(U-WIRE) MILWAUKEE ? Marquette University has updated its employee military leave policy due to the growing possibility that faculty may be called to serve.
The school now will pay the difference between military pay and university salary for the first two weeks of active duty.
Active call-up duty occurs when a reservist, a trained individual of the armed forces, is called to a specific location during wartime. This differs from the draft, which calls upon ordinary citizens; active call-up only refers to those with specific education in the forces. Only these reservists are affected by the policy.
Previously, employees were unpaid from the day they left school.
“We realized that the old policy’s language did not provide specific guidance for active duty,” said Steve Duffy, director of human resources.
The policy was further developed due to the recent terrorist attacks.
“In recognition of the problem with the last policy, to provide every benefit in the current conflict, we expanded the benefit,” Duffy said.
The previous policy on the annual active two-week duty for military employees still stands. All reservists are obligated to complete some form of military duty for two weeks per year.
“Marquette did and still will make up the pay difference for that two-week duty, but the new policy directly deals with active call-up,” Duffy said.
The policy is consistent with the Office of Special Council’s regulations. The OSC is an independent federal investigative and prosecutorial agency. According to the organization’s website, www.osc.edu, its primary mission is to protect federal employees from prohibited personnel practices, but also to protect the rights of military veterans and reservists under the Uniformed Services Employment and Re-employment Rights Act of 1994.
USERRA prohibits an employer from denying any benefit of employment on the basis of an individual’s membership or obligation for service in the uniformed services, according to the website Marquette follows these regulations.
“Basically, a call to duty will be an employed leave,” Duffy said.
Under USERRA, Marquette faculty members have the option of re-employment when they return, and the option of 18-month health care while they are gone.
According to human resources, only a handful of employees have been called to active duty this year. Several people in ROTC, public safety and maintenance programs could be called to duty.
“There are a number of people in a few departments who are in the reserves, but not many,” Duffy said.
Marquette isn’t the only school with such policies. Other universities have policies relating to military leave.
According to the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s manual on business procedures, the school will cover paid active duty and annual field training for as many as 30 days. At Loyola University-Chicago, full-time employees may be granted military leave for up to five years with undetermined pay. According to St. Louis University’s military absence policy, the university will pay for only 10 days of military leave per year.
Other schools leave the choice up to the individual. At the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the individual can choose if he or she would rather have university pay or military pay. According to the school’s website, www.wisc.edu, the benefit can last from three to 30 days.
Return policies also can differ from school to school. Reservists at Wisconsin are guaranteed their job when they return from duty. At Marquette, employees can re-enter their positions if they are vacant. If employees are absent less than 12 weeks, they are guaranteed their positions back. Reservists at St. Louis University must reapply for the job if the leave lasts more than 180 days.
