Unused Sick Leave & Credited Service

What happens to your sick time earned when you retire and have between 5 and 10 years of service completed?

Your MOSERS pension benefit is calculated using the formula:

Final Average Pay x Credited Service x Multiplier = Monthly Base Benefit. 

As part of this calculation, we will add one month of additional service for each block of 168 hours of unused sick leave you have at retirement. For example, if you have 2,500 hours of unused sick leave, you will receive an additional 14 months of credited service (2500/168=14.88) when your retirement benefit is calculated. Your unused sick leave is used in calculating the amount of your retirement benefit, but cannot be used to determine eligibility for retirement or BackDROP. Any amount of sick leave that remains above the calculated additional service credit is forfeited.

There are some specific situations in which unused sick leave doesn’t count:
•        MSEP 2011 members: If you leave state employment after January 1, 2018 and prior to being eligible for early or normal retirement, you will get no service credit for unused sick leave.
•       MSEP retirees: If you leave state employment prior to being eligible for early or normal retirement, you will get no service credit for your unused sick leave.
•       Legislators, statewide elected officials, and judges: You do not accrue sick leave.

Please note: Employees of colleges and universities should discuss maximum accrual levels and procedures with their HR office.