Mail Count—But First Sick Leave

The last day of mail count is finally over my shoulder. More about that in another post. First,

On Friday, March 13, 2009, Ralph Smith, CEO of FedSmith, Inc., a newsletter concerning issues of Federal Employees, wrote an article entitled, “Tobacco, the Thrift Savings Plan and FERS: What Is the Link Between Them?”

In this article, he wrote that HR 1256 was reintroduced on March 3rd with 143 co-sponsors. The bill entitled “Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act” has Title IV Sec. 407 stuck on the very end. Title IV has wording about changes to the Thrift Savings Plan. Sec. 407 specifically addresses unused sick leave.

This is quoting Ralph Smith:

“First, the credit for unused sick leave. Similar legislation was passed by the House last year but it was never enacted into law. The language in the new bill is similar. The language in the current bill reads:

"...in computing an annuity under this subchapter, the total service of an employee who retires on an immediate annuity or who dies leaving a survivor or survivors entitled to annuity includes the days of unused sick leave to his credit under a formal leave system, except that these days will not be counted in determining average pay or annuity eligibility under this subchapter."

In plain English, this means that federal employees who are under the FERS system would count their unused sick leave toward the computation of their retirement annuity in the same manner as employees under the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS).”

This is extremely important legislation for someone like me who has a full year of sick leave and retirement plans.

Latest Update on Sick Leave Retirement Credit Bill

The following is from the NAPUS (National Association of Postmasters of the United States) bulletin:

FERS Sick Leave Credit

Earlier this week, Sen. Cornyn, the Senate sponsor of the Senate companion to HR 1108, legislation to give the Food and Drug Administration regulatory authority of the tobacco products, indicated that the Senate is unlikely to take up the measure this year. HR 1108 includes a provision, authored by House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chair Henry Waxman (D-CA) that provides FERS retirement credit for unused sick leave. The House passed its version of the bill on July 30 by a 326-102 margin. The September 10 issue of CQ Today reported that when Sen. Cornyn was asked about whether the Senate would take up H.R. 1108, he answered, “Realistically, I don’t think so.” According to Senate leadership staff, the crowded end-session legislative calendar renders consideration highly doubtful.

Update on Sick Leave Reimbursement Bill

Rep. James Moran D VA, is introducing the sick leave reimbursement bill on Monday, March 10th, reported in today's Federal Times.

Terms are 10% of high three hourly wage for all but first 500 hours unused sick leave.

Frankly, I do not know how to figure my hourly wage since I have overtime built into it. It appears the higher your salary, the more you will get back. Even though I will have 1500 hours unused sick leave, I will not receive the maximum $10,000.

Quoting from the article:

Moran’s bill would provide employees retiring under the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) up to $10,000 in compensation. Employees would be paid 10 percent of the hourly average of their three highest salaries for all but the first 500 hours of their unused sick leave

.

Deal reached on bill to compensate feds for unused sick leave

is the headline for a Federal Times article by Stephen Losey today. According to the article Retiring employees under the Federal Employees Retirement System would get up to $10,000 in compensation under the latest version of a bill drafted by Rep. Jim Moran, D-Va. The previous bill was capped at $5,000.

No word is given as to how the compension will be figured. It is generally thought that there will be a minimum number of hours required before compension will begin.

This is good news!

FERS sick leave compensation

The January 11th Federal Times had an article concerning the new legislation concerning sick leave compensation entitled "Sick leave plan falls short, managers groups say" by Amy Doolittle.

It seems FERS employees have reached retirement age and have many hours of sick leave accumulated.

CSRS employees' sick leave is added on to the end of their retirement.

Not unexpectedly, FERS employees nearing retirement are finding themselves with a year of sick leave (in my case) or even more that will be completely lost at the time of retirement. Consequently, as they near retirement, more and more FERS people are using their sick leave--not illegally, but at the hint of an illness or as legitimate family leave. As the article indicates, it is costing the government millions.

Notice to FERS employees: We need to rally behind this!