FERS employees will soon have what CSRS employees have had for decades: the ability to count accrued sick leave  in service for retirement annuity calculation.

Public Law 111-84, passed at the end of October 2009, allows FERS employees to get credit for their unused sick leave in determining their years of service in the computation of their annuities.  FERS employees will receive “half credit” if they retire between October 28, 2009, through December 31, 2013. “Full credit” will be given to FERS employees who retire on or after January 1, 2014.

In simple terms, a year’s worth of unused sick leave, fully credited towards retirement, should increase a FERS annuity by 1 percentage point (1.1%  if the federal employee retired at age 62 or later with at least 20 years of service). A year’s worth of unused sick leave, half-credited towards retirement, should increase a FERS annuity  by 0.5% (or .055%  if the Federal employee retired at age 62 or later with at least 20 years of service.)

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