
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, April 20, 1991                   TAG: 9104200418
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A-4   EDITION: STATE 
SOURCE: Joel Turner
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

6 VETERANS MAY GET MORE PAY

Roanoke City Manager Robert Herbert will recommend a pay supplement for the six municipal employees who were called to active military duty during the Persian Gulf War.

Herbert will ask City Council to make up the difference between the employees' military pay and their city salaries so they won't lose any money.

He also will recommend that all vacation and hospitalization insurance benefits be restored when they return.

The city manager estimated that the supplements will cost between $18,000 and $40,000, depending on how long the employees remain on duty.

Three police officers, one sheriff's department employee, one emergency rescue worker and one mechanical/plumbing inspector were called up.

Two employees have returned to their city jobs since the war ended. The jobs of the other four are being held for them.

Before the Persian Gulf War, state law authorized localities to grant up to three weeks of paid leave for military training, but not for active duty. The General Assembly, during its recent session, revised the law to permit three weeks of paid leave for military duty as well as for training.

In a report on council's agenda for Monday, the city manager said the law allows localities to provide a salary supplement for active duty beyond three weeks. He will recommend that the city code be amended to comply with state law.

If council approves the recommendation, Herbert said, the supplements would be paid as promptly as possible after the employees returned to their jobs.

by CNB