Wisconsin State Employee Military Leave and Differential Pay

Training and short tours. Wis. Stat. 230.35(3)(a): state officials and employees "who have permanent status and who are members of the national guard, the state defense force, or any other reserve component" get leave "without loss of time in the service of the state" for military schools, annual field training or annual active duty for training and other state or federal tours, other than extended active duty, "not exceeding 30 days, excluding Saturdays, Sundays and holidays" in the calendar year. They receive "base state pay less the base military pay received", the leave "shall not be granted for absences of less than 3 days", it is in addition to all other leave, and seniority, pay advancement and performance awards run as though uninterrupted. A Guard or state defense force member on state active duty may instead elect to be paid base state salary for that duty. Long activations. Section 230.315: a state employee in the Guard or a reserve component (or recalled from the inactive reserve) who is activated for federal military duty other than training, on a military leave, is paid "his or her state salary, less any military pay and housing allowances", and keeps accruing sick leave and annual leave as though still at work, for not more than 179 days, starting after any pay under 230.35(3). The governor, by executive order, "may extend the period ... up to a period of 2 years from the date on which the person is activated" and "may make up to 3 additional extensions ... each of which may not exceed a period of 2 years", so up to eight years in all. The same applies to a Public Health Service officer detailed to the armed forces. Coming back. Subsection (4): the employer "shall permit" such an employee to use up to 160 hours of accumulated paid leave within 30 days of completing duty, before resuming work, and to carry into the next year any leave still left that was accrued during the duty. That is the employee's own accrued leave, not an extra grant. Restoration to the job after military leave is section 230.32. Note the words permanent status. The 30-day leave runs to employees with permanent status; a project or limited-term employee relies on USERRA. None of this displaces USERRA. The federal five-year cumulative service limit, the escalator principle, the two-year window to apply for reemployment following a service-connected disability, and health coverage continuation for up to twenty-four months at up to 102 percent of premium all apply to Wisconsin state employment as they do anywhere. What the state adds is pay during the absence and paid time on return, neither of which USERRA requires. The differential pay figures are worth a caution. A collective bargaining agreement can also provide military pay, and section 230.315 starts only after it. An employee facing an activation should get the current figures from the agency human resources office in writing rather than relying on a summary, because the difference between base pay and pay plus allowances is material over 179 days. Guard members on state duty. Wisconsin separately protects the civilian job of a Guard member called to state active duty (section 321.64), and section 102.07(9) makes Guard and state defense force members on state active duty employees for workers' compensation, "but only in case federal laws, rules or regulations provide no benefits substantially equivalent". The Army benefits library (re-read 2026-10-24) adds a $50,000 death benefit for a Guard member killed in the line of duty under section 102.475; that section's special benefit names law enforcement and correctional officers, fire fighters, rescue squad and diving team members and emergency management workers during a declared emergency, and does not name the Guard.