II 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 981 

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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 9, 2005 

Mr. DURBIN (for himself, Ms. MIKULSKI, Mr. ALLEN, Ms. LANDRIEU, Mr. 

LEAHY, Mr. SARBANES, Mr. BINGAMAN, Mr. LAUTENBERG, and Mr. 

KERRY) introduced the following bill; which was read the first time 

MAY 10, 2005 

Read the second time and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security 

and Governmental Affairs 

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. 
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•S 981 IS 

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

3 SECTION 1. NONREDUCTION IN PAY WHILE FEDERAL EM4 PLOYEE IS PERFORMING ACTIVE SERVICE IN 

5 THE UNIFORMED SERVICES OR NATIONAL 

6 GUARD. 

7 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 

8 ‘‘Reservists Pay Security Act of 2005’’. 

9 (b) IN GENERAL.—Subchapter IV of chapter 55 of 

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

11 end the following: 

12 ‘‘§ 5538. Nonreduction in pay while serving in the 

13 uniformed services or National Guard 

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

15 employment with the Federal Government in order to per16 form active duty in the uniformed services pursuant to a 

17 call or order to active duty under a provision of law re18 ferred to in section 101(a)(13)(B) of title 10 shall be enti19 tled, while serving on active duty, to receive, for each pay 

20 period described in subsection (b), an amount equal to the 

21 amount by which—

22 ‘‘(1) the amount of basic pay which would oth23 erwise have been payable to such employee for such 

24 pay period if such employee’s civilian employment 
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•S 981 IS 

1 with the Government had not been interrupted by 

2 that service, exceeds (if at all) 

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

4 (as determined under subsection (d))—

5 ‘‘(A) is payable to such employee for that 

6 service; and 

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

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

9 with respect to each pay period (which would otherwise 

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

11 interrupted)—

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

13 reemployment rights under chapter 43 of title 38 

14 with respect to the position from which such em15 ployee is absent (as referred to in subsection (a)); 

16 and 

17 ‘‘(B) for which such employee does not other18 wise receive basic pay (including by taking any an19 nual, military, or other paid leave) to which such 

20 employee is entitled by virtue of such employee’s ci21 vilian employment with the Government. 

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

23 which an employee is entitled to reemployment rights 

24 under chapter 43 of title 38—
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•S 981 IS 

1 ‘‘(A) shall be determined disregarding the provi2 sions of section 4312(d) of title 38; and 

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

4 in section 4312(e) of title 38 within which an em5 ployee may report or apply for employment or reem6 ployment following completion of service on active 

7 duty to which called or ordered as described in sub8 section (a). 

9 ‘‘(c) Any amount payable under this section to an em10 ployee shall be paid—

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

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

13 would be used to pay the employee if such employee 

14 were in a pay status; and 

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

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

17 employee’s civilian employment had not been inter18 rupted. 

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

20 consultation with Secretary of Defense, prescribe any reg21 ulations necessary to carry out the preceding provisions 

22 of this section. 

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

24 2302(a)(2)(C)(ii) shall, in consultation with the Office, 
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•S 981 IS 

1 prescribe procedures to ensure that the rights under this 

2 section apply to the employees of such agency. 

3 ‘‘(2) The Administrator of the Federal Aviation Ad4 ministration shall, in consultation with the Office, pre5 scribe procedures to ensure that the rights under this sec6 tion apply to the employees of that agency. 

7 ‘‘(f) For purposes of this section—

8 ‘‘(1) the terms ‘employee’, ‘Federal Govern9 ment’, and ‘uniformed services’ have the same re10 spective meanings as given them in section 4303 of 

11 title 38; 

12 ‘‘(2) the term ‘employing agency’, as used with 

13 respect to an employee entitled to any payments 

14 under this section, means the agency or other entity 

15 of the Government (including an agency referred to 

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

17 such employee has reemployment rights under chap18 ter 43 of title 38; and 

19 ‘‘(3) the term ‘basic pay’ includes any amount 

20 payable under section 5304.’’. 

21 (c) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 

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

23 by inserting after the item relating to section 5537 the 

24 following:

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

Guard.’’.
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•S 981 IS 

1 (d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—

2 (1) IN GENERAL.—The amendments made by 

3 this section shall apply with respect to pay periods 

4 (as described in section 5538(b) of title 5, United 

5 States Code, as amended by this section) beginning 

6 on or after the date of enactment of this Act. 

7 (2) CONDITIONAL RETROACTIVE APPLICA8 TION.—

9 (A) IN GENERAL.—The amendments made 

10 by this section shall apply with respect to pay 

11 periods (as described in section 5538(b) of title 

12 5, United States Code, as amended by this sec13 tion) beginning on or after October 11, 2002 

14 through the date of enactment of this Act, sub15 ject to the availability of appropriations. 

16 (B) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIA17 TIONS.—There are authorized to be appro18 priated $125,000,000 for purposes of subpara19 graph (A).

Æ