Rights of the Conscript during Service: Salary and Leave
What worried an employee or worker most when enlisted was simple: will I keep my job, will my salary stop, and will my years towards promotion be lost? The office of lawyer Ali Barakat, in al-Yarmouk, Baghdad, sets out what the Military Service Law No. 65 of 1969 provided, then what the Military Service and Retirement Law No. 3 of 2010 grants a volunteer today.
Context first: the suspension
Since CPA Order No. 2 of 2003 there have been no compulsory conscripts, so the 1969 provisions here matter to men who served before then and want their time counted, and to anyone asking what would apply if service returned. A volunteer's rights, by contrast, apply today.
Keeping the job
Article 24 requires offices, institutions, factories and companies, whether public, private or mixed, with at least ten staff, to keep for anyone enlisted or recalled to the reserve his job or one of equal pay, and allows them to appoint a temporary replacement. The worker returns if he asks within thirty days of discharge, and must be reinstated within fifteen days of asking. A man disabled in service who cannot do his old job but can do another is returned to work matching his level and seniority. Reinstatement may be refused if the request is late, or if he does not take up work within ten days, without lawful excuse.
Promotion and seniority
Article 25 preserves an enlisted employee's promotions and increments as though he were working, adds his military service to his civil service for promotion, end-of-service award and retirement, and counts it towards confirmation if he was on probation. In war or active operations, service counts double for retirement on the stated conditions.
Salary
Article 53 gives employees of official and semi-official offices, banks and companies with legal personality who join compulsory service either their leave salary from their employer or the salary of their rank, whichever is higher. Article 52 set a table of conscripts' salaries by rank. A supporter under article 9 receives a volunteer soldier's salary.
Priority in hiring
Article 26 gives a man who completed compulsory service priority over fellow candidates for appointment, and preserves for one enlisted before ever being employed a seniority equal to that of his graduating class, if he applies straight after his service and enlistment had kept him from being appointed with them.
Travel and treatment
Article 56 makes an enlisted man's travel to his posting a state cost, as is a conscript's travel when sent for examination outside his area. Article 57 discharges him at the end of service and returns him home at state expense. Article 58 extends the service of a man under treatment in military hospitals at his request, with his salary continuing, for up to three months.
What is not counted
Article 54 excludes from service days spent in prison, absence, desertion, custody, detention, hospital and sick leave. Sick leave is a right, but it lengthens the stay.
A volunteer today: leave
Article 40 of Law No. 3 of 2010 gives a member of the military thirty days of fully paid annual leave for each year of service, allows part of it to be granted at his request, and lets leave accumulate up to a limit. Article 42 grants sick leave if he falls ill or is injured during service, on the report of official medical committees, with health care. Article 43 allows fully paid sick leave of up to two years for a contagious or incurable illness not caused by service. Article 8 refers salaries and increments to the law governing them.
If a right is refused
A refusal to reinstate an employee, or to count his service, is an administrative decision that can be challenged by grievance and appeal within the time limits. The general limits are in time limit for challenging a decision before the Administrative Judiciary Court.
Legal basis and sources
- Military Service Law No. 65 of 1969 (Official Gazette No. 1728 of 13/5/1969) — Articles 9, 24, 25, 26, 52, 53, 54, 56, 57 and 58
- Military Service and Retirement Law No. 3 of 2010 (Official Gazette No. 4143 of 8/2/2010) — Articles 8, 40, 42 and 43
- Coalition Provisional Authority Order No. 2 of 2003, Dissolution of Entities (Official Gazette No. 3977 of 17/6/2003)
Frequently asked questions
Does military service count towards an employee's service?
Yes. Article 25 adds it to his civil service for promotion, end-of-service award and retirement.
How much leave does a volunteer soldier get?
Thirty days on full pay for each year of service, under article 40 of Law No. 3 of 2010.
Must a private company keep a conscript's job?
Yes, if it has ten or more staff, under article 24.
Related topics and articles
- 01Reserve Service and RecallWho is a reservist under the Military Service Law No. 65 of 1969, the grounds for recall and who decides them, the age at which reserve duty ends, exceptions, salary and job during recall, and the penalty for not reporting.
- 02The Military Service Law versus the Military Service and Retirement LawA comparison of the Military Service Law No. 65 of 1969, covering suspended compulsory service, and the Military Service and Retirement Law No. 3 of 2010, covering officers and volunteers: scope, entry, duration, leaving, retirement, and the shared penal code.
- 03Time limit for challenging a decision before the Administrative Judiciary CourtTime limits for a grievance and a claim before the Administrative Judiciary Court: thirty days to grieve, thirty to decide, sixty days to file
- 04The Military Service Law: Who Is CoveredWho the Iraqi Military Service Law No. 65 of 1969 addresses: males up to forty-five, the invitee and the conscript, the age of liability, civil register ages, naturalised Iraqis, and the effect of the 2003 suspension.
- 05Study Deferment from Military ServiceHow the Military Service Law No. 65 of 1969 regulated student deferment: article 8, failing two years, postgraduate study up to thirty, studying abroad, the service booklet, and the annual review of deferred persons.