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As Introduced
136th
General Assembly
Regular
Session
H. B. No. 788
2025-2026
Representatives Mathews, T., Dovilla
To
amend section 5923.05 of the Revised Code
regarding
paid military leave for law enforcement officers.
BE
IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF OHIO:
Section
1.
That
section 5923.05 of the Revised Code be amended to read as follows:
Sec.
5923.05.
(A)(1)
Permanent public employees who are members of the Ohio organized
militia or members of other reserve components of the armed forces of
the United States, including the Ohio national guard, are entitled to
a leave of absence from their respective positions without loss of
pay for the time they are performing service in the uniformed
services, for periods of up to one month, for each federal fiscal
year in which they are performing service in the uniformed services.
(2)
As used in this section:
(a)
"Federal fiscal year" means the year beginning on the first
day of October and ending on the thirtieth day of September.
(b)
"Month" means twenty-two eight-hour work days or one
hundred seventy-six hours, or for a public safety employee, seventeen
twenty-four-hour days or four hundred eight hours, within one federal
fiscal year.
(c)
"Permanent public employee" means any person holding a
position in public employment that requires working a regular
schedule of twenty-six consecutive biweekly pay periods, or any other
regular schedule of comparable consecutive pay periods, which is not
limited to a specific season or duration. "Permanent public
employee" does not include student help; intermittent, seasonal,
or external interim employees; or individuals covered by personal
services contracts.
(d)
"State agency" means any department, bureau, board,
commission, office, or other organized body established by the
constitution or laws of this state for the exercise of any function
of state government, the general assembly, all legislative agencies,
the supreme court, the court of claims, and the state-supported
institutions of higher education.
(e)
"Service in the uniformed services" means the performance
of duty, on a voluntary or involuntary basis, in a uniformed service,
under competent authority, and includes active duty, active duty for
training, initial active duty for training, inactive duty for
training, full-time national guard duty, and performance of duty or
training by a member of the Ohio organized militia pursuant to
Chapter 5923. of the Revised Code. "Service in the uniformed
services" includes also the period of time for which a person is
absent from a position of public or private employment for the
purpose of an examination to determine the fitness of the person to
perform any duty described in this division.
(f)
"Uniformed services" means the armed forces, the Ohio
organized militia when engaged in active duty for training, inactive
duty training, or full-time national guard duty, the commissioned
corps of the public health service, and any other category of persons
designated by the president of the United States in time of war or
emergency.
(g)
"Public safety employee" means a permanent public employee
who is employed as a fire fighter
,
law enforcement officer as defined in section 9.69 of the Revised
Code,
or emergency medical technician.
(B)
Except as otherwise provided in division (D) of this section, any
permanent public employee who is employed by a political subdivision,
who is entitled to the leave provided under division (A) of this
section, and who is called or ordered to the uniformed services for
longer than a month, for each federal fiscal year in which the
employee performed service in the uniformed services, because of an
executive order issued by the president of the United States, because
of an act of congress, or because of an order to perform duty issued
by the governor pursuant to section 5919.29 of the Revised Code is
entitled, during the period designated in the order or act, to a
leave of absence and to be paid, during each monthly pay period of
that leave of absence, the lesser of the following:
(1)
The difference between the permanent public employee's gross monthly
wage or salary as a permanent public employee and the sum of the
permanent public employee's gross uniformed pay and allowances
received that month;
(2)
Five hundred dollars.
(C)
Except as otherwise provided in division (D) of this section, any
permanent public employee who is employed by a state agency, who is
entitled to the leave provided under division (A) of this section,
and who is called or ordered to the uniformed services for longer
than a month, for each federal fiscal year in which the employee
performed service in the uniformed services, because of an executive
order issued by the president of the United States, because of an act
of congress, or because of an order to perform duty issued by the
governor pursuant to section 5919.29 or 5923.21 of the Revised Code
is entitled, during the period designated in the order or act, to a
leave of absence and to be paid, during each monthly pay period of
that leave of absence, the difference between the permanent public
employee's gross monthly wage or salary as a permanent public
employee and the sum of the permanent public employee's gross
uniformed pay and allowances received that month.
(D)
No permanent public employee shall receive payments under division
(B) or (C) of this section if the sum of the permanent public
employee's gross uniformed pay and allowances received in a pay
period exceeds the employee's gross wage or salary as a permanent
public employee for that period or if the permanent public employee
is receiving pay under division (A) of this section.
(E)
Any political subdivision of the state, as defined in section 2744.01
of the Revised Code, may elect to pay any of its permanent public
employees who are entitled to the leave provided under division (A)
of this section and who are called or ordered to the uniformed
services for longer than one month, for each federal fiscal year in
which the employee performed service in the uniformed services,
because of an executive order issued by the president or an act of
congress, such payments, in addition to those payments required by
division (B) of this section, as may be authorized by the legislative
authority of the political subdivision.
(F)
Each permanent public employee who is entitled to leave provided
under division (A) of this section shall submit to the permanent
public employee's appointing authority the published order
authorizing the call or order to the uniformed services or a written
statement from the appropriate military commander authorizing that
service, prior to being credited with that leave.
(G)
Any permanent public employee of a political subdivision whose
employment is governed by a collective bargaining agreement with
provision for the performance of service in the uniformed services
shall abide by the terms of that collective bargaining agreement with
respect to the performance of that service, except that no collective
bargaining agreement may afford fewer rights and benefits than are
conferred under this section.
Section
2.
That
existing section 5923.05 of the Revised Code is hereby repealed.
Section
3.
The
amendment by this act of section 5923.05 of the Revised Code applies
to collective bargaining agreements under Chapter 4117. of the
Revised Code entered into, modified, or renewed on or after the
effective date of this section.