FERS Flu: A Looming Epidemic?

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FERS Flu, coffee cup reading Almost Retired with thermometer plunged in the liquid

The federal government has two main retirement systems. Most employees hired since 1983 fall under the Federal Employees’ Retirement System, known as FERS. Unlike their counterparts under the old system called CSRS (Civil Service Retirement System), FERS employees do not receive any service credit for their unused sick leave upon retirement. As a result, there are concerns that some FERS employees may try to use up as much of their sick leave balance as they can prior to retirement — a practice often called the “FERS Flu.” Because FERS employees are expected to comprise almost the entire federal and Postal Service workforce by 2014, a widespread outbreak of the FERS Flu could have serious consequences.

This past December, approximately 1,400 readers of FedSmith.com participated in an on-line survey regarding their attitudes about sick leave usage in the Federal Government. One survey response should raise concerns. Readers were asked, “Is it ethical for a federal employee to use sick leave without having an authorized medical reason for using the leave?” Fully one-third of respondents stated that this was fully ethical, while an additional 11 percent were unsure. Another on-line poll of federal employees was even more troubling. Of the more than 1,100 FERS respondents, more than 75 percent said they planned to use as much sick leave as possible during their last year before retirement. A Congressional Research Service analysis of payroll data on nearly 500,000 employees showed that FERS employees eligible to retire used nearly 35 percent more sick leave than comparable CSRS employees.

Do you think FERS Flu is a risk for the Postal Service?

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Should FERS employees receive service credit for their unused sick leave balances?

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FERS Flu...Is it catching? woman reclining in a hammock

While the FERS Flu is a problem throughout the federal government, it could be particularly acute for the Postal Service for two reasons. First, much of what the Postal Service does is very time-sensitive. For example, if a letter carrier takes a day of sick leave, someone must perform the work in place of the absent carrier. Often, the Postal Service must replace that work at the higher overtime rate. Second, because Postal Service managers have set aggressive goals to minimize sick leave usage, many FERS Postal Service employees have accumulated very large sick leave balances, and will therefore, have large amounts of sick leave available to use.

Legislation that would give service credit to FERS employees for their unused sick leave has been proposed in the current Congress. This legislation passed the House of Representatives during the 110th Congress, but was not taken up by the Senate.

What do you think about the risk of FERS Flu for the Postal Service?

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Permalink | Comments (13) | Mar 16, 2009

 

 

13 Responses to “FERS Flu: A Looming Epidemic?”

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  1. 13
    R. C. Macky Says:
    October 6th, 2009 at 3:41 pm

    What happened to the FERS Sick Leave Credit. I am going to retire Feb 10 and I have almost 600 hours of sick leave. The question is, do I get sick or are they finally going to come around and give FERS personnel credit or buy back my hours.

  2. 12
    Anonymous Says:
    June 24th, 2009 at 12:59 pm

    It is a real shame that individuals with a strong work ethic are not rewarded for their efforts. If credit was given for the accumulated sick leave hours, many workers would not use it up. There are way too many that “earn it and burn it”. If management is not going to control those with a high absentee rate, they should reward those of us that show up for work.

  3. 11
    Anonymous Says:
    March 27th, 2009 at 1:12 pm

    I already have 2,000 hours of sick leave with 10 years to retire. I have done what USPS said and saved it. USPS have scrutinized employees who dont save their sick leave. For what? To give it all back in the end. No way! Yes, I feel the FERS Flu coming on.

    Give us credit when we retire or let us cash some in every year like the Annual Leave Exchange.

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