employmentstate

Your Employer Cannot Refuse You Leave for Guard Duty — and Refusing Is a Crime

An employer may not refuse a National Guard member leave of absence to comply with military orders. Seniority and precedence are protected across the absence, the member is returned to their previous or a higher position, and a violation is a class 1 misdemeanour prosecuted by the county attorney.

Verified August 23, 2026

What this benefit is

What it's worth: A statutory right to the leave, to your position back, and to keep your seniority

This section does not require the employer to pay you during the absence. It requires the employer to allow it and to preserve your standing.
Vacation rights are protected too, though the employer need not count the absent period as work time when calculating vacation eligibility.
The enforcement route is criminal: a violation is a class 1 misdemeanour prosecuted by county attorneys in superior court.

Who is entitled to it

You are a member of the national guard.
The protection belongs to the serving member.
Your home is in Arizona.

Not sure whether that describes you?

Answer a few questions about this benefit specifically — we only ask what this one actually depends on, and we stop as soon as we know.

How to claim it

Deadline: When orders are issued

1Give your employer a copy of the competent military orders — for active duty, or to attend camps, manoeuvres, formations or armory drills.
2Keep the request and the refusal in writing if there is a dispute. The remedy here is a prosecution, and prosecutions turn on documents.
3Do not accept a loss of seniority. The statute says members may not lose seniority or precedence while absent under competent military orders.
4Expect your position back, or a higher one. The section requires return to the employee’s previous position or to a higher position commensurate with the employee’s ability and experience.
5Understand what the vacation rule actually says: leave may not affect vacation rights you otherwise have, but the employer need not count the absent period as work time when calculating vacation eligibility.
6If the protection is refused, raise it with the county attorney. A violation is a class 1 misdemeanour and county attorneys prosecute it in superior court.
7Ask separately about pay. This section is about the right to go and the right to come back; paid leave for public employees sits in a different statute.

Form: None — give your employer the orders
File with: Your employer, and the county attorney if the protection is refused
No renewal: Once granted it does not need renewing.

CorrectionThis section does not make the leave paid. It makes refusing the leave a crime. Those are different things and a member told "we cannot afford to pay you" has not necessarily been refused anything this statute protects.

Worth knowingThe reinstatement standard is unusually favourable — the previous position OR a higher one commensurate with ability and experience, rather than merely a comparable role.

Known gapFederal reemployment law runs alongside this section and often gives broader remedies. We have not read it here, and a member with a serious dispute should ask about both.

Sources

authority · statuteA.R.S. § 26-168 — absence from employment for military duty; vacation and seniority rights; violation; classification; definition (an employer may not refuse to allow members of the national guard to take leaves of absence from employment for the purpose of complying with competent orders for active duty or to attend camps, manoeuvres, formations or armory drills; leaves of absence may not affect vacation rights that employees otherwise have, though the employer need not count the absent period as work time when calculating vacation eligibility; members may not lose seniority or precedence while absent under competent military orders and must be returned to the employee’s previous position or to a higher position commensurate with the employee’s ability and experience; violations are a class 1 misdemeanour prosecuted by county attorneys in superior court)

Why only one source type: This is a criminal-enforcement provision with no administering agency page behind it; the statute is the operative document and the Department of Veterans’ Services site refused retrieval this session.

This finder provides an informational match, not a government eligibility determination. The responsible agency decides your application.