FERS Unused Sick Leave Retirement Credit Calculator

When you retire under FERS, your remaining sick leave balance is converted into additional months of creditable service — which directly increases your monthly annuity for life. Most federal employees know their sick leave balance from their LES (Leave and Earnings Statement) in hours, but the annuity impact isn't obvious. This calculator does the conversion for you.

The rule: By law (5 U.S.C. § 6303), 2,087 hours equals one year of FERS service. OPM converts every 174 hours of unused sick leave into one additional month of service credit. The credit adds to your annuity computation but cannot be used to meet the minimum retirement eligibility requirements.¹ Since 2014, FERS employees receive 100% credit for unused sick leave — previously it was 50%.²

Your inputs

Unused sick leave balance (hours) Find this on your LES under "Sick Leave Balance." Full-time employees accrue 4 hours every biweekly pay period (13 days/year). There is no cap on sick leave accumulation.

High-3 average salary ($) The highest average basic pay over any consecutive 3-year period — almost always your last 3 years. Excludes overtime, awards, and performance bonuses.

Actual FERS creditable service (years) Do NOT include sick leave here — enter your actual service years only (including military buyback and deposit service). Sick leave credit is added by this calculator.

Retirement age Used to determine the 1.0% vs. 1.1% multiplier. The 1.1% applies if you retire at 62+ with at least 20 years of total service (including sick leave credit, per OPM BAL 18-103).

How OPM converts sick leave hours to service credit

OPM uses two numbers: 2,087 hours per year and 174 hours per month. Here's the step-by-step:

Full years: Divide your sick leave hours by 2,087. The whole number result is additional full years of service credit.
Additional months: Divide the remaining hours by 174. Round down — OPM drops partial months. (Any leftover hours below 174 are lost at retirement.)
Add to your actual service: The resulting years and months are added to your actual creditable service to produce total service for annuity computation.

Example: 1,800 hours of unused sick leave.

Full years: floor(1,800 ÷ 2,087) = 0 years
Remaining hours: 1,800 − 0 = 1,800 hours
Additional months: floor(1,800 ÷ 174) = 10 months (1,740 hours used; 60 hours dropped)
Total credit added: 0 years, 10 months
Annuity increase at $95,000 High-3 with 1.0% multiplier: $95,000 × 1.0% × (10/12) = $792/year = $66/month

Common misconception: Many employees assume sick leave that stays below a full month is "paid out" at retirement. It isn't — unused hours below 174 (for the partial-month remainder) are simply dropped. Accruing that last chunk to reach the next 174-hour threshold can be worth hundreds of dollars per year in annuity income.

The 1.1% multiplier and sick leave (OPM BAL 18-103)

If you retire at 62 or older with at least 20 years of total service, your annuity multiplier increases from 1.0% to 1.1%. In 2018, OPM issued Benefits Administration Letter 18-103 clarifying that unused sick leave credit counts toward the 20-year threshold for this enhanced multiplier.

This matters in a specific edge case: an employee with 19 years of actual service and sufficient sick leave to push total service past 20 years may qualify for the 1.1% rate at age 62. Example:

Actual service: 19 years, 6 months
Sick leave credit: 0 years, 8 months
Total service: 20 years, 2 months — qualifies for 1.1%
Extra annuity from 0.1% premium on $95,000 × 20.17 years: ~$1,916/year = ~$160/month more than without the sick leave edge over the threshold

If your actual service is close to 19 years and you're approaching 62, confirm this scenario with your agency HR or OPM directly — the stakes can be significant.³

What sick leave credit cannot do

Does not make you eligible to retire. You must meet the minimum retirement eligibility (MRA + 30 years, MRA + 10, age 60 + 20, or age 62 + 5) based on actual service only. Sick leave credit cannot be used to satisfy these thresholds.
Does not count toward your High-3. The high-3 is based on basic pay; sick leave hours have no effect on it.
Is not paid out as cash. CSRS and FERS employees do not receive a cash payment for unused sick leave. Annual leave is paid out (at your current pay rate); sick leave converts to service credit instead.
Does not affect the FERS Supplement. The FERS Supplement formula uses actual years of FERS service divided by 40. Sick leave credit does not increase the supplement amount.
Cannot be transferred to a spouse or family member.

