The 2,087-Hour Sick Leave Chart: What Your Balance Adds to Your Annuity

Updated 2026-10-12 · Based on OPM's CSRS/FERS Handbook and 5 U.S.C. · Estimate, not advice

When a federal employee retires, unused sick leave is converted into extra service credit that raises the annuity. OPM does the conversion with a table, Chart 2 in Chapter 50 of the CSRS/FERS Handbook, based on a simple idea: 2,087 hours is one year. The table is reproduced in full below, along with the three rules that decide how to read it, what the credit does and does not count for, and a worked example showing how much money a balance is actually worth.

The rule, in order

Start from hours. Use your unused sick leave balance as it stands on your retirement date. It is on your leave and earnings statement.
Take out whole years first. Divide by 2,087. Each full 2,087 hours is one year of credit, and what is left over goes to the chart. A balance of 2,500 hours is 1 year plus 413 hours.
Look up the remainder in Chart 2. The chart lists hours for every combination of months (0 to 11) and days (0 to 29). The largest remainder entry is 2,081 hours, which is 11 months 29 days.
If your remainder is not on the chart, use the next higher entry. Chart 2 does not list every hour. OPM's rule (Chapter 50, section 50A2.1-3F) is to take the next entry above your hours. A remainder of 1,500 is not on the chart; the next higher entry is 1,501, which is 8 months 19 days.
Add the credit to your service. The months and days are added to your other creditable service and the leftover days are dropped once, at the end. Days from the sick leave can carry into a new month: 25 years 0 months 20 days of service plus 8 months 19 days of sick leave is 25 years 9 months 9 days, which becomes 25 years 9 months.

The credit itself is in 5 U.S.C. 8415(m) for FERS and 8339(m) for CSRS. The 2,087-hour year is the federal standard work year (Public Law 99-272, effective March 1, 1986; 5 U.S.C. 5504), and OPM's chart is built on it. OPM's Retirement Facts 8 explains the credit with its own examples.

Chart 2

Hours of unused sick leave for each months-and-days credit. Read across for months, down for days.
Days	0 mo	1 mo	2 mo	3 mo	4 mo	5 mo	6 mo	7 mo	8 mo	9 mo	10 mo	11 mo
0	0	174	348	522	696	870	1,044	1,217	1,391	1,565	1,739	1,913
1	6	180	354	528	701	875	1,049	1,223	1,397	1,571	1,745	1,919
2	12	186	359	533	707	881	1,055	1,229	1,403	1,577	1,751	1,925
3	17	191	365	539	713	887	1,061	1,235	1,409	1,583	1,757	1,930
4	23	197	371	545	719	893	1,067	1,241	1,415	1,588	1,762	1,936
5	29	203	377	551	725	899	1,072	1,246	1,420	1,594	1,768	1,942
6	35	209	383	557	730	904	1,078	1,252	1,426	1,600	1,774	1,948
7	41	214	388	562	736	910	1,084	1,258	1,432	1,606	1,780	1,954
8	46	220	394	568	742	916	1,090	1,264	1,438	1,612	1,786	1,959
9	52	226	400	574	748	922	1,096	1,270	1,444	1,617	1,791	1,965
10	58	232	406	580	754	928	1,101	1,275	1,449	1,623	1,797	1,971
11	64	238	412	586	759	933	1,107	1,281	1,455	1,629	1,803	1,977
12	70	243	417	591	765	939	1,113	1,287	1,461	1,635	1,809	1,983
13	75	249	423	597	771	945	1,119	1,293	1,467	1,641	1,815	1,988
14	81	255	429	603	777	951	1,125	1,299	1,472	1,646	1,820	1,994
15	87	261	435	609	783	957	1,130	1,304	1,478	1,652	1,826	2,000
16	93	267	441	615	788	962	1,136	1,310	1,484	1,658	1,832	2,006
17	99	272	446	620	794	968	1,142	1,316	1,490	1,664	1,838	2,012
18	104	278	452	626	800	974	1,148	1,322	1,496	1,670	1,844	2,017
19	110	284	458	632	806	980	1,154	1,328	1,501	1,675	1,849	2,023
20	116	290	464	638	812	986	1,159	1,333	1,507	1,681	1,855	2,029
21	122	296	470	643	817	991	1,165	1,339	1,513	1,687	1,861	2,035
22	128	301	475	649	823	997	1,171	1,345	1,519	1,693	1,867	2,041
23	133	307	481	655	829	1,003	1,177	1,351	1,525	1,699	1,873	2,046
24	139	313	487	661	835	1,009	1,183	1,357	1,530	1,704	1,878	2,052
25	146	319	493	667	841	1,015	1,188	1,362	1,536	1,710	1,884	2,058
26	151	325	499	672	846	1,020	1,194	1,368	1,542	1,716	1,890	2,064
27	157	330	504	678	852	1,026	1,200	1,374	1,548	1,722	1,896	2,070
28	162	336	510	684	858	1,032	1,206	1,380	1,554	1,728	1,901	2,075
29	168	342	516	690	864	1,038	1,212	1,386	1,559	1,733	1,907	2,081

How to read it: find the column for the months and the row for the days. The cell is the number of hours that earns that credit. For 9 months 1 day, go to the 9 mo column and the row for day 1: 1,571 hours. That is OPM's own example in the handbook, and 1,571 hours of unused sick leave converts to 9 months 1 day.

