Pre-Retirement Sickos

Retirement is one of those major life decisions that most, if they are lucky, will someday have to make. It will happen to you.

An informal survey by FederalNewsRadio (translation: I've talked to about a dozen people) reveals that in the year before they retire a majority of federal workers either:

1. Seem to develop a serenity and an attitude that, had they exhibited same earlier in their career, might have lead to more promotions, pay and rewards.

2. Commit an unspeakable act on the bosses desk, usually the last day on the job, or

3. Seem to get sick all the time. Especially Mondays and Fridays.

If you guessed C you are correct. Your reward is to be announced at a later date.

But why do so many people, some who never ever took sick leave, suddenly develop cold, flu, or other ailments that make it impossible for them to come to work in the months before retirement? Being older might account for some of it, but there is another factor at play.

They have been bitten by the Use-It-Or-Lose-It bug.

These employees, if they are under the Federal Employees Retirement System, realize that all that sick leave they've built up over the years will disappear, unrecognized and unrewarded, when they retire.

A minority (about 700,000) of the federal workforce is under the old Civil Service Retirement System. CSRS employees can accumulate unlimited sick leave and, when they retire, it can pay off big time. Their unused leave is converted into service time for purposes of calculating their annuity. That pension is based on the high-3 year average salary and length of service. So the more you make and the longer you work, the bigger your lifetime annuity which, by the way, is fully indexed to inflation.

But the majority of working feds are not under CSRS. They are under the newer (it started in the 1980s) Federal Employees Retirement System. FERS employees get a matching contribution to their TSP accounts, and they get (and pay for) Social Security credit. But their retirement income is figured on a less generous formula. They don't get cost of living adjustments (COLAs) on their annuity until they reach age 62 and they get diet COLAs, usually one percentage point less than the actual rise in the cost of living, for life. Oh, and the don't get any credit, other than the thanks of a grateful (hah!) nation for not taking sick leave.

There is talk about doing something to reward FERS employees for not taking sick leave, but at this stage it is mostly talk. So here's the question de jour:

• Should FERS employees get some kind of reward for saving sick leave. Or should they, as many believe, simply count their blessings that they've managed to stay well, because sick leave is for when you are sick. Period.

• Would the government actually save money if it, through some kind of reward, encouraged FERS employees to use sick leave only when they are sick.

Thoughts?

To reach me: mcausey@federalnewsradio.com