Employees of the State and its political subdivisions are afforded fully paid leaves of absence for military service by S.C. Code Ann. § 8-7-90, which provides:

•up to fifteen regularly scheduled, paid work days per year for training or other duties ordered by the Governor or other military authority. (Virtually all Guard and Reserves train on a fiscal year basis so "year" means the federal fiscal year, from October 1 to September 30)

•In the event the employee is called to serve during an emergency, he is entitled to "such leave of absence" not exceeding 30 additional days.

Employees who are called to duty as a result of the current terrorism emergency after September 30 are entitled to 45 paid days of military leave for duty during the emergency.

Employees who are called to emergency duty between September 1 1 and September 30, 2001, should receive paid military leave until the end of the fiscal year, unless they have previously exhausted their entire 45-day paid entitlement for this fiscal year. On October 1, 2001, the employee's leave eligibility would "reload" and the employee is entitled to another 15 paid days of leave for the new fiscal year and up to 30 additional days for the emergency. (This construction of the statute is consistent with the advice the Budget and Control Board's Office of Human Resources is giving state agencies.)

A call to extended military duty is both a COBRA qualifying event and triggers rights under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA), which is similar to COBRA and provides that persons absent by reason of service in the uniformed services may elect to continue health insurance coverage for up to 18 months following the beginning date of their absence for service. (Note: Employees serving less than 31 days may not be required to pay more than the employee share for coverage.) Employees should be given notice of continuation rights under COBRA and USERRA upon leaving for military service. USERRA also provides that employees must be afforded the same benefits available to employees on leave of absence for other reasons, so if your leave of absence policy provides for payment of employee health insurance premiums for a period of time, the same benefit should be afforded upon military absence. Important: USERRA applies to all employers. COBRA generally exempts employers havingfewer than 20 employees.

USERRA also provides reinstatement rights for employees serving on active duty for less than five years, and contains anti-discrimination provisions. Contact your attorney or human resources professional with specific questions about reinstatement or other aspects of USERRA.