By: Muñoz, Jr. H.B. No. 995
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to line of duty illness or injury leave for sheriff's
department civil service systems in certain counties.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter B, Chapter 158, Local Government
Code, is amended by adding Section 158.053:
Sec. 158.053. LINE OF DUTY ILLNESS OR INJURY LEAVE OF
ABSENCE. (a) A county shall provide to an employee a leave of
absence for an illness or injury related to the employee's
activities performed in the line of duty. The leave is with full pay
for a period commensurate with the nature of the line of duty
illness or injury. If necessary, the leave shall continue for at
least one year.
(b) At the end of the one-year period, the county's
governing body may extend the line of duty illness or injury leave
at full or reduced pay. If the employee's leave is not extended or
the employee's salary is reduced below 60 percent of the employee's
regular monthly salary, and the employee is a member of a pension
fund, the employee may retire on pension until the employee is able
to return to duty.
(c) If pension benefits are not available to an employee who
is temporarily disabled by a line of duty injury or illness and if
the year at full pay and any extensions granted by the governing
body have expired, the employee may use accumulated sick leave,
vacation time, and other accumulated time before the employee is
placed on temporary leave.
(d) If an employee is temporarily disabled by an injury or
illness that is not related to activities performed in the
employee's line of duty, the employee may use all sick leave,
vacation time, and other accumulated time before the employee is
placed on temporary leave.
(e) After recovery from a temporary disability, an employee
shall be reinstated at the same rank and with the same seniority the
employee had before going on temporary leave.
(f) While an employee who is temporarily disabled is on
leave, another employee may voluntarily do the work of the employee
who is temporarily disabled or donate leave time to maintain the
salary for the employee who is temporarily disabled until the
temporarily disabled employee returns to duty.
Sec. 158.052. REAPPOINTMENT AFTER RECOVERY FROM
DISABILITY. With the commission's approval and if otherwise
qualified, an employee who has been certified by a physician
selected by a pension fund as having recovered from a disability for
which the employee has been receiving a monthly disability pension
is eligible for reappointment to the classified position that the
employee held on the date the employee qualified for the monthly
disability pension.
SECTION 2. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
Act takes effect September 1, 2023.