# Military leave question



## sf1530 (May 8, 2015)

Hi guys,

I have a hypothetical for you. If someone gets on a civil service town/city can they join a reserve arm of an armed forces branch after the fact. Would they be allowed to take leave for basic training, drilling, and possible deployments? Have you guys heard of anyone doing this? Thanks!


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## bigfoot1120 (Mar 27, 2014)

Yes you can join. As a reserve you can leave your department for up to five years and in some cases longer. When you are on military leave you still retain all seniority and gain all benefits as if you never left once you return. I’ve been on military leave for almost two years. When I worked for a different dept. there was a guy that was on leave for 9 years. He only worked at the dept. for one year and came back with 10 years seniority.


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## AFMike27 (Aug 25, 2016)

USERRA gives you 5 years of military leave while protecting your job, ensuring you don't lose seniority and regain employment at the end of your orders. Any time spent on mobilizations/deployments does not count towards that 5 year clock. That being said, if you go past 5 years your job can bounce you. Most won't, unless it was 5 continuous years but it could happen.


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## felony (Oct 24, 2014)

You are protected by law, however you must give your employer a "reasonable' amount of time, to notify them of your intentions to enlist. You shouldn't really have a problem with a police department, which will more then likely have at least some members of its command staff, as former veterans or prior service. I would be more worried about corporate America.


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## bigfoot1120 (Mar 27, 2014)

felony said:


> You are protected by law, however you must give your employer a "reasonable' amount of time, to notify them of your intentions to enlist. You shouldn't really have a problem with a police department, which will more then likely have at least some members of its command staff, as former veterans or prior service. I would be more worried about corporate America.


Just to be clear you do not need to notify your dept. that you intend to enlist. You need to notify your dept. when you have orders to wherever you're going to. They say reasonable but do not Give an exact number, I didn't get orders for my current active duty gig till a week before they started.


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## sf1530 (May 8, 2015)

Thank you for the responses everyone! It's good to know leave is available.


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