What Happens to Unused Sick Leave When a Federal Employee Retires?

 

Full-time and part-time federal employees are entitled to sick leave.  Sick leave is a paid absence from duty and can be used for: (1) Personal medical needs; (2) Family care or bereavement; (3) Care of a family member with a serious health condition; and (4) Adoption-related purposes.

Employees accrue sick leave every pay period and can carryover an unlimited amount of unused sick leave hours from the end of one leave year to the next leave year. This column presents what happens to any unused sick leave when a federal employee retires from federal service under the immediate retirement rules.

SEE ALSO:

• How to Calculate a Retiring Federal Employee’s Starting FERS Gross Annuity
• High-3 Average Salary: What Is It and How Is It Calculated?

Sick Leave Accrual Rates

The following table summarizes sick leave accrual rates for federal employees whether they are covered by the CSRS or the FERS retirement systems:

Table 1. Sick Leave Accrual Rates for Federal Employees

There is no limitation on the amount of sick leave hours that can be accumulated.

Sick Leave Usage Limits Per Leave Year

1. There are no limitations for an employee’s own personal medical needs.

2. Use up to 13 days (104 hours) of sick leave for general family care and bereavement each leave year, and

3. Use up to 12 weeks (480 hours) of sick leave to care for a family member with a serious health condition each leave year.

Sick Leave When Using Annual Leave

An agency may grant sick leave to an employee on annual leave for any of the purposes for which sick leave may be granted, but the agency is not required to do so. For example, if a federal employee becomes sick while on annual leave, the agency may grant sick leave to the employee in place of annual leave. The agency may also grant sick leave for an employee who is on annual leave and must care for a family member who becomes sick.

Unused Sick Leave Used in the Calculation of a CSRS or FERS Annuity

Unused sick leave hours will be used in the calculation of a retiring FERS or CSRS employee’s immediate retirement or a death in service in the computation of survivor annuity. For an CSRS or FERS employee who leaves federal service before he or she is eligible for an immediate retirement and who chooses a deferred retirement (they will get their first annuity in the future), the departing employee will lose his or her unused sick leave hours when they leave federal service. They will not get credit for unused sick leave hours when their deferred CSRS or FERS annuity is calculated by OPM’s Retirement Office. However, those employees who leave federal service and subsequently return to work for the federal government are entitled to the recredit of their unused sick leave hours, regardless of the length of the break in service.

How Unused Sick Leave Is Credited at Retirement

Retiring employees receive credit for the total number of unused sick leave hours accumulated through their date of retirement:

• Unused sick leave hours, when converted to years, months and days of service (see below) are added to the retiring employee’s length of service for the sole purpose CSRS or FERS annuity computation.

• Unused sick leave hours, when converted to years, months and days, cannot be used to establish an employee’s eligibility to retire, nor to calculate the high-three average salary.

• There is no limit on the amount of unused sick leave hours that can be credited for CSRS or FERS annuity computation purposes.

• Unused sick leave (hours) is converted to calendar year time (month and days), using a 2087 hours per 360 days per calendar year.

• 2087 hours per year/360 days per year equals 5.797 hours/day. In other words, 5.797 hours of unused sick leave adds 1 day of service for annuity computation purposes.

• OPM’s 2087-hour sick leave conversion chart converts unused sick leave (the number of hours on the employee’s retirement date) to months and days of service. Table 2 is a copy of OPM’s “2087 sick leave hours conversion” chart:

Table 2. OPM’s 2087-hours Sick Leave Hours Conversion Chart

How to Use Table 2 to Convert Unused Sick Leave (Hours) to Years, Months and Days of Service

Step 1. Using the unused sick leave hour balance on the day of retirement, go to Table 2 and locate that number. If that number is more than 2087, subtract 2087 from that number. The remainder is the number of hours less than one year.

Step 2. Using Table 2, convert the number of hours in Step 1 into months and days. If the number in step 1 is between two numbers, round up to the next number.

Step 3. Add back any full year to calculate the total years, months and days.

Here is an example. A federal employee retires with 2700 hours of unused sick leave on the day he retires.

The 1 year, 3 months and 16 days is added to the retiring employee’s existing service time for the purpose of computing the retiring employee’s CSRS or FERS annuity.

Recredit of Sick Leave

An employee who has a break in service and returns to federal service is entitled to the recredit of his or her sick leave, regardless of the length of the break in service.

For a reemployed annuitant, any sick leave that is used in the computation of the employee’s CSRS or FERS annuity is charged against the employee’s sick leave account and cannot be used, transferred or recredited in the future.

As mentioned above, an employee who leaves federal service before being eligible to retire under an immediate retirement but chooses a deferred retirement will not get credit for any unused sick leave in the computation of his or her deferred CSRS or FERS annuity. However, if the employee returns to federal service he or she will be recredited for unused sick leave. If the employee works the required number of years in order to retire under the immediate retirement rules, then any unused sick leave will be used in the computation of the employee’s CSRS or FERS annuity.