HB2260 96TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB096 09825 JAM 19988 b

96TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2009 and 2010
HB2260

Introduced 2/18/2009, by Rep. William B. Black

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

5 ILCS 345/1

from Ch. 70, par. 91

Amends the Public Employee Disability Act. Provides that if an employee subject to the Act is medically released as capable of performing light duties, that employee may be reassigned light duties and return to work.

A BILL FOR

AN ACT concