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Paid Military Leave for Public Employees — Counted in Shifts, With a Salary Top-Up in an Emergency
A public officer or employee ordered to training duty, camps, manoeuvres, formations or drills takes leave without loss of time, pay or efficiency rating. State and political subdivision employees get up to three times their average weekly scheduled hours a year, and six times in any two consecutive years.
Verified August 23, 2026
What this benefit is
A public officer or employee ordered to training duty, camps, manoeuvres, formations or drills takes leave without loss of time, pay or efficiency rating. State and political subdivision employees get up to three times their average weekly scheduled hours a year, and six times in any two consecutive years.
What it's worth: Up to three times your average weekly scheduled hours each year, six times in any two consecutive years
- The statute defines a "day" as a shift of work and a "year" as the fiscal year of the United States government, so the allowance is measured against your own roster rather than a flat number of calendar days.
- For a 40-hour week that arithmetic is roughly 120 hours a year; for a long-shift roster it is materially more.
- County, city and town employees may receive paid leave at the employer’s discretion under this section, where state and political subdivision employees are entitled to it.
- The emergency top-up sits in § 38-610.01, not here: it continues salary less all military pay and allowances, for the continuous duration of the order.
Who is entitled to it
- You serve with a branch or reserve of the armed forces.
- You are an officer or employee of the state, a county, a city or town, or an agency or political subdivision.
- The leave belongs to the serving employee.
- 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 or a drill schedule are issued- 1Count the year as the federal fiscal year. The statute defines it that way, and it is not your employer’s leave year.
- 2Work out your own entitlement rather than assuming a headline number: it is three times the average of your regularly scheduled hours in a weekly work period, each year.
- 3Watch the two-year ceiling separately. Six times the weekly average across any two consecutive years is a distinct limit, and a heavy year can eat into the next one.
- 4Give your employer the orders. Leave attaches to training duty, camps, manoeuvres, formations or drills under orders with a branch or reserve of the armed forces, or with the national disaster medical system.
- 5Check your efficiency rating on return. The statute grants the leave "without loss of time, pay or efficiency rating".
- 6If you are called to active service after a declared emergency, ask about § 38-610.01 by name. That is where the additional leave and the salary-less-military-pay top-up live, and it runs for the continuous duration of the order.
- 7If you work for a county, city or town rather than the state, ask what the employer’s policy is: paid leave there is discretionary under this section.
- Form
- Your employer’s military leave request, with your orders
- File with
- Your agency, county, city or town human resources office
- Annual
- Claimed once a year.
CorrectionThere is no flat 30-day entitlement here, whatever a summary may say. The allowance is a multiple of your own average weekly scheduled hours, which makes it larger for long-shift rosters and smaller for short ones.
Worth knowingThe salary top-up is not in this section. § 38-610.01 carries it, it is written for state officers and employees, and it depends on an order to active military service.
Known gapWhether a particular county, city or town pays for this leave is that employer’s decision under this section. We hold no survey of local policies.
Sources
- authority · statuteA.R.S. § 38-610 — leaves of absence for certain military and disaster training; definitions (officers and employees of this state, any county, city or town or any agency or political subdivision shall be granted leave of absence without loss of time, pay or efficiency rating on all days employed on training duty or attending camps, manoeuvres, formations or drills under orders with any branch or reserve of the armed forces of the United States; an officer or employee of this state or a political subdivision is entitled to up to three times the average of regularly scheduled work hours in a weekly work period each year and up to six times that average in any two consecutive years; "day" means a shift of work and "year" means the fiscal year of the United States government)
- operating · statuteA.R.S. § 38-610.01 — leave of absence and compensation for officers and employees during active military service (an officer or employee of this state ordered to active military service of the United States or this state as a member of the national guard, air national guard, army reserve, naval reserve, marine corps reserve, air force reserve or coast guard reserve receives an additional leave of absence until released from active duty by competent authority, and shall continue to receive salary or compensation less the amount of all pay and allowances for military activities while on active duty, for the continuous duration of the order)
This finder provides an informational match, not a government eligibility determination. The responsible agency decides your application.