Section 59. (a) An employee of the commonwealth in the service of the armed forces of the commonwealth or a reserve component of the armed forces of the United States shall be entitled to receive pay without loss of ordinary remuneration as a public employee during service in the uniformed services, annual training under section 60 or drills and parades under section 61, not exceeding 40 days in any federal fiscal year, and shall not lose any seniority or any accrued vacation leave, sick leave, personal leave, compensation time or earned overtime. For the purposes of this section, ''uniformed services'' shall have the same meaning as defined in section 13. For the purposes of this subsection, ''day'' shall mean any 24–hour period regardless of calendar day.

(b) An employee of the commonwealth in the service of the armed forces of the commonwealth under sections 38, 40 or 41 shall be entitled to receive pay without loss of ordinary remuneration as a public employee and shall not lose any seniority or any accrued vacation leave, sick leave, personal leave, compensation time or earned overtime during the first 30 consecutive days of any mission. Thereafter, any such ordinary remuneration shall be reduced by any amount received either from the United States or the commonwealth as base pay for military service performed during the same pay period, and there shall be no loss of any seniority or any accrued vacation leave, sick leave, personal leave, compensation time or earned overtime. National guard duty performed under Title 32 of the United States Code shall not be deemed service in the armed forces of the commonwealth under sections 38, 40 or 41 for the purposes of this section.

(c) An employee of the commonwealth in the armed forces of the commonwealth performing duty under Titles 10 or 32 of the United States Code shall be paid the regular base salary as a public employee for each pay period of such military leave of absence, reduced by any amount received either from the United States or the commonwealth as base pay for military service performed during the same pay period, and shall not lose any seniority or any accrued vacation leave, sick leave, personal leave, compensation time or earned overtime.

(d) An employee of the commonwealth in a reserve component of the armed forces of the United States who is ordered to service for more than 30 consecutive days shall be paid the regular base salary as a public employee for each pay period of such military leave of absence, reduced by any amount received either from the United States or the commonwealth as base pay for military service performed during the same pay period. No such employee shall lose any seniority or accrued vacation leave, sick leave, personal leave, compensation time or earned overtime.

(e) An employee of a county, city or town which, by vote of its county commissioners, city council or inhabitants at a town meeting, has accepted this section or similar provisions of earlier laws, shall be entitled to the benefits and protections of this section or the benefits of the accepted earlier law.

(f) For the purposes of this section, ''base pay for military service'' shall not include any housing, incentive, bonus, skills pay, allowance or other stipend or benefit paid to the employee for the employee's military service.