Pay of officers and employees on active military service and other periods

(a) All officers and employees of the State and the several counties who are appointed for at least six months of service shall be entitled, while on active duty, inactive-duty training, or during periods of camps of instruction or field maneuvers as members of the national guard or reserve of the armed forces under call of the President of the United States or the governor of the State, to receive pay as provided by law. During the absence of the officer or employee, while in the performance of ordered military or naval duty, including inactive-duty training, as a member of the national guard or reserve of the armed forces, the officer or employee shall receive the officer's or employee's salary or compensation as an officer or employee, but only for a period not exceeding fifteen working days in any calendar year. (b) Notwithstanding subsection (a), if the officer or employee is called to active duty or otherwise required to report for camp training or field maneuvers by official military orders a second time within a calendar year, the officer or employee may elect to use the fifteen working days of the succeeding calendar year to which the officer or employee is entitled for such purposes within the current calendar year; provided that the officer's or employee's entitlement to fifteen working days under this section for the succeeding calendar year shall be canceled and the officer or employee shall so agree in writing.