AN ACT Relating to industrial insurance; amending RCW 51.32.090; adding a new section to chapter 51.32 RCW; and creating a new section.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. The legislature finds that police and fire personnel are exposed to great and unexpected danger. The legislature finds that these professions, which are necessary to preserve the peace of this state, and protect the lives and property of its citizenry, require the person so employed to work on premises and under circumstances over which the employer has no effective control. The legislature finds that the person so employed, by the nature of the profession, must perform his or her duties regardless of the risk involved, in the interest of public safety. The legislature further finds that disabilities arising out of actions performed in the line of duty are not being adequately compensated for police and fire personnel under the provisions of Title 51 RCW.

Sec. 2. Section 51.32.090, chapter 23, Laws of 1961 as last amended by section 1, chapter 129, Laws of 1980 and RCW 51.32.090 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) When the total disability is only temporary, the schedule of payments contained in subdivisions (1) through (13) of RCW 51.32.060 as amended shall apply, so long as the total disability continues.

(2) Any compensation payable under this section for children not in the custody of the injured worker as of the date of injury shall be payable only to such person as actually is providing the support for such child or children pursuant to the order of a court of record providing for support of such child or children.

(3) (a) As soon as recovery is so complete that the present earning power of the worker, at any kind of work, is restored to that existing at the time of the occurrence of the injury, the payments shall cease. If and so long as the present earning power is only partially restored, the payments shall continue in the proportion which the new earning power shall bear to the old, except as provided in (b) of this subsection. No compensation shall be payable unless the loss of earning power shall exceed five percent.

(b) Police officers and fire fighters as defined under RCW 41.26.030, who were employed on or after October 1, 1977, shall not be required to participate in any work other than law enforcement or fire fighting, as the case may be, unless the salary of the new job pays the injured employee a minimum of seventy-five percent of the basic salary the employee was earning before the injury. The determination of basic salary shall be pursuant to RCW 41.26.030.

Compensation payable under this title shall continue so long as the police officer or fire fighter is unable to return to normal employment as determined by a physician under this title. Compensation shall not be reduced or canceled for an employee's nonacceptance of another kind of work, unless the new work pays at least seventy-five percent of the employee's normal salary. If a police officer's or fire fighter's earning power is only partially restored and a physician releases the employee as set forth in subsection (4) of this section, the police officer or fire fighter may be required to accept the new work even if the salary is less than the seventy-five percent requirement set forth in this section, as long as the payments under this title compensate to make up the difference between the salary earned and the seventy-five percent requirement set forth in this section.

(4) Whenever an employer requests that a worker who is entitled to temporary total disability under this chapter be certified by a physician as able to perform available work other than his or her usual work, the employer shall furnish to the physician, with a copy to the worker, a statement describing the available work in terms that will enable the physician to relate the physical activities of the job to the worker's disability. The physician shall then determine whether the worker is physically able to perform the work described. If the worker is released by his or her physician for said work, and the work thereafter comes to an end before the worker's recovery is sufficient in the judgment of his or her physician to permit him or her to return to his or her usual job, or to perform other available work, the worker's temporary total disability payments shall be resumed. Should the available work described, once undertaken by the worker, impede his or her recovery to the extent that in the judgment of his or her physician he or she should not continue to work, the worker's temporary total disability payments shall be resumed when the worker ceases such work.

Once the worker returns to work under the terms of this subsection, he or she shall not be assigned by the employer to work other than the available work described without the worker's written consent, or without prior review and approval by the worker's physician.

In the event of any dispute as to the worker's ability to perform the available work offered by the employer, the department shall make the final determination.

(5) No worker shall receive compensation for or during the day on which injury was received or the three days following the same, unless his or her disability shall continue for a period of fourteen consecutive calendar days from date of injury: PROVIDED, That attempts to return to work in the first fourteen days following the injury shall not serve to break the continuity of the period of disability if the disability continues fourteen days after the injury occurs.

(6) Should a worker suffer a temporary total disability and should his or her employer at the time of the injury continue to pay him or her the wages which he or she was earning at the time of such injury, such injured worker shall not receive any payment provided in subsection (1) of this section during the period his or her employer shall so pay such wages.

(7) In no event shall the monthly payments provided in this section exceed seventy-five percent of the average monthly wage in the state as computed under the provisions of RCW 51.08.018.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. A new section is added to chapter 51.32 RCW to read as follows:

(1) If the determination of a physician certifies a police officer or fire fighter, as defined under RCW 41.26.030, who was employed on or after October 1, 1977, to perform available work other than his or her usual work, the city or county that employs the officer or fire fighter shall locate within the local government body a job which he or she may perform under RCW 51.32.090(4). The employer shall pay the police officer or fire fighter the salary attached to the new work or seventy-five percent of the basic salary he or she was earning as a police officer or fire fighter, whichever is greater. However, at no time may the local government employer pay the employee less than seventy-five percent of the basic salary the employee was earning as a police officer or fire fighter, when the employee assumes a new job, unless the employee voluntarily waives the seventy-five percent requirement. The local government employer shall locate the employee a new job as soon as an appropriate job becomes available. The local government employer shall employ an employee who is affected by this title over all other applicants, giving the police officer or fire fighter first priority.

No employer is required to create a job for a police officer or fire fighter affected by this title. However, when a job becomes available by virtue of a vacancy, a newly created position, or other means, and the employee is certified to perform the work in question, the local government employer shall be required to fill the job with the police officer or fire fighter. In the event of any dispute as to an employer having another form of work available, or as to the employer not giving the police officer or fire fighter first priority, or the employee's ability to perform the available work, the department shall make the final determination.

(2) So long as a police officer or fire fighter is employed by the employer for which the police officer or fire fighter was working when disabled, even if he or she is working in a different job by virtue of subsection (1) of this section, the police officer or fire fighter shall continue to remain a member of the law enforcement officers' and fire fighters' retirement system under chapter 41.26 RCW and shall continue to make the contributions required by that title.