[meyer]

BTW, federal sick leave is not paid back upon departure or retirement. Again, this is something that happens in the private sector.

This depends on which part of the fed employs you. TVA, for example, does recognize unused sick time at retirement, though not in a 1:1 relationship used towards service time. But there is a benefit to NOT using sick time there. It's a useless benefit if you have a major illness and need to take the time off.

I lost over 250 days of accumulated sick time when I left the private sector 5 years ago. No compensation, no nothing.

There's a fair amount of variance between the various federal agencies.

[muawiyah]

TVA is more correctly thought of as a Nationalized Industry than a federal agency, although the law does put demands on them not ordinarily thought of as coming from a power company.

Best thing about sick leave, though, is NOT HAVING TO USE IT.