DHJ. Military Leave (BP)

POLICY

All employees are permitted to receive military leave at full salary for a maximum of three (3) weeks active duty annually.

Should an employee be called into active duty for an extended period (beyond 3 weeks) pay and benefits will discontinue with the College. The employee should ensure that military benefits (i.e., medical, etc.) are picked up without break in coverage.

An employee returning from active duty shall be entitled to his or her vacated position.

ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEDURES

Any person who is absent from a position of employment by reason of voluntary or involuntary service in the uniformed services (the Armed Forces, the Army National Guard and the Air National Guard when engaged in active duty for training, inactive duty training, or full-time National Guard duty, the commissioned corps of the Public Health Services, and any other category of persons designated by the President in time of war or emergency) shall be entitled to certain reemployment rights and benefits under the Uniformed Services Employment and Re-employment Rights Act of 1994 (USERRA)

1. The person (or an appropriate officer of the uniformed service in which such service is performed) has given advance written or verbal notice of such service to the College District (unless notice is precluded by military necessity or is otherwise unreasonable or impossible);
2. The cumulative length of the absence and of all previous absences from a position of employment with the College District does not exceed five years; and
3. The person reports to or submits an application for reemployment to the College District and complies with the appropriate procedural requirements that apply under the circumstances.

A person who is reemployed under this act is entitled to the seniority and other rights and benefits determined by seniority that the person had on the date of the commencement of service in the uniformed services plus the additional seniority and rights and benefits that such person would have attained if the person had remained continuously employed.

The College District is not required to reemploy a person if

1. The College District's circumstances have so changed as to make reemployment impossible or unreasonable;

2. The reemployment of such person would impose an undue hardship on the College District; or

3. The employment from which the person leaves to serve in the uniformed services is for a brief, nonrecurrent period and there is no reasonable expectation that such employment will continue indefinitely or for a significant period.

38 U.S.C. 4301, et. seq.

STATE LEAVE FOR MILITARY SERVICE SHORT TERM

All employees of the College District who are members of the state military forces or of the reserve components of the United States Armed Forces shall be granted a leave of absence from their duties without loss of time, efficiency rating, vacation time, or salary on all days during which they are engaged in authorized training or duty ordered or authorized by proper authority, not to exceed 15 days in a federal fiscal year.

Such employees who are ordered to duty by proper authority shall be restored, when relieved from duty, to the position held by them when ordered to duty.

Gov't Code 431.005

LONG TERM

Any employee, other than a temporary employee, who leaves a position with the College District to enter active military service is entitled to be reemployed by the College District in the same position held at the time of the induction, enlistment, or order or to a position of similar seniority, status, and pay. To be entitled to reemployment, the employee must be discharged, separated, or released from active military service under honorable conditions not later than the fifth anniversary after the date of induction, enlistment, or call to active military service and must be physically and mentally qualified to perform the duties of the position. Gov't Code 613.001(3), 613.002

An employee who cannot perform the duties of the position because of a disability sustained during military service is entitled to reemployment in the College District in a position that the employee can perform and that has like seniority, status, and pay as the former position or the nearest possible seniority, status, and pay. Gov't Code 613.003

To be reemployed, a veteran must apply for reemployment not later than the 90th day after the date the veteran is discharged or released from active military service. Application must be made in writing to the College President and have attached to it evidence of the veteran's discharge, separation, or release from military service under honorable conditions. Gov't Code 613.004

A person reemployed after active military service shall not be discharged without cause before the first anniversary of the date of the reemployment. Gov't Code 613.005

"Military service" means service as a member of the Armed Forces of the United States, a reserve component of the Armed Forces of the United States, the Texas National Guard, or the Texas State Guard. Gov't Code 613.001(2)