(a) Any public employee who is a member of the reserve corps of the Armed Forces of the United States or of the National Guard or the Naval Militia is entitled to a temporary military leave of absence as provided by federal law while engaged in military duty ordered for purposes of active military training, inactive duty training, encampment, naval cruises, special exercises or like activity, providing that the period of ordered duty does not exceed 180 calendar days, including time involved in going to and returning from that duty.
(b) Notwithstanding subdivision (a), a local public agency may, but is not required to, provide paid military leave of absence for periods of inactive duty training.
(c) The employee has an absolute right to be restored to the former office or position and status formerly had by him or her in the same locality and in the same office, board, commission, agency, or institution of the public agency upon the termination of temporary military duty. If the office or position has been abolished or otherwise has ceased to exist during his or her absence, he or she shall be reinstated to a position of like seniority, status, and pay if a position exists, or if no position exists the employee shall have the same rights and privileges that he or she would have had if he or she had occupied the position when it ceased to exist and had not taken temporary military leave of absence.
(d) Any public employee who has been in the service of the public agency from which the leave is taken for a period of not less than one year immediately prior to the date upon which a temporary military leave of absence begins, shall receive the same vacation, sick leave, and holiday privileges and the same rights and privileges to promotion, continuance in office, employment, reappointment to office, or reemployment that the employee would have enjoyed had he or she not been absent therefrom; excepting that an uncompleted probationary period, if any, in the public agency, must be completed upon reinstatement as provided by law or rule of the agency. For the purposes of this section, in determining the one year of service in a public agency all service of the employee in recognized military service shall be counted as public agency service.
(e) If this section is in conflict with a memorandum of understanding reached pursuant to Chapter 12 (commencing with Section 3560) of Division 4 of Title 1 of the Government Code, the memorandum of understanding shall be controlling without further legislative action, except that if the memorandum of understanding requires the expenditure of funds, it shall not become effective unless approved by the Legislature in the annual Budget Act.
(Amended by Stats. 2000, Ch. 928, Sec. 1. Effective January 1, 2001.)