I would like to suggest that whatever the 'message' is, they WAITED TOO LATE to put it out. For someone anticipating 'retirement' in the upcoming year, it would have been necessary to have the paperwork in and approved for a retirement based upon TODAY'S DATE!

Tomorrow, or any subsequent day in 2009 is too late to take advantage of the "Use it, or lose it" vacation policy, which would be a substantial hit for an elderly, senior type. Starting tomorrow, if the individual chooses to retire shortly, based upon this new information, he has to use or lose all of the vacation accrued in 2008, instead of getting a BIG, FAT lump sum check, in addition to the monthly retirement check that starts up as soon as he hangs it up. That is why you see a lot of retirement dates of December 31 . .at least in the past . . .of guys who would be turning 60 the first few months of the upcoming year.

BAD management planning, if the intention was to shake a few codgers loose with whatever this FCIF contained. If it had been put out around the 1st of the month, it might have motivated a few (peer pressure even) to submit their paperwork.

Happy New Year . . and Good Luck!