Congress Considers Crediting Unused Sick Leave

When senators return from their Fourth of July break next week, several measures affecting federal workers will be on their agenda. At least that's what employees hope.

A series of civil service reforms passed the House last week as part of the Defense Authorization Act. But so far, those reforms are not in the Senate version of the bill.

One measure of importance to many workers would allow those covered by the Federal Employees Retirement System to count unused sick leave in their retirement calculations.

Workers covered by the older Civil Service Retirement System can count that time. For example, if CSRS employees retire after 30 years with 1,000 hours, or approximately six months, of outstanding sick time, they would get credit for about 30 1/2 years of service. That equals increased retirement income.

FERS workers feel cheated because they get nothing for their unused sick leave, leading some to take as many sick days as they can get away with shortly before they retire.

Among other measures, the House bill also would remove a penalty for CSRS workers who work part time near the end of their careers by recalculating the way their pensions are determined.

FERS workers were disappointed when the sick-leave measure was not included in the recently passed tobacco bill. Sens. Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Daniel K. Akaka (D-Hawaii) are considering an amendment to the Senate's Defense legislation that would include those measures, but no final decision has been made. But even if such an amendment is not included in the Senate bill, those provisions could be merged into the final version of the legislation during Senate-House negotiations over differences in their bills.

The National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association (NARFE) was disappointed that the House bill does not allow federal agencies to rehire retired federal employees without requiring them to give up a portion of their annuity, equal to the amount of their pay, as is currently the case.

"Many federal retirees want to continue to make critical contributions to our safety and well-being during this time of national need," said Margaret L. Baptiste, the association's president. "Indeed, workforce shortages have deprived some agencies of employees with critical and specialized skills. But the federal government will have great difficulty hiring talented and experienced retirees if agencies are not given limited authority to bring them back on the payroll without offsetting their earned annuities."

Some union leaders, however, are cool to that provision because they say it would violate merit system hiring principles.

Medical Advice

The new president of the American Medical Association has some health-care advice that federal employee groups hope the Obama administration will not take. J. James Rohack told CNN on Wednesday that the Federal Employee Health Benefit insurance program, covering federal workers, members of Congress and President Obama, could be expanded into the public option that the White House wants as part of health-care reform.

"If it's good enough for Congress, why shouldn't it be good enough for individuals who don't have health insurance provided by their employers?" Rohack said.