The program provides a means for employees to financially assist other employees on military leave whose rate of pay while on active duty is less than what they earn in base wages as a City of Salem employee.  Recipients of donated leave may not receive more compensation than they would have earned had they not been on military leave.   

Employees may donate accrued vacation hours, holiday hours or compensatory time hours to a Military Leave Donation pool or to a specific individual.  Donors must sign a declaration that their donation is voluntary, intended as a gift and has been made without coercion, compensation or for other consideration.  Donations are irrevocable.

The maximum donated leave an employee on military leave may receive is the equivalent of the difference between what the employee earns from the City and what the employee earns while on military leave for up to eighteen (18) months of work.