Can Unused Sick Leave Be Credited Toward Retirement?

When considering the more excellent points of crediting unused sick leave, there is often one that many federal employees find disappointing when approaching retirement and another that they may be pleasantly surprised by.

Unfortunately, sick leave cannot be utilized to make you eligible to retire. It comes as a surprise often, but it only is used after you have met the service and age requirements to do so.
You will not get credit for any unused sick leave if you leave government work before you are eligible to retire and late apply later for a deferred annuity. If you return to the government to work, the unused sick leave hours will be restored and credited to you.
Annuity of those who qualify under a service and age combination will be boosted. The good news for those who thought that 8 hours of unused sick leave were necessary for a day’s credit toward retirement? Only about 5.8 hours are needed.
Any hours that have been worked beyond the last month of creditable service are added to those days and converted to additional months in the annuity calculation. For those retiring under CSRS, each month will grow your annuity be one-sixth of 1% or 1.1%. Extra months are counted and credited, then any days beyond the last full month will be discarded.

Special considerations:
For FERS employees who will have CR components in their annuity, sick leave hours up to the maximum number they acquired when they transferred to FERS will be credited to their CSRS. Sick leave hours higher than that amount will be credited to their FERS annuity.
FERS retirees who retired before 2014 who later return to work for the government as reemployed annuitants, available hours in the computation of their annuity will be restored to them. The hours will be made available to use to the proper purposes while they are employed, and will be totaled and recomputed annuity they earn through their new employment.
By law, if they are hired to a new position where to receive their annuity as well as the falling salary of their job, the sick leave and any earned while working will be lost once they re-retire because their annuity will not be computed that new period of service.