Principles for Public Safety Employment

employer ordered an artificial transfer of a disabled firefighter from a shift assignment to a non-shift assignment to avoid having to pay him holiday pay. In contrast, in Mannetter v. County of Marin , the Court of Appeal held that holiday pay was not part of salary where a firefighter was not entitled to receive it unless he was assigned to work the holiday and actually did work the holiday. 334 The Mannetter court distinguished cases that stand only for the proposition that the word “salary” includes fringe benefits which “accrue incident to the employee’s service and which require nothing more of the employee than his being or remaining an employee in the service of the employer . [i.e.,] an employer may not curtail any benefit than an employee is entitled to at the time he sustains an industrial accident.” [Emphasis added.] However, according to the Court of Appeal, “this policy [to fully indemnify an employee for loss resulting from an industrial injury] does not include indemnification for benefits than an employee Might [capitalization in original] have received as a condition of employment during the period of time he was on a leave of absence.” Payments such as uniform allowance and vehicle allowance would likely be included within the definition of salary for purposes of section 4850 if an officer is entitled to them merely by remaining employed. But, if an officer’s receipt of the uniform allowance and vehicle allowance is dependent upon other conditions, e.g., incurring actual uniform and/or vehicle expenses, then these amounts are properly excluded from section 4850 compensation. B. W ORKERS ’ C OMPENSATION B ENEFITS FOR O FF -D UTY A CTS Peace officers are entitled to workers’ compensation benefits whenever injured, disabled, or killed performing his or her duties as a peace officer when not acting under the immediate direction of his or her employer, where engaged in the apprehension or attempted apprehension of individuals violating the law, the protection or preservation of life or property, or preservation of the peace anywhere in the State of California. 335 In response to injuries suffered by California peace officers in the 2017 mass shooting at the Route 91 music festival in Las Vegas, the Legislature moved to extend this statute to cover officers who engaged in the apprehension or attempted apprehension of individuals violating the law, the protection or preservation of life or property, or preservation of the peace outside California. Unlike the pre-existing provisions governing injuries in California, the out-of-state provisions are not mandatory. Instead, an employer, at its discretion or in accordance with policy, is not precluded from accepting liability for workers’ compensation for peace officer injuries sustained outside of the state. If the employer determines that providing workers’ compensation serves the public purposes of the employer, it may accept workers’ compensation liability for the injury. 336 C. S EPARATION FROM S ERVICE FOR D ISABILITY IS P ROHIBITED IF THE E MPLOYEE Q UALIFIES FOR A D ISABILITY R ETIREMENT Once a public safety employer becomes aware that an employee is permanently disabled and will not likely return to active duty, there is often an urge to “get rid of” the employee as soon as possible so another employee can be hired to take the injured employee’s place. While this

Principles for Public Safety Employment ©2022 (s) Liebert Cassidy Whitmore 104