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 fire fighter 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."
Police Officer Tim Dean was injured in the line of duty on November 22, 2012 and he began losing time on November 28, 2012. Officer Dean reached maximum medical improvement on December 2, 2014. Prior to City Council' s adoption of Resolution No. 4420-03-2015, Officer Dean requested and was granted a third extension of occupational injury leave, which expired on January 25, 2015. Officer Dean then returned to work in a limited duty capacity on February 16, 2015 and was released to full duty on September 21, 2017. Officer Dean subsequently received authorization from his doctor and insurance carrier for spinal surgery related to the initial injury, which he underwent on June 14, 2018. Officer Dean returned to work full-duty on 9/4/2018 and is currently working. He used his accumulated leave for the 82 days he was out of work due to the surgery.
Pursuant to the City Council Resolution, Officer Dean would be ineligible for a fourth extension of Occupational Injury Leave having reached MMI on December 12, 2014. HR Risk Management staff recommends that Officer Dean's fourth request for an extension of Occupational Leave in the amount of $22,754.67 for the period June14, 2018 through September 3, 2018 be denied. Although Staff recommends denial of this leave of absence extension, the City Council has the discretion to approve the extension if it chooses. If the request is denied, Officer Dean will not be reimbursed for the accumulated leave used during the 82 days he was off work and as of December 28, 2018, Officer Dean would still have the following paid leave available: 125.0 hours of holiday accrual, 206.99 hours of vacation, 561.11hours of sick leave, 16.0 hours of non-exempt comp time, and 8.00 hours of personal holiday, for a total of 917.10 hours of available leave
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