Applying Your Sick Leave
One month of creditable service is allowed for each 20 days of unused sick leave accrued within the provisions of retirement law. One more month of credit is allowed for any part of 20 days left over, provided the remaining portion is at least one hour. For Teachers’ and State Employees’ Retirement System members, vacation leave in excess of 240 hours (30 days) may be transferred to your sick leave balance in accordance with State law. Earned sick leave for general employees can be used to complete:
- 30 years of service at any age
- 25 years of service after age 60
- 20 years of service after age 50
- 5 years of service after age 60 (Local Governmental Employees’ Retirement System only)
Earned Sick Leave for law enforcement officers (LEO) can be used to complete:
- 15 years of service as a LEO after age 50
- 5 years of service as a LEO after age 55
Earned sick leave cannot be used to meet minimum requirements for:
- 5 years to become eligible for retirement at age 60 (Teachers’ and State Employees’ Retirement System (TSERS) only)
- 5 years to become eligible for health coverage (TSERS only)
- Vested deferred retirement benefit (5 years of service)
- Survivor’s Alternate Benefit
- Disability Retirement or Disability Income Plan of North Carolina (DIPNC)
Sick leave cannot make you older.
| Accumulated Sick Leave (Days) | |
|---|---|
| 1-20 = 1 Month | 201-220 = 11 Months |
| 21-40 = 2 Months | 221-240 = 12 Months |
| 41-60 = 3 Months | 241-260 = 13 Months |
| 61-80 = 4 Months | 261-280 = 14 Months |
| 81-100 = 5 Months | 281-300 = 15 Months |
| 101-120 = 6 Months | 301-320 = 16 Months |
| 121-140 = 7 Months | 321-340 = 17 Months |
| 141-160 = 8 Months | 341-360 = 18 Months |
| 161-180 = 9 Months | 361-380 = 19 Months |
| 181-200 = 10 Months | 381-400 = 20 Months |
A sick leave “day” is determined by your employer’s sick leave accrual policy and may or may not be equal to 8 hours. For example, assume John Smith earns 1 day of sick leave per month under his employer’s sick leave accrual policy while working an extended shift of 12 hours per day and he accrues 12 hours of sick leave each month. When his employer certifies his unused sick leave on his retirement application, for each 12 hours of eligible unused sick leave, his employer should report 1 day of unused sick leave, rather than 1.5 days. In another example, assume Mary Brown earns 1 day of sick leave per month while working 7.5 hours per day and accrues 7.5 hours of sick leave each month. When her employer certifies her unused sick leave, for each 7.5 hours of eligible unused sick leave, her employer should report 1 day of unused sick leave.
Zero Sick Leave
If you do not have any sick days left, enter 0 on your online or paper retirement application. If the Retirement Systems Division has not received employer reporting within the last 5 years as of the last report month for a teacher or state employee or has not received employer reporting within the last 1 year as of the last report month for a local governmental employee, the member will have 0 sick days.