LA County Supervisors Vote on Military Leave Pay

The Board of Supervisors Tuesday approved changes in pay subsidies and benefits for county employees on military leave to ensure that reservists and National Guard members don't lose income as a result of their service.

The county will pay the difference between a reservist's military pay and their county pay indefinitely. A 720-day limit on pay subsidies will be eliminated, at least through July 1, 2015.

Employees will also retain county death and disability benefits if they die or become disabled during active military duty.

Supervisor Don Knabe, who called for the review of county policies on military leave, said in July that he wanted to ensure that employees didn't lose opportunities or seniority while on deployment.

"Our county has been at war for over a decade, and many of our nearly 100,000 county employees have been deployed across the world to protect our freedoms," Knabe said at the time.

About 675 Los Angeles County employees in 25 different departments are reserve members of the U.S. military. Roughly 75 have been on active duty at some time during the last 12 months, according to the county's chief executive officer. In the past three years, about 14 have remained on active military duty for more than 720 days.

Under state law, all public employers must provide workers who have been on payroll for at least one year with paid military leave for the first 30 days of active service. Orange and San Diego counties already have policies similar to Los Angeles County's new plan, according to board documents.

"This is our way of ensuring that those serving our country do not miss out on promotional opportunities and their families do not lose benefits such as health insurance and income," he said. "County employees deployed on active duty must maintain the same rights and privileges as any other non- deployed county employee."