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State Employees — 15 Days Paid Military Leave, Then 30 More at Partial Pay

A state employee who serves in a reserve component of the federal or state forces gets up to 15 days of leave with pay in a training year for drill, training or other temporary duty. An employee who uses all 15 is then entitled to up to 30 further days at partial pay. The second tier is the part almost nobody claims.

Verified August 23, 2026

What this benefit is

A state employee who serves in a reserve component of the federal or state forces gets up to 15 days of leave with pay in a training year for drill, training or other temporary duty. An employee who uses all 15 is then entitled to up to 30 further days at partial pay. The second tier is the part almost nobody claims.

What it's worth: Up to 15 days of paid military leave in a training year, plus up to 30 further days at partial pay for an employee who has used the 15

  • The department states the entitlement for a regular state employee who is a member of any reserve component of the federal armed forces or of this state's forces.
  • The leave is for military drill, training or other temporary duty under military or naval authority.
  • The provision is stated not to apply to an employee who has been inducted into, or has enlisted in, active service in the federal armed forces.
  • The department does not publish what "partial pay" amounts to.

Who is entitled to it

  • You are serving in the state National Guard or a reserve component.
  • You are in this state.

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

  1. 1Ask for military leave by name rather than taking annual leave for drill. Employees routinely burn holiday on training days without realising a separate entitlement exists.
  2. 2Track the training year, not the calendar year. The 15 days run by training year, and an employee who counts in calendar years will misjudge what is left.
  3. 3When the 15 days are gone, ask about the second tier. Up to 30 further days at partial pay is stated for an employee who has used the full 15, and it is the provision least likely to be volunteered by a payroll office.
  4. 4Find out what partial pay actually means at your agency before you need it. The department does not publish the figure, and a long training period at an unknown rate is not something to plan a mortgage payment around.
  5. 5Bring the orders. This is a documented entitlement and the orders are the document.
  6. 6Note the exclusion: an employee who has enlisted or been inducted into federal active service is outside this provision — a different set of protections applies to that situation.
Form
A leave request to your agency, with the military orders
File with
Your state agency, through its human resources office
Annual
Claimed once a year.
Worth knowingFifteen paid days is roughly a drill year plus annual training, which is the point of the number. The 30 partial-pay days are what cover the year a unit does something unusual.
CorrectionThis is an employment benefit for people still serving, not a veterans benefit. It is recorded here because the corpus had nothing at all for the state employee who is also a reserve component member, and that is a large and quiet population.
Known gapThe department publishes no rate for partial pay and no RSA citation for this provision, and does not say whether counties and municipalities are bound the same way. A public employee outside state government should ask their own employer.

Sources

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