To amend section 5923.05 of the Revised Code to provide publicly employed fire fighters and emergency medical technicians with a minimum paid military leave of seventeen 24-hour days.

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 calendar year in which they are performing service in the uniformed services.

(2) As used in this section:

(a) "Calendar year" means the year beginning on the first day of January and ending on the last day of December.

(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 calendar 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 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 calendar 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 calendar 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 calendar 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.