Does your current Military Leave of Absence policy provide for a paid

[Guest Eullla]

Does your current Military Leave of Absence policy provide for a paid Military Leave of Absence? If so, for what duration? Also, how do you determine the amount of payment provided (i.e. regular salary offset by military payments)?

If you do not provide paid Military Leave, is this something you are considering in the near future?

Please include the approximate number of employees in your organization and the industry type (i.e manufacturing, retail) of your organization.

Thank you for your assistance.

[Sheila K]

Eullla:

We are a credit union with 500 employees and assets in excess of $1billion. We do NOT provide PAID Military Leave of Absence. We allow the employee to use their accrued paid time off if they would like to receive pay during their leave. Once that paid time off is exhausted, the remaining time would be unpaid.

We would not consider paid time for military leave, as it would be too expensive while benefiting only a few employees.

[Guest pls]

We are a utility with 6000 employees and we do allow paid military leave. We offset the employee's normal pay by their military pay (less meals and housing allowances). We also allow the employee to substitute vacation time (with pay) in lieu of the military offset.

[Guest eafredel]

Eullla,

You might want to look at the results of a Mercer study on military leave practices reported earlier this year and the published surveys of the U. S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics. I think you can find the Mercer survey on their website. The Burea of Labor Statistics also has a web site.

The military leave practices of my clients vary widely. One employer with over 3,000 employees pays the difference between the employee's salary and his or her military pay for an extended period of time. Other employers provide this benefit only for 30 days to six months. Clients who are government contractors (especially with military contracts) tend to be more liberal, than those with no substantial government contracts in the defense industry. Since there is no requirement to provide military leave, some employers provide no military leave benefits.

[Guest eafredel]

It is interesting to note that the federal government does NOT make up the difference between the regular salaries and military pay of the 23,000 federal government employees currently serving in Iraq.