The pension fund doesn't administer vacation protocol at UPS.
The OP may want to check with the BA assuming, of course, the BA knows what he's talking about.
Does anyone here question if the company would love to retire a tenured driver without paying any earned vacation/optional time?
The pension fund office will perform the calculations necessary to determine whether you have fulfilled their requirements for a full pension year and what your projected retirement date would be.
We are required to work 1000 hours for a full year of pension credit. 1000/40 = 25. The 25th week of the year ends on June 23rd, which is a Saturday. Back up 6 weeks from there and I will be starting my first of 6 weeks of vacation the week ending 5/19.
My last work day is 5/7. I will take my last 2 personal days 5/8 and 5/9 and my last 2 sick days 5/10 and 5/11.
I have a co-worker who is also retiring 6/22. She took a bit more time off than me so her last work day is 5/11. She will also start her first of 6 weeks of vacation the week ending 5/19.
You would have to be a fool to go in to this without making sure that you have done the math correctly.
