Executive Order  No. 302: Consideration for employees called to active military service for payment of accrued benefits and in the planning of reductions in force

WHEREAS, Commonwealth employees called to active service in the Armed Forces since Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm began are being asked to leave their employment, homes and family to serve their country; and

WHEREAS, many of them are being asked to risk their lives in combat areas; and

WHEREAS, their personal sacrifices are being undertaken to strengthen and expedite national security; and

WHEREAS, every possible effort must be made to enable them to devote their entire energies and full attention to serving their country;

WHEREAS, they are deserving of full employment benefits and opportunities;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, Willliam F. Weld, Governor of the Commonwealth, by virtue of the authority vested in me as supreme executive magistrate by the Constitution and the statutes of the Commonwealth, do hereby order the following:

1. Every agency of the Executive Branch of the Commonwealth is hereby authorized and directed to pay its employees called to active service in the Armed Forces in the United States subsequent to August 2, 1990 for accrued vacation and personal time upon written request from such employees. Each agency shall provide notice of these rights to the last known address of such employees. Upon written request from the employee called to active service, the agency shall authorize such payment and process it as expeditiously as possible.

2. Every agency of the Executive Branch of the Commonwealth shall give particular consideration to its employees called to active service in the Armed Forces subsequent to August 2, 1990 when planning reductions in force, and shall ensure that such employees are not selected for layoff, or indirectly caused to be laid off unless the agency has exhausted every reasonable alternative that would avoid such a result. In the event an agency cannot reasonably avoid the layoff of an employee on military leave, it must note this fact, and the reasons therefor, in its layoff proposal to the State Office of Affirmative Action which shall monitor any layoff impacts on such employees, in conjunction with its present monitoring of other layoff impacts.

3. Constitutional officers, independent authorities, institutions of higher education, and all other appointing authorities of the Commonwealth are hereby requested to enact provisions of similar intent to sections 1 and 2.

This order shall take effect immediately.

Given at the Executive Chamber in Boston this 2nd day of March in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and ninety-one.

William F. Weld, Governor

Commonwealth of Massachusetts

Michael Joseph Connolly

Secretary of the Commonwealth