It depends on the facts, including the type of leave, whether the employment relationship continued, and how the dates sit within the relevant preceding period. The general requirement is one continuous year of qualifying employment abroad within a defined window, and how a gap affects that is a case-specific assessment for counsel.
Describe the leave rather than characterise it
State the dates, the reason, the contractual position, and whether pay or benefits continued. Avoid labels chosen because they sound better. If the person returned part-time before returning fully, record both transitions.
Employment records will usually support whatever the accurate account is, and an account that matches the payroll file is worth more than one shaped to fit an expectation. It helps to know which facts actually move the answer, so that the right ones are gathered. Whether the employment relationship subsisted during the leave, whether the person remained an employee of the qualifying entity, what the contractual position was, and exactly where each period sits inside the three-year window are all material.
Whether the leave was paid is a fact worth recording but not one to lead with. Assemble the documents that establish those points, including the contract, any variation letter and the payroll register, and present them without a conclusion attached, since the conclusion is an assessment rather than an arithmetic exercise.