Andy

Snipe, I'd be glad to.

I've posted some of this stuff on both this board and flightinfo, so sorry for any repeat info.

For the leave of absence (not mil lv) guys, they can only be on leave of absence for up to 24 months (not 100% positive on 24 months, but pretty sure). Those returning from furlough could go on leave of absence on the FIRST pass when recalled, but not when they went back up through the seniority list. United hit the bottom of the recall list ~Jan 07; maybe Feb 07. That means that the bulk of the 187 leave of absences (as of end of Jan 08) will have returned by Feb 09. Of those who come off of leave of absence, we've had a 10-20% attrition rate. With the hiring freeze, that number may increase. A lot of those guys took leave of absence to hedge themselves in case their current job didn't look as good. I'm sure that there are some UPS, FedEx, SWA, CAL, USAirways pilots on leave of absence.

For mil leave, there were 644 on mil leave in January. Some are on active duty, others are Guard/Reserve and will be hitting the 1095 day rolling calendar restriction in September. Here's an explanation I posted on flightinfo:

Just to clarify. You're talking two different things.

1) USERRA law. Employers are required to allow employees to serve up to 5 years in the military and continue to hold their job for them. At United, it is 6 years (5yrs 9mos plus an additional 3 mos off of orders prior to returning). I was offered the 3 mos when I come off of orders, but declined.

2) The number of days the reserves will allow you to serve without counting against active duty rolls. This used to be 179 man days in any fiscal year. To keep the active duty numbers down and have reserves serve full time, that changed almost 3 years ago. It went to 1095 days (3 years) in a rolling 1460 day (4 years) calendar.
If you exceed 1095 days, you count against the active rolls. The military does NOT want this to happen, and may rework this rule. Rumor is that if you take a 'time out' in September, the clock starts all over again next fiscal year. We'll see.
If there are no changes, there will be a lot of reservists coming off of man day orders and back to work for the airlines.


I hope this helps explain it.