Military Leave and Pay Differential for District Government Employees

District government employees who serve in the Guard or reserves have their own leave rules, and they are not the federal ones. Fifteen days a year. D.C. Code 1-612.03(m) gives an employee leave without loss of pay for active duty, inactive duty training or field or coast defense training as a reservist or Guard member, not exceeding "15 calendar days per fiscal year", with unused days carried into the next fiscal year up to 15. Why not twenty. The federal statute, 5 U.S.C. 6323(a), expressly covers "an individual employed by the government of the District of Columbia", and Public Law 118-159, the fiscal 2025 defense authorization act signed December 23, 2024, raised its annual figure from 15 days to 20. But D.C. Code 1-632.02(a)(6) lists 5 U.S.C. 6323 among the provisions of Title 5 that "are superseded for all employees of the District of Columbia Government". So a District employee remains at 15 days under the District Code, and a federal employee working in the District gets 20. The Army benefits library's figure of 15 days for District employees is correct. Twenty-two workdays for civil aid and contingencies. Subsection (m-1) adds up to 22 workdays a calendar year for an employee who performs military aid to enforce the law or assistance to civil authorities, whether federal service or full-time military service for a state or the District, or full-time service in support of a contingency operation. Unlimited for District Guard parades. Subsection (m-2): "An employee who is a member of the National Guard of the District of Columbia is entitled to leave without limitation and without loss in pay or time for each day of a parade or encampment ordered or authorized under Title 49". Federal employees in the District's Guard have the same right under 5 U.S.C. 6323(c). The pay differential. D.C. Code 1-611.03(a)(7) gives a full-time permanent, indefinite or term employee of a District or independent agency who serves in a reserve component and is called to active duty for any contingency operation "an amount that equals the difference in compensation between the employee's District government basic pay reduced by the employee's basic military pay", on application and approval. It is not basic pay for any other purpose. The National Guard is a reserve component under 10 U.S.C. 10101. Private employers. The District has no statute of its own for Guard or reserve leave in private employment. The federal Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act protects the job, and its definition of State in 38 U.S.C. 4303 includes the District.