Annual Leave and Death – Postal Employees

Annual Leave and Death

What happens to the annual leave that an employee has accumulated if he or she dies in service?  If a family loses a loved one and the plans they thought were in place suddenly change, that can be an awfully frustrating time.  Families depend on the income and even the planned future income of those who work and support them.

It is urgently important that family members engage in conversations regularly so that they have the information needed to make their lives a little easier when someone they love passes away either expectedly or unexpectedly.  However, to have an unexpected death is most trying for a family.

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In addition to FEGLI (life insurance), Postal employees have many other benefits that can assist their families in the event of death.  If a Postal employee dies while in service his or her beneficiaries or the estate for those employees in a non-bargaining unit are eligible to receive final or terminal leave payments just as the employee would receive had he or she lived.  This is important information to know because the monies from the terminal leave payment is without doubt a benefit to the grieving family.

On the other hand for those Postal employees who are in a bargaining unit, their beneficiaries or the estate will also receive the same payments as if the employee had lived with the provision that the amount would also include payment for accrued annual leave in excess of the maximum carryover cap that the employee could have used had he lived.  However, any leave that would fall into a use-or-lose category in which the employee would have been required to forfeit would not be eligible for payment.

Knowing what benefits belong to you and how they will work for your family in the event of a misfortune is a critical part of the planning process for living and retiring in comfort and security.  Hopefully nothing like a premature death will ever befall your family, but you should incorporate this information into your discussions with your loved ones – and this information can be found on LiteBlue.

P. S.  Always Remember to Share What You Know.

 

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