The compensation for patients employed under § 326-21 shall be set by the department of health; provided that in no case shall the compensation be less than the minimum wage as established by § 387-2.

Each patient employee of the department shall be entitled to and granted sick leave with pay and a vacation with pay each calendar year, each calculated at the following rate:

For patients working six hours a day, one and one-half days for each month of service;

For patients working five hours a day, one and one-quarter days for each month of service;

For patients working four hours a day, one day for each month of service.

A month of service is defined as eighty or more hours of work which may be accumulated over any period of time to total eighty hours. No more than twelve months of service may be earned and credited in any calendar year, even if the total number of hours worked should exceed nine hundred sixty hours.