Military Leave

[Garibaldi]

Every company I've worked for has been pretty good about giving me time off, albeit unpaid, when it comes to CAP training and SAREXs. I just explained it to the boss, who said "No problemo. It'll have to be unpaid, but it will be unpunished as well (no occurrences, etc)."

[Woodsy]

I am a union worker for a major railroad-  I work on call and varying shifts.  We have a strict points based attendance system with several steps that have different outcomes (none good) depending on the step you're at.  It takes 2 months of no attendance issues to get back the points you receive for non-sick mark off (sick requires a doctors note, and it wouldn't go over well when they think I'm at home sick and then see me on TV as a PIO...)  I'm part of the FLWG team that handles all missions, so I'm heavily involved in all real missions.  Unfortunately, since starting this job a year ago, I've had to withdraw my participation quite a bit.  Such is life. 

The State of Florida had legislation pending last year to grant CAP members the same protections as reserve/guard component, but only for actual emergency missions (i.e. not training, commander's call, etc.)  It looked as if we had the supporters and co-sponsors needed for it to pass, but somehow it never made it to vote by the end of the session.  Hoping we can get it pushed through sometime soon. 

Also, for those that have a similar arrangement in their state and you're required to give a copy of official orders, how do you handle that?  is it simply a letter from the IC on a CAP letterhead confirming your participation in a mission and the dates, or what?

[Garibaldi]

I was asked to get a letter from my CC on official letterhead.

[ALH]

For the AF types: Under some circumstances, you can take Permissive TDY (PTDY). I've done this a couple of times, for an encampment and some other small activities. It is up to the discretion of your commander, and as long as you do not abuse the perk, it can be a great option.

The catch? 10 days max for cadet programs, 4 days for ES-type mission. That will disqualify some of those longer activities unless you can convince them to use it in conjunction with regular leave, which is at their discretion.

If you are able to work it out so that you could call in and do the paperwork(Form 988) later (a la ES missions), all the better.

Reference: AFI 36-3003, Chapter 12, Table 7, Subsections 23 and 24

Other branches may have this as well - it may be worth looking into.

[Panache]

While looking into it for Pennsylvania, I came across this, which appears to apply to State employees:

8.53 Firefighting, Emergency Medical Technician, Emergency Management, Civil Air Patrol and Red Cross.
(a) Permanent employees, while performing firefighting duties, emergency medical technician duties, Civil Air Patrol activities, or emergency management rescue work during a fire, flood, hurricane, or other disaster may be granted civil leave. Certified Red Cross disaster relief volunteers also may be granted civil leave to perform disaster relief work for the Red Cross during a state of emergency declared by a Governor.
(b) Volunteer participation in firefighting activities, emergency medical technician activities, Civil Air Patrol activities, emergency management rescue work or disaster relief work for the Red Cross requires the prior approval of the agency head. Employees absent from work for reasons under subsection (a) are required to obtain a written statement from the fire company, forest unit, emergency management unit, Red Cross, or other organization with which they served certifying as to their activities during the period of absence.

(emphasis mine)

SOURCE

As far as I could tell, "Civil Leave" is unpaid. 

That being said, I can't find anything in PA law guaranteeing CAP members any sort of leave, paid or unpaid, for missions.

[Brad]

This is part of the reason I'm joining State Guard. Here in SC we're under the military department of SC and the Adjutant General's office, same as SC National Guard. Therefore I can get military leave for training. Activations on the the other hand, I'd likely have to turn down unless it was strictly State Guard, as I'm an essential employee for state law enforcement so I'd be getting pulled both ways if it was multi-agency.