Section 143.073 of the Texas Local Government Code (TLGC) permits a firefighter or police officer a leave-of-absence for an illness or injury related to the person's line of duty with full pay for a period up to one year if necessary. Section 143.073 also allows an injured police officer or firefighter to request from the City Council an extension of the injury leave-of-absence for full or reduced pay upon the expiration of the one year period.
On March 3, 2015, City Council adopted Resolution No. 4420-03-2015 (City Resolution) which states in pertinent part:
"On a going-forward basis, in lieu of individual extension requests that can be granted by the City Council under Section 143.073 of the TLGC, fire fighters and police officers with medically-documented job-related illnesses or injuries will be granted up to two years of occupational leave per each job-related illness or injury (commensurate with the injury or illness and as medically necessary and related to the compensable illness or injury) which may be used intermittently.
The only exception to the two-year limitation shall be in situations where, at the time the two-year period ends, the firefighter or police officer has not yet reached Maximum Medical Improvement (MMI) as provided for under Section 408.104 of the Texas Labor Code which is currently limited to spinal surgery. In these instances, occupational leave will be available until MMI is reached." However, due to the delays from her physician in providing proper/required documentation and the limited nature of the extension of time, the City's Risk Management Department recommends approving her 90 day extension request for the period beginning May 31, 2018 through August 29, 2018.
Police Officer Kellie Whitehead was injured in the line of duty on March 30, 2016, and she began losing intermittent time on April 4, 2016. Officer Whitehead subsequently reached maximum medical improvement on March 31, 2017. Officer Whitehead has been unable to return to work in any capacity. Officer Whitehead's two-year occupational leave period expired May 30, 2018. Officer Whitehead is still under a physician's care, recovering from spinal surgery on May 17, 2018.
Pursuant to the City Council Resolution, Officer Whitehead would be ineligible for an extension of Occupational Injury Leave having reached MMI on March 31, 2017. Due to Officer Whitehead's ongoing inability to return to work in any capacity, HR Risk Management staff recommends Officer Whitehead's second request for an extension of Occupational Leave in the amount of $21,377.20 for the period May 31, 2018 through August 29, 2018 be approved. If the request is denied, Officer Whitehead will be able to maintain full pay by use of accumulated leave benefits. As of June 7, 2018, Officer Whitehead had the following paid leave available: 125.50 hours of holiday accrual, 389.61 hours of vacation, 281.23 hours of sick leave, 41.00 hours of non-exempt comp time, 16.00 hours of family illness and 8.00 hours of personal holiday, for a total of 861.34 hours of available leave.
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