D.C. mayor-elect Vince Gray’s pick for fire chief says he has accrued about 2,000 hours of sick leave, which city policy dictates he’ll get back despite leaving the department nearly a year ago.
Ken Ellerbe served more than 27 years with D.C.’s fire department before leaving in August 2009 to become chief of the Sarasota County fire deparment in Florida. Issues revolving around his attempt at obtaining a retirement package aside, Ellerbe told The Washington Examiner he has about 2,000 hours of sick leave saved up from his previous stint with the department.
Elerbe said he isn’t sure yet if he’ll get it all, but the head of the District’s department of human resources has told The Examiner it’s city policy that employees who leave for less than three years retain their sick leave when they return. City employees can’t cash out unused sick leave when they leave, but it is calculated as part of their retirement payout.
Assistant Police Chief Alfred Durham, for example, has 2,040 hours of sick leave saved up over his 20-year career with the D.C. police department. That’s despite leaving the city to work for the Richmond police department for two years.
“My sick leave is my sick leave,” Durham told The Examiner on Thursday. He said he has only used 16 hours of sick leave during his 27 years with the department.
“I’m a Marine and my commander told me to always take care of my future,” he said, adding that he has accumulated the sick leave “to better prepare for my retirement.”
If the 47-year-old Durham were to retire now, he’d earn an extra $6,000 a year from unused sick leave for the remainder of his life.
