Imagine being a teacher for 40 years, and you’re looking forward to retirement.

You have a lot of unused sick days, and you know that’s going to be a nice check on your last day.

In this story, a technology resource specialist shares how a teacher at his school was in that situation.

But he helped the teacher out by recommending a clever plan to get paid even more than he would if he were to retire right away.

Find out what he recommended.

How much for my PTO buyback??

About 15 years ago, I worked for a medium sized school district as Technology resource specialist.

I worked with teachers and administrators to integrate all types of technology into the curriculum.

Things escalated pretty soon…

This one particular veteran teacher was looking forward to retiring after 40 years of service. He had made an appointment in May to turn in his paperwork.

He was quite excited about the check they were about to write him for his unused sick days which were bankable back then.

Over the years he had kept himself healthy and good shape and managed to accumulate about 250 days of unused PTO. The check was going to be for approximately $8500.

That’s INSANE!

I looked at him like he had slipped and bumped his head, this couldn’t be correct.

I looked into it and they district only paid $40 dollars per day when buying back days (BEFORE TAXES!!!!!).

So I said Mr. Turner (not real name), I don’t think that’s a financially sound idea and here’s why. His salary was about $80k at that point

**FYI, a school year is about 180 days, which means he had close to a year and half of sick time available to use. **

He was devastated about this!

I broke down how he was being shortchanged and what alternative should be pursued.

I told him that he should sign his contract for the following year and spend a month in the classroom before taking time off for the entire year.

Since he has the PTO hours, he would continue to be paid at his normal salary the entire time. And since he’s still an employee, they would continue to pay his insurance premiums for another year.

Plus, he get another 10 days of PTO to add to the kitty.

Things got interesting!

As a bonus, if he got bored at home he could come back to the classroom before the year is done.

He looked at me and said “but you need a note after 3 days”.

I said, “so go see your provider and tell him that you’re feeling really depressed about retirement and life change. Boom. Problem Solved”.

His next question was “but what if I need a letter of recommendation?”.

At first I thought he was joking but he wasn’t. I asked why would that matter if he’s retiring?

He looked thoughtful and considerate.

Finally some breath of fresh air.

I told him him he had enough days to rinse and repeat for a second year. His net would be approximately $125k and two additional years of paid health insurance for 2 additional months of work.

I did recommend that he discreetly let the principal know that they were going to be out for an extended time beforehand so as to acquire a quality pool substitute teacher for the year.

That next year, I saw him about town and he’d taken my advice. He thanked me for my insight and was enjoying his time off.

IDK if he did it that second year as I had moved to another city and career by then.

GEEZ! That was so wholesome!

I love that he helped the teacher maximize his paid time off.

Let’s find out what folks on Reddit think about this one.

This user simply loves this story!

This user shares what happened with their coworker.

This user knows the kicker of the story!

This user believes this guy is a great human!

This user appreciates this guy!

That was the sweetest story!

If you liked this post, check out this story about an employee who got revenge on a co-worker who kept grading their work suspiciously low.