                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

LEAVES OF ABSENCE FOR EMPLOYEES OF COMMONWEALTH OR POLITICAL SUBDIVISIONS (§
44-93)

A. All officers and employees of the Commonwealth or of any political
subdivision of the Commonwealth who are former members of the armed services or
members of the organized reserve forces of any of the armed services of the
United States or National Guard shall be entitled to leaves of absence from
their respective duties, without loss of seniority, accrued leave, or efficiency
rating, on all days during which they are engaged in federally funded military
duty, to include training duty, or when called forth by the Governor pursuant to
the provisions of &#xA7; 44-75.1 or 44-78.1.
			There shall be no loss of regular employer pay during such leaves of absence,
except that paid leaves of absence for federally funded military duty, to
include training duty, shall not exceed 21 workdays per federal fiscal year,
unless such officer or employee is a professional firefighter, and except that
no officers or employees shall receive paid leave for more than 21 workdays per
federally funded tour of active military duty. Any officer or employee of the
Commonwealth or of any political subdivision of the Commonwealth who is a
professional firefighter shall receive paid leaves of absence for all work hours
for which a leave of absence is required, regardless of whether such amount of
work hours exceeds 21 workdays per federal fiscal year but shall not exceed a
total of 388 work hours, during which such officer or employee who is a
professional firefighter is engaged in federally funded military duty, to
include training duty, or is called forth by the Governor pursuant to the
provisions of &#xA7; 44-75.1 or 44-78.1.
			When relieved from any such duty, officers and employees described in this
section shall be restored to positions held by them when ordered to duty. If the
office or position has been abolished or otherwise has ceased to exist during
such leave of absence, they shall be reinstated in a position of like seniority,
status, and pay, if the position exists, or in a comparable vacant position for
which they are qualified, unless to do so would be unreasonable.
			For the purposes of this section, with respect to employees of the
Commonwealth or its political subdivisions who do not normally work
approximately equal workdays on five or more days of each calendar week, the
term &#8220;workday&#8221; shall mean 1/260 of the total working hours such
employee would be scheduled to work during an entire federal fiscal year, not
taking into account any state holidays, annual leave, military leave, or other
absences. Where such employee returns from federally funded military duty and
the eight-hour rest period required by the Uniformed Services Employment and
Reemployment Rights Act (38 U.S.C. &#xA7; 4301 et seq.) overlaps such
employee&#8217;s scheduled work shift, the employee shall receive paid military
leave to the extent of such overlap.

B. In addition to the provisions of subsection A, any local government may pay
such employee when activated for federally funded military duty all or any
portion of the difference between his regular pay and the military pay received
during all or any part of the term of active federally funded duty.

HISTORY: 1930, p. 966; Michie Code 1942, § 2673(78); 1958, c. 393; 1964, c.
227; 1966, c. 295; 1968, c. 503; 1983, c. 590; 1984, c. 540; 1985, c. 103; 1986,
c. 611; 1989, cc. 414, 474; 1991, c. 653; 2002, cc. 212, 354; 2006, c. 621;
2015, c. 221; 2022, c. 430; 2024, cc. 184, 239.