How much sick leave do federal employees typically accumulate?

Full-time federal employees accrue 4 hours of sick leave every biweekly pay period — 104 hours (13 days) per year. Unlike annual leave, sick leave has no cap: it rolls over completely year after year. An employee who rarely uses sick leave can accumulate significant balances:

Career length	Hours accrued (unused)	Months of service credit	Annuity increase at $100K High-3, 1.0%
10 years	1,040	5 months	$417/yr ($35/mo)
20 years	2,080	11 months	$917/yr ($76/mo)
30 years	3,120	17 months (1 yr 5 mo)	$1,417/yr ($118/mo)
35 years	3,640	20 months (1 yr 8 mo)	$1,667/yr ($139/mo)
40 years	4,160	23 months (1 yr 11 mo)	$1,917/yr ($160/mo)

Table assumes no sick leave ever used. Actual balances will vary.

Should you use sick leave before retiring or save it?

The tradeoff is straightforward. Each hour of sick leave you use before retirement has value only if you truly need sick time — it replaces annual leave or leave without pay. Each hour you don't use adds roughly $0.57 per hour per year in annuity income (at $100,000 High-3 and 1.0% multiplier), paid for life.

At a 20-year retirement horizon, saving 174 hours (one month of credit at $833/year × 20 years = $16,667) is worth significantly more than using those hours unless you'd otherwise need to take unpaid leave or burn annual leave.

Key exception: if your sick leave balance would put you just under a full month threshold (e.g., you have 155 hours — 19 hours short of the next 174-hour month), there is no value in artificially preserving those 155 hours as sick leave vs. using them. The partial 155 hours would be dropped at retirement regardless. In that case, using the hours freely before retirement loses nothing.

Related FERS tools & guides

FERS Annuity Calculator — enter the sick leave months this tool computes directly into your full annuity estimate
FERS MRA+10 Early Retirement Calculator — early retirement reduces your annuity; see the tradeoffs
FERS Supplement Earnings Test Calculator (2026) — how post-retirement work income reduces your bridge payment
Pension COLA Value Calculator — FERS uses "diet COLA"; see how inflation protection compounds over a 25-year retirement
FERS Retirement Planning Guide — comprehensive guide covering MRA, survivor election, TSP rollover, and supplement math
Match with a FERS retirement specialist — fee-only advisor, no AUM commissions on your TSP rollover decision

Get your full FERS retirement picture modeled

Sick leave credit is one input among many: survivor election, TSP rollover timing, FERS Supplement, Social Security delay strategy, Roth conversion window before RMDs, and IRMAA planning all interact. A fee-only FERS specialist can model the full picture for your specific numbers with no commission incentive. Free match, no obligation.

Sources

OPM — FERS Creditable Service — sick leave conversion rules: 2,087 hours per year, credit used only for annuity computation not eligibility. Verified June 2026.
OPM FAQ — Sick Leave at Retirement — 100% FERS credit effective January 1, 2014 (National Defense Authorization Act, Pub. L. 111-84, § 1905); prior to 2014 credit was 50%.
OPM BAL 18-103 (2018) — FERS Unused Sick Leave and the 1.1% Annuity Formula — OPM clarification that sick leave credit counts toward the 20-year threshold for the enhanced 1.1% multiplier when retiring at age 62 or older.
FedWeek — Finer Points: Crediting Unused Sick Leave toward Retirement — 174 hours per month conversion: OPM divides 2,087 by 360 (12 × 30 days) = 5.797 hours/day × 30 = 173.9 ≈ 174 hours per month.

Sick leave conversion rate (2,087 hours/year, 174 hours/month) is statutory and established by OPM. The 100% FERS credit rule has been in effect since January 1, 2014, and applies to all FERS retirements in 2026. Tax values referenced (annuity multipliers) reflect current OPM rules; these have not changed under OBBBA or SECURE 2.0. Verify your exact sick leave balance with your agency HR or on your LES before relying on any calculator output for retirement decisions.