[§78-23.5]  Paid leave for state and countyemployees providing disaster relief services for the American Red Cross.  (a) The governor or mayor or their respective designees may grant a state or countyemployee who is a certified American Red Cross disaster volunteer up to thirtydays paid leave of absence to perform disaster relief services for the AmericanRed Cross, a federally chartered nongovernmental disaster relief organization,when a disaster has been:

(1)  Designated as level III or higher by American RedCross regulations;

(2)  Officially declared by the President of theUnited States; or

(3)  Declared a state of emergency by the governor;

provided that the employee has prior authorizationfrom the governor or mayor, or their respective designee, as applicable, andthe leave of absence imposes no undue hardship on state or county operations.

(b)  Employees granted leaves of absencepursuant to this section shall be paid at their regular rates of pay for thoseregular hours during which the employees are absent from work, without loss ofseniority, pay, vacation, sick leave, or earned overtime accumulations. [L2003, c 24, §2]