I 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 217

To ensure that a Federal employee who takes leave without pay in order 

to perform service as a member of the uniformed services or member 

of the National Guard shall continue to receive pay in an amount which, 

when taken together with the pay and allowances such individual is 

receiving for such service, will be no less than the basic pay such 

individual would then be receiving if no interruption in employment 

had occurred. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 7, 2003

Mr. WEXLER introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Government Reform 

A BILL

To ensure that a Federal employee who takes leave without 

pay in order to perform service as a member of the 

uniformed services or member of the National Guard 

shall continue to receive pay in an amount which, when 

taken together with the pay and allowances such individual is receiving for such service, will be no less than 

the basic pay such individual would then be receiving 

if no interruption in employment had occurred.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Reservists Pay Secu3 rity Act of 2003’’. 

4 SEC. 2. NONREDUCTION IN PAY WHILE FEDERAL EM5 PLOYEE IS PERFORMING ACTIVE SERVICE IN 

6 THE UNIFORMED SERVICES OR NATIONAL 

7 GUARD. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subchapter IV of chapter 55 of 

9 title 5, United States Code, is amended by adding at the 

10 end the following: 

11 ‘‘§ 5538. Nonreduction in pay while serving in the 

12 uniformed services or National Guard 

13 ‘‘(a) An employee who is absent from a position of 

14 employment with the Federal Government in order to per15 form service in the uniformed services or the National 

16 Guard shall be entitled to receive, for each pay period de17 scribed in subsection (b), an amount equal to the amount 

18 by which—

19 ‘‘(1) the amount of basic pay which would oth20 erwise have been payable to such employee for such 

21 pay period if such employee’s civilian employment 

22 with the Government had not been interrupted by 

23 that service, exceeds (if at all) 

24 ‘‘(2) the amount of pay and allowances which 

25 (as determined under subsection (d))—
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1 ‘‘(A) is payable to such employee for that 

2 service; and 

3 ‘‘(B) is allocable to such pay period. 

4 ‘‘(b)(1) Amounts under this section shall be payable 

5 with respect to each pay period (which would otherwise 

6 apply if the employee’s civilian employment had not been 

7 interrupted)—

8 ‘‘(A) during which such employee is entitled to 

9 reemployment rights under chapter 43 of title 38 

10 with respect to the position from which such em11 ployee is absent (as referred to in subsection (a)); 

12 and 

13 ‘‘(B) for which such employee does not other14 wise receive basic pay (including by taking any an15 nual, military, or other paid leave) to which such 

16 employee is entitled by virtue of such employee’s ci17 vilian employment with the Government. 

18 ‘‘(2) For purposes of this section, the period during 

19 which an employee is entitled to reemployment rights 

20 under chapter 43 of title 38—

21 ‘‘(A) shall be determined disregarding the provi22 sions of section 4312(d) of title 38; and 

23 ‘‘(B) shall include any period of time specified 

24 in section 4312(e) of title 38 within which an em25 ployee may report or apply for employment or reem-
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1 ployment following completion of service in the uni2 formed services or National Guard. 

3 ‘‘(c) Any amount payable under this section to an em4 ployee shall be paid—

5 ‘‘(1) by such employee’s employing agency; 

6 ‘‘(2) from the appropriation or fund which 

7 would be used to pay the employee if such employee 

8 were in a pay status; and 

9 ‘‘(3) to the extent practicable, at the same time 

10 and in the same manner as would basic pay if such 

11 employee’s civilian employment had not been inter12 rupted. 

13 ‘‘(d) The Office of Personnel Management shall, in 

14 consultation with Secretary of Defense, prescribe any reg15 ulations necessary to carry out the preceding provisions 

16 of this section. 

17 ‘‘(e)(1) The head of each agency referred to in section 

18 2302(a)(2)(C)(ii) shall, in consultation with the Office, 

19 prescribe procedures to ensure that the rights under this 

20 section apply to the employees of such agency. 

21 ‘‘(2) The Administrator of the Federal Aviation Ad22 ministration shall, in consultation with the Office, pre23 scribe procedures to ensure that the rights under this sec24 tion apply to the employees of that agency. 

25 ‘‘(f) For purposes of this section—
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1 ‘‘(1) the terms ‘employee’, ‘Federal Govern2 ment’, and ‘uniformed services’ have the same re3 spective meanings as given them in section 4303 of 

4 title 38; 

5 ‘‘(2) the term ‘service in the uniformed services’ 

6 has the meaning given that term in section 4303 of 

7 title 38 and includes duty performed by a member 

8 of the National Guard under section 502(f) of title 

9 32 at the direction of the Secretary of the Army or 

10 Secretary of the Air Force; 

11 ‘‘(3) the term ‘employing agency’, as used with 

12 respect to an employee entitled to any payments 

13 under this section, means the agency or other entity 

14 of the Government (including an agency referred to 

15 in section 2302(a)(2)(C)(ii)) with respect to which 

16 such employee has reemployment rights under chap17 ter 43 of title 38; and 

18 ‘‘(4) the term ‘basic pay’ includes any amount 

19 payable under section 5304.’’. 

20 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 

21 for chapter 55 of title 5, United States Code, is amended 

22 by inserting after the item relating to section 5537 the 

23 following:

‘‘5538. Nonreduction in pay while serving in the uniformed services or National 

Guard.’’.
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1 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

2 this section shall apply with respect to pay periods (as de3 scribed in section 5538(b) of title 5, United States Code, 

4 as amended by this section) beginning on or after the date 

5 of the enactment of this Act.

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