FEDERAL SICK LEAVE
CONVERSION AT RETIREMENT

Quick answer: when a federal employee retires under the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) or Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS), unused sick leave is converted to additional service credit for the annuity computation using OPM’s 2,087-hour work year — about 174 hours per month. It cannot be used to reach retirement eligibility, and it is not paid out as cash. The calculator below shows how a sick leave balance converts to months and days of credit.

OPM treats 2,087 hours as one full year of work. Dividing by twelve, roughly 174 hours equal one month. When you retire, your agency reports your unused sick leave balance, and it is converted to months and days using OPM’s published conversion chart, then added to your creditable service for the annuity computation only.

Two rules are important here. First, sick leave never helps you qualify to retire — eligibility depends only on your age and actual service. Second, after your sick leave is combined with any leftover days of regular service, days that do not add up to a full month are dropped from the computation.

Under FERS, each additional computed year generally changes the annuity by the plan’s accrual factor applied to your high-3 average salary (generally your highest-paid 36 consecutive months of service); the exact effect depends on your individual computation and is determined by OPM — these examples only illustrate the hour-to-time conversion.

Sick leave credit is one piece of the broader computation that also includes your military service credit and your retirement timing. The Retirement Road Map walks through how these pieces fit together, step by step.

This page is educational only and is not financial, tax, or legal advice. Before making decisions about your benefits, consider consulting your HR office and a qualified, licensed professional.