Your specific question is outside the purview of MOSERS. Please discuss your questions about taking annual leave with your supervisor and/or HR representative. It is also important that you find out if there is a limit on how many hours of unused annual leave your employer will pay out when you retire. Again, it is your agency that determines the amount of vacation/annual leave that you can get paid for, not MOSERS. Limits on how much they will pay out may vary from one agency to another.

If your employer approves the use of annual leave prior to your retirement date, you would still be considered an active employee, would still be accruing service credit, and would still have your insurance coverage while taking annual leave. Your employer may require you to return to work prior to your retirement date.

As it relates to your MOSERS benefits, the amount of unused annual leave you have at retirement has no impact on your MOSERS retirement benefits. However, unused sick leave may increase the amount of your service credit and your monthly retirement benefit. See our Life Events page for more information on both unused annual leave and unused sick leave. Contact a MOSERS benefit counselor directly if you have any further questions about your pension benefits. 

HB 2234 does not change the current statutory rules for converting sick leave to service credit or BackDROP.

You will get one month of credited service for each block of 168 hours of unused sick leave you have at retirement. While this will increase the amount of your benefit, unused sick leave cannot count toward eligibility for retirement or as part of the BackDROP period. That is, the months of unused sick leave will not make you eligible for retirement (or BackDROP) sooner, but will increase the amount of your payment once you have retired.

Unused sick leave does NOT count towards service for retirement ELIGIBILITY. In other words, it will not make you eligible for retirement sooner than you would have been without it. You must meet both the age and service requirements – not counting unused sick leave – to be eligible to retire.

However, as part of your retirement benefit calculation, we will add one month of additional service for each block of 168 hours of unused sick leave you have at retirement. This will increase the AMOUNT of your benefit payment every month in retirement. 

There are some specific situations in which unused sick leave doesn’t count:

• MSEP 2011 members: If you left 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.

A member of MSEP 2011, who leaves state employment after January 1, 2018 but prior to being eligible for early or normal retirement, will get no service credit for unused sick leave. However, a member of MSEP 2011 who remains employed until they reach early or normal retirement eligibility will receive one month of credited service for every 168 hours of unused sick leave.

Unused sick leave cannot be used to determine retirement eligibility – it will not allow you to retire sooner – but it converts to credited service, which can increase your monthly pension benefit.