A bill introduced Monday by Rep. James P. Moran Jr. (D-Va.) would allow

employees in the Federal Employees Retirement Service (FERS) to be compensated

for a portion of their unused sick leave in a lump sum of up to $10,000.

Currently, employees covered under the FERS system -- which was introduced in

1983, and now covers almost three-fourths of the current federal civilian

workforce -- have a "use-it-or-lose-it" requirement in their sick leave. 

When FERS-covered employees retire, they receive no compensation for sick leave

they accumulate over their careers.   Their counterparts, however, in

the older Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) can convert unused sick leave

to credits to increase their retirement annuity. 

Some feel the current FERS sick leave policy encourages employees to

abuse sick leave, by taking it as vacation time, particularly as they near

retirement. 

Moran has argued the policy hurts productivity.  The Office of Personnel

Management has estimated that the current varied sick leave policies between the

two retirement systems cost taxpayers $68 million each year.

Moran announced details of the bill at the 70th Annual Federal Managers

Association (FMA) Convention on Monday.   "Federal managers know that

this issue is negatively affecting the workplace and that a solution must be

enacted. This legislation would encourage employees to responsibly use their

sick leave, and will ultimately save the taxpayers millions of dollars in gained

productivity," noted Darryl Perkinson, FMA national president.

Colleen M. Kelley, president of the National Treasury Employees Union

(NTEU), applauded the measure stating it is "a reasonable and welcome step to

correct some of the disparity in treatment for FERS retirees."

The propsed bill would compensate FERS-covered employees at

retirement for all unused sick leave in excess of 500 hours, paying them a lump

sum of up to $10,000 based on 15 percent of the value of that hourly sick

leave.

What does that look like in real numbers?

Here's an example...

Under the proposed bill, if a FERS-covered federal employee:

• has met the age and service eligibility requirements for retirement,

• earns $75,000 annually,

• and has accrued 1,250 sick leave hours at the time of retirement

this employee would receive about $4,000 as a lump sum payment at retirement.