Summary as Introduced
Amends the Public Employee Disability Act. Provides that, whenever an eligible employee suffers any injury or illness in the line of duty (rather than suffers any injury in the line of duty) which causes that employee to be unable to perform the employee's duties, the employee shall continue to be paid by the employing public entity on the same gross pay basis, inclusive of all pensionable salary, as the employee was paid before the injury (rather than paid by the employing public entity on the same basis as he was paid before the injury), with no deduction from and with continued accrual of any sick leave credits (rather than with no deduction from his sick leave credits) and specified other compensation, with other requirements. Makes technical changes.
Staff Analysis
Bill as Introduced (Opposed)
The bill amends the Public Employee Disability Act. Provides that, whenever an eligible employee suffers any injury or illness in the line of duty (rather than suffers any injury in the line of duty) which causes that employee to be unable to perform the employee's duties, the employee shall continue to be paid by the employing public entity on the same gross pay basis, inclusive of all pensionable salary, as the employee was paid before the injury (rather than paid by the employing public entity on the same basis as he was paid before the injury), with no deduction from and with continued accrual of any sick leave credits (rather than with no deduction from his sick leave credits) and specified other compensation, with other requirements. Makes technical changes.
House Amendment 1 (No Position)
House Amendment 1 significantly refines the scope of the original bill by providing a strict legal definition for what constitutes an "illness in the line of duty." While the introduced version of HB 4491 simply added the word "illness" to the Act, this amendment clarifies that eligible conditions must be contagious or infectious diseases contracted during duty, ailments resulting from occupational exposure to toxic substances, or specific mental health conditions like PTSD that are directly attributable to traumatic service events. Furthermore, it introduces a rebuttable presumption for firefighters and certain law enforcement officers, meaning that respiratory issues, heart disease, or specific cancers are legally presumed to be service-connected if the employee passed a baseline physical exam upon hire.
The amendment also adds procedural safeguards and financial clarifications to the disability benefit process. It specifies that if an employee seeks the 60-day extension for recovery, the employing public entity maintains the right to require a second medical opinion from a physician of its choosing to verify the necessity of the continued leave. To prevent "double recovery," the amendment explicitly mandates that any payments an employee receives under the Workers’ Occupational Diseases Act for the same period must be subrogated to the public employer, ensuring the disability benefit remains a coordinated form of compensation rather than an additional windfall.
Finally, the amendment completes a comprehensive technical cleanup of the existing statute to ensure the language is entirely gender-neutral. It replaces all remaining references to "he," "him," or "his" with "the employee" or "the employee’s" throughout the sections governing correctional officers, mental health facility employees, and other protected classes. By consolidating these changes into a single substitute text, Amendment 1 transforms the broad intent of the original bill into a more regulated and defined framework for handling non-injury disability claims in the public sector.