ST52 West Virginia (December 2007; updated August 2010 - no changes to law)
1.18: USERRA and Other Laws
2.0: Paid Leave

Paid Military Leave for Public Employees in West Virginia

By Captain Samuel F. Wright, JAGC, USN (Ret.)

West Virginia law provides as follows concerning paid military leave for employees of the state and its political subdivisions:

“(a) All officers and employees of the state, or subdivisions or municipalities thereof, who shall be members of the national guard or armed forces reserves, shall be entitled to military leave of absence from their respective offices or employments without loss of pay, status or efficiency rating, on the days during which they are ordered, by properly designated authority, to be engaged in drills, parades or other duty, during business hours, field training or active service of the state, for a maximum period of thirty working days in any one calendar year.

“(b) Effective the eleventh day of September, two thousand one, all officers and employees of the state, or subdivisions or municipalities thereof, who are ordered or called to active duty by the properly designated federal authority shall be entitled to military leave of absence from their respective offices or employments without loss of pay, status or efficiency rating for a maximum period of thirty working days for a single call to active duty: Provided, That an officer or employee of the state, or subdivisions or municipalities called to active duty who has not used all or some portion of the thirty working days of military leave of absence granted by subsection (a) shall be entitled to add the number of unused days from that calendar year to the thirty working days granted by this subsection, up to a maximum of sixty days for a single call to active duty: Provided, however, That none of the unused days of military leave of absence granted by subsection (a) may be carried over and used in the next calendar year.

“(c) The term "without loss of pay" means that the officer or employee shall continue to receive his or her normal salary or compensation, notwithstanding the fact that such officer or employee may have received other compensation from federal or state sources during the same period.” (West Virginia Code, section 15-1F-1.)

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