 859 hours, then go across the row next to day 18 and you will find 800 and 974.
• If you can save up enough sick leave to reach the higher number by the time you retire, you will earn another month in the computation of your CSRS retirement. Otherwise, keep your balance above the smaller number.

Tammy Flanagan is the senior benefits director for the National Institute of Transition Planning Inc., which conducts federal retirement planning workshops and seminars. She has spent 25 years helping federal employees take charge of their retirement by understanding their benefits.