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



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



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



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



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



(b)  Employees granted leaves of absence
pursuant to this section shall be paid at their regular rates of pay for those
regular hours during which the employees are absent from work, without loss of
seniority, pay, vacation, sick leave, or earned overtime accumulations. [L
2003, c 24, §2]