California Legislature—2015–16 Regular Session

Assembly Bill No. 2493

Introduced by Assembly Member Atkins

February 19, 2016

An act to amend Section 4800 of the Labor Code, relating to disability.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 2493, as introduced, Atkins. Firefighters: disability.

Existing law makes a member of the Department of Justice falling within the “state peace officer/firefighter” class, as specified, who is disabled by injury arising out of and in the course of his or her duties, entitled to a leave of absence while so disabled without loss of salary, in lieu of disability payments, as specified, for a period of not exceeding one year.

This bill would make all rank-and-file and supervisory firefighters employed by Department of Forestry and Fire Protection entitled to that benefit regardless of whether the firefighter is assigned by the department to a position in fire prevention, fire suppression, or other capacity.

Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.  

Section 4800 of the Labor Code is amended to
read:

4800.  

(a)  begin delete Whenever any end delete begin insert If a end insert member of the Department of
Justice begin delete falling end delete begin insert who is end insert within the “state peace officer/firefighter”
class is disabled by injury arising out of and in the course of his
or her duties, he or she begin delete shall become end delete begin insert is end insert entitled, regardless of his
or her period of service with the Department of begin delete Justice end delete begin insert Justice, end insert to
begin insert a end insert leave of absence while so disabled without loss of salary, in lieu
of disability payments under this chapter, for a period of not
exceeding one year. This section begin delete shall apply end delete begin insert applies end insert only to
members of the Department of Justice whose principal duties
consist of active law enforcement and begin delete shall end delete begin insert does end insert not apply to
persons employed in the Department of Justice whose principal
duties are those of telephone operator, clerk, stenographer,
machinist, mechanic or otherwise clearly not begin delete falling end delete within the
scope of active law enforcement service, even though this person
is subject to occasional call or is occasionally called upon to
perform duties within the scope of active law enforcement service.

(b) This section begin delete shall apply end delete begin insert applies end insert to law enforcement officers
employed by the Department of Fish and Wildlife who are
described in subdivision (e) of Section 830.2 of the Penal Code.

(c) This section begin delete shall apply end delete begin insert applies end insert to harbor police officers
employed by the San Francisco Port Commission who are
described in Section 20402 of the Government Code.

begin insert

(d) This section applies to all rank-and-file and supervisory
firefighters employed by Department of Forestry and Fire
Protection regardless of whether the firefighter is assigned by the
department to a position in fire prevention, fire suppression, or
other capacity.

end insert begin delete

(d)

end delete

begin insert (e) end insert  This section begin delete shall end delete begin insert does end insert not apply to periods of disability
which occur subsequent to termination of employment by
resignation, retirement or dismissal. begin delete When end delete begin insert In those circumstances
in which end insert this section does not apply, the employee begin delete shall be end delete begin insert is end insert
eligible for those benefits which would apply if this section had
not been enacted.