Payout upon leaving question

Well I tried to research the payouts through the FRS website and like most government sites nothing is easily found.

I may be wrong about the sick time, but I believe it is 1/4. Each agency in the system can increase the payout for different portions.

I know some payout 100% of sick time as well as other categories. Some agencies run all their off duty pay through their agency to increase their FRS monthly payout as it increases their salary. Unfortunately FHP. does not.

For FHP FRS information and actual payout schedules you may call 850-617-3217 and they will provide all of the benefits for you.

Captain Jeffrey L. Succi

[Dr Pepper]

FRS only limits the amount of accrued leave that can be calculated towards the employees "Average Final Compensation" (AFC) benefits.

Quoted from the FRS handbook:
"For retirement purposes, your salary records are kept by fiscal year (July1 - June 30). Certain kinds of payments, such as lump-sum sick leave payments, retirement incentive bonuses, and annual leave payments in excess of 500 hours cannot be included in your AFC".

For a listing of excluded payments, see rule: 60S-6.001(6), FAC.


How much leave an agency will actually allow an employee to accumulate and re-purchase at retirement is at the discreation of the Agency Administration / elected officials.


Hope this info sheds some light on the situation.

One thing you need to compute and be concerned about when figuring your AFC for retirement purposes is any overtime that you earn that is converted to comp time. If the over time was not paid for in cash within 11 months from the time it is earned it will not count towards your AFC.

When I retired I had over $20,000 in comp time pay out as a result of overtime worked that I had accumulated over the last several years I worked. The FRS denied most of it towards my AFC ruling that it had not been paid within 11 months from the time I earned it. Overtime was usually not paid for in cash when earned at the agency I worked at due to budget limitations.

I retired with over 37 years and went out with 100% and that ruling cost me over $4,000 a year in retirement pay.

If I had known about the rule I would have requested the Sheriff buy out the time as it was earned over the last 5 years I worked and my AFC would have included that $20,000 in overtime pay.

I appealed to FRS arguing that when the overtime I had earned was credited to me in the form of Compensatory Time, I had been paid for in at that time. Not in cash but in time worth that cash. They denied the appeal and ruled it had to be paid in cash. I even present the argument that if the payment was not eligible to be counted towards my AFC they should have refunded the required matching fund paid by the Sheriff to FRS to cover the amount of the payment. My argument was that in them accepting payment for the retirement credit, they were approving the funds paid to me as being eligible for my AFC. They had no answer why there was no refund.

They based their rulings on FSS 112.021 (22) (b) 4 and 112.021(47)(b)4

I had an attorney look into it and his fees to fight the ruling would have eaten up several years of the $4,000 and he wasn’t optimistic that we would prevail in any case against the FRS ruling. I chalked it up to experience that the FRS will screw you when they can.

A little hint; I later was told that the FRS computers are programmed so that if a report of income for retirement purposes comes to them and the amount received by the employee exceeds a certain amount from what was reported on previous reports the computer flags the report to be audited to be sure a mistake had not been made. The paycheck that I received the lump sum payment for that overtime (comp. time) included my sick annual leave buy out time that had been maxed out and that payroll period two weeks earning, making for a $30,000 paycheck that payroll period. That made the whistles and bells of the computer ring that attracted attention.

The only way to circumvent the rule if you’re contemplating retiring that I know of and have a lot of accumulated comp. time that your boss will buy out when you retire, go to him and ask him to spread out the payments over the last 11 months you work. What the FRS doesn’t know they can’t do anything about.

The same rule will apply to anyone who enters the DROP program. Be sure you have all you comp time paid for well in advance before you get your last regular pay check before you actually start your DROP time if you want it to be figured into your AFC.

I write this info in hopes that no other brother gets screwed out of what he earned and deserves. I know I had figured in the $4.000 in monthly income in my retirement plans and was surprised and disappointed to learn that I wouldn’t get credit for it.

PS: You would think this is an issue that the unions would press the legislature to correct, but like one writer so accurately wrote, once you retire and are no longer paying union dues, they don’t have time for you nor want to listen to what you have to say. At the very least, the 11 month rule should be amended to include all overtime payments for comp time paid during the last five years of employment and then it would be in sync with the other rule that AFC includes the average of the highest five, which is usually the last 5.

Good luck and get all you can when you go out because you deserve every penny of it.

Whatever you decide, make sure you think about it first. I got hit with a 40% tax on my pay out, when I asked about it I was told thats the law.

You are sooooo right. I forgot to mention that I too was hit with a big tax bill on the $30,000 check which added insult to injury to be screwed out of 4K a year in retirement pay.