[Amended 3-9-2021]
Military leave and rights to re-employment after
such leave are available to employees under the terms and conditions
of applicable federal and state law and USERRA and may be amended
as needed to comply.
A. Military
leave with pay: Employees (including employees who hold acting capacity
and project appointments) are allowed up to two regular scheduled
weeks in a rolling twelve-month period without loss of pay or benefits
when engaged in any form of military duty. The employee must provide
advance written or verbal notice as far in advance as is reasonable
under the circumstances and must furnish the department head with
an official statement signed by authority giving the employee's rank,
pay, and allowance during the employee's military service. The employer
will pay a minimum of the difference, if any, between the employee's
regular pay and military leave pay up to the two weeks The employer
reserves the right to pay the full 40 hours base wage for the first
two weeks and the employee may be responsible to turn in all or part
of their paid military wages upon their return to work up to gross
wages paid.
B. Military
leave without pay: When military service exceeds the two weeks authorized
for military leave with pay, the employee must be placed on unpaid
military leave. Employees may use, but are not required to use, accrued
PTO, sick, vacation, etc., when entering unpaid military service to
offset their benefit payroll deductions. The total wages paid from
accrued leave and military pay should not exceed 100% of their gross
base wage weekly. Provisions for the optional use of accrued sick,
PTO, vacation, etc., also apply to employees who are called to active
state duty by the Governor.
C. Re-employment:
(1) The
guiding principle of the USERRA and Maine law is that an employee
performing military service is not to suffer any detriment in employment
and should be treated as if they had not left employment. Employees
who enter military service retain reemployment rights under both the
Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994
and Maine law. Exceptions are narrowly restricted to persons who hold
temporary, nonrecurrent employment. Although certain criteria are
required for an employee to exercise their reemployment rights, denial
of reemployment to a returning service member should be considered
an extraordinary situation. Human resource professionals should be
consulted if any adverse action is contemplated.
(2) An
employee who enters military service on a short-term basis would generally
be returned to the position that they left. Employees who enter military
service on a long-term basis would be returned to the position that
they left or be returned to a position of like status and pay for
which they are qualified. Human Resources should be consulted if denial
of reemployment for any reason is contemplated.
(3) Upon
the completion of service (less than 31 days, including weekend drills)
employees are also entitled to reasonable time for return travel,
and an eight-hour period of rest, before returning to work. The allotted
time to apply for reemployment increases incrementally, depending
upon the length of service. Human Resources should be consulted in
unusual situations.
The Town shall pay an employee called for jury
duty the difference between his/her regular pay and his/her juror's
pay upon presentation of an official statement of jury pay received.
Employees excused from jury duty must report back to work during their
normal shift hours.