From April 15, 2024 For Your Information email sent to Argonne employees:

TO: All Employees

FROM: Raeanna R. Sharp-Geiger, Deputy Laboratory Director for Operations and Chief Operations Officer

Military Leave Enhancements, Effective March 25, 2024

To better support our colleagues who serve in the U.S. Armed Forces, Argonne has enhanced its military leave policy effective Monday, March 25, 2024. Employees will receive full wages for up to 15 workdays per calendar year for a qualifying military leave. This is an increase from the previous leave of 10 days of full pay in a calendar year.

In addition, for a military leave of more than 30 days, employees may continue to participate in their current health care plan for up to 180 days if they continue to pay applicable premiums. This is an additional 30 days from the previous policy and aligns with the start of Tri-Care benefits — the health care program for active-duty service members and their family members.

For details, including how to request this leave, please see LMS-PROC-131: Military Leave.

I appreciate the Veterans Employee Resource Group, Human Resource Services-Benefits, Financial Management and Procurement Services-Payroll, and the Legal Department for proposing and enacting this change. The enhancements will support recruitment and retention, which will keep us competitive with other national labs. More importantly, it reinforces Argonne as an employer of choice nationwide, especially among veterans.

The military leave enhancement exemplifies our Core Values of respect, integrity, and teamwork, and I look forward to approving other improvements for our world-class community of talent.

Should you have any questions on this new policy, please contact the Benefits Team.