Missouri Military Leave and Reemployment for Public Employees

Section 105.270 covers all officers and employees of the state or of any department or agency, and of any county, municipality, school district or other political subdivision, who are or may become members of the National Guard or of any reserve component. They are entitled to leave of absence without loss of time, pay, regular leave, impairment of efficiency rating, or of any other rights or benefits, for two different kinds of duty on two different terms. For duty or training in the service of this state at the call of the governor and as ordered by the adjutant general, the leave is without regard to length of time. There is no cap at all on state-call duty. A guardsman deployed for a month on a flood or a civil disturbance is paid for the whole of it. For duty in the service of the United States under competent orders, the leave is capped, and Laws 2026 H.B. 2593 raised the cap from one hundred twenty hours to one hundred sixty hours in any federal fiscal year. Descriptions giving 120 hours are describing the law before August 28, 2026. Subsection 4 is the provision that decides how far the hours go in practice. Notwithstanding any other administrative rule or law, a person entitled to military leave shall only be charged military leave for hours that person would otherwise have been required to work but for the leave. The minimum charge is one hour and additional charges are in multiples of that. A drill weekend on an employee's regular days off costs nothing from the entitlement. Subsection 3 makes discrimination a crime. No member of the organised militia shall be discharged from employment by any of those employers because of militia membership, nor hindered or prevented from performing militia service, nor otherwise discriminated against or dissuaded from enlisting or continuing service by threat or injury in respect of employment. Any officer or agent violating the section is guilty of a misdemeanour. Section 40.490 handles reemployment and was rewritten in 2026. Members of the state military forces ordered to active state duty by the governor or adjutant general, Missouri employees who are members of another state's National Guard called to that state's active duty, and members of any reserve component called to active duty are entitled on release to the same reemployment rights provided by title 38 of the United States Code, and the attorney general shall enforce those rights for members of the state military forces ordered to active state duty. The 2026 act added two subsections that matter. Members of the Missouri National Guard called to active state duty for more than thirty consecutive days, and Missouri employees who are members of another state's Guard called to that state's active duty for more than thirty consecutive days, are on release entitled to all rights and protections provided by the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, 50 U.S.C. 3901 et seq. That is significant because the federal Act does not itself reach state active duty; Missouri has imported it. And any such member may bring suit in any court of competent jurisdiction and appropriate venue if the member believes rights under the section have been violated, with the attorney general also able to sue an employer who violates it. Section 105.265 continues life insurance benefits for a state employee or state retirement system member called to military service in time of active armed warfare for the entire duration of the deployment, including periods beyond twelve months, subject to the policy terms, with the employee paying the cost of coverage. The 2026 act added a set of duties making the adjutant general the official sponsor of the state-sponsored life insurance programme offered to Missouri National Guard members through the Missouri National Guard Association.