Checking the chart against known cases

Unused hours	How the chart is used	Credit
441	On the chart: 2 months 16 days	2 mo 16 d
835	On the chart: 4 months 24 days	4 mo 24 d
1,500	Not on the chart; next higher is 1,501	8 mo 19 d
1,571	On the chart: 9 months 1 day	9 mo 1 d
2,000	On the chart: 11 months 15 days	11 mo 15 d
2,087	One full year, nothing left over	1 yr 0 mo 0 d
2,500	1 year, and 413 hours rounds up to 417	1 yr 2 mo 12 d

The first two are examples from OPM's Retirement Facts 8; the others come from Chapter 50 or directly from the chart. The 2,500-hour row shows the next-higher rule at work: 413 falls between the 412 and 417 entries on the chart, so the credit uses 417, which is 2 months 12 days.

What the credit counts for, and what it does not

This is the part that catches people.

It counts for the annuity computation. The credited time is added to your service when the formula is applied. In FERS that raises the multiplier (1% of the high-3 for each year and month); in CSRS it adds 2% a year, and it is added on top of the 80% cap, so 43 years of service plus 1 year of sick leave is 82%.
It counts toward the 1.1% rule. FERS retirees who are 62 or older at separation with 20 years or more of service get 1.1% a year instead of 1%, and the sick leave credit counts toward the 20 years (OPM benefits administration letter 18-103).
It does not count for eligibility. You cannot use sick leave to reach the 10, 20, 25 or 30 years that decide whether you can retire, whether your annuity is reduced, or whether you get the FERS supplement. This is why a person with 29 years 9 months of service and 1,000 hours of leave is not a 30-year retiree.
It does not enter the high-3. The leave is time, not pay.
On a deferred retirement, it is not credited at all (5 U.S.C. 8415(m)(2)(A)).

FERS employees retiring on or after January 1, 2014 receive full credit for unused sick leave. From October 28, 2009 through December 31, 2013 FERS gave half credit, and before October 28, 2009 it gave none (the credit came in with Public Law 111-84), which matters only if you are reading an older article or an old OPM worksheet. The calculator on this site assumes full credit.

What a balance is worth in dollars

Take a FERS employee with a high-3 of $90,000 and 25 years 0 months of creditable service, retiring before 62, so the 1.0% multiplier applies, with 1,500 hours of unused sick leave.

	Without sick leave	With 1,500 hours
Sick leave credit	none	8 months 19 days
Service used	25 years 0 months	25 years 8 months (the 19 days are dropped)
Accrual factor	0.250000	0.256667
Annual annuity	$22,500.00	$23,100.03

The balance adds $600.03 a year, about $50 a month, for life. Each full month of credit is worth one twelfth of 1% of the high-3, which is $75 a year on a $90,000 high-3, and 8 months at $75 is $600. The 19 leftover days are dropped here because there are no service days to combine with them; had the service ended with 11 or more days (for example 25 years 0 months 20 days) the sick leave days would have carried into a ninth month, as in the carry example above.

Two limits keep this in proportion. First, one year of credit is about 2,087 hours, so a long balance does not translate into unlimited annuity: 2,087 hours adds exactly one year, which is 1% of the high-3 under FERS. Second, because the credit applies only to the computation, it is not a substitute for service when you are close to an eligibility threshold. An accurate service computation date, taken from your SF-50 or your agency's service history, matters more than the balance.

Mistakes worth avoiding

Reading hours as days. The chart's rows are days of credit, not days of leave. 174 hours is one month of credit, not 174 days.
Using today's balance for a future date. A full-time employee earns 4 hours of sick leave each pay period, which is 104 hours over 26 pay periods. If you plan to retire in 18 months, add roughly 156 hours to the statement balance (less anything you expect to use) before looking it up.
Counting the credit toward a service milestone. Eligibility uses service without the sick leave. If the calculator says "Not eligible" and you were relying on the leave to get over a line, the rules are saying the leave does not help there.
Expecting the leftover days to count. Days are dropped from the final total after everything is added, so a credit of 8 months 19 days adds 8 months to the multiplier unless the 19 days combine with service days to make another full month.

Using the calculator

Enter your balance in the "Unused sick leave" box of the free calculator. The ledger shows "Unused sick leave" as its own line with the credited months and days, then the "Service used" line that adds it to your creditable service. You can compare two balances by changing the hours and watching the factor move. The leftover days are shown separately from the whole-month total so you can see whether a carry occurred.

Citations

OPM CSRS/FERS Handbook, Chapter 50, sections 50A2.1-3F and 50C1.1-1 (Chart 2); OPM Retirement Facts 8, Credit for Unused Sick Leave; OPM Benefits Administration Letter 18-103; 5 U.S.C. 8415(m) and 8339(m). As with any estimate, your agency's HR office and OPM compute your actual credit, so confirm the balance and the retirement date before relying on a figure.