(A) Once per calendar year, an employer shall allow an employee to take leave up to ten days or eighty hours, whichever is less, if all of the following conditions are satisfied:

(1) The employer has employed the employee for at least twelve consecutive months and for at least one thousand two hundred fifty hours in the twelve months immediately preceding commencement of the leave.

(2) The employee is the parent, spouse, or a person who has or had legal custody of a person who is a member of the uniformed services and who is called into active duty in the uniformed services for a period longer than thirty days or is injured, wounded, or hospitalized while serving on active duty in the uniformed services.

(3) The employee gives notice to the employer that the employee intends to take leave pursuant to this section at least fourteen days prior to taking the leave if the leave is being taken because of a call to active duty or at least two days prior to taking the leave if the leave is being taken because of an injury, wound, or hospitalization. If the employee receives notice from a representative of the uniformed services that the injury, wound, or hospitalization is of a critical or life-threatening nature, the employee may take the leave under this section without providing notice to the employer.

(4) The dates on which the employee takes leave pursuant to this section occur no more than two weeks prior to or one week after the deployment date of the employee's spouse, child, or ward or former ward.

(5) The employee does not have any other leave available for the employee's use except sick leave or disability leave.

(B) An employer shall continue to provide benefits to the employee during the period of time the employee is on leave pursuant to this section. The employee shall be responsible for the same proportion of the cost of the benefits as the employee regularly pays during periods of time when the employee is not on leave. The employer is not required to pay salary or wages to the employee during the period of time the employee is on leave pursuant to this section.

Upon the completion of the leave taken pursuant to this section, the employer shall restore the employee to the position the employee held prior to taking that leave or a position with equivalent seniority, benefits, pay, and other terms and conditions of employment.

(C) An employer may require an employee requesting to use the leave established under this section to provide certification from the appropriate military authority to verify that the employee satisfies the criteria described in divisions (A)(2), (3), and (4) of this section.

Added by 128th General AssemblyFile No.29, HB 48, §1, eff. 7/2/2010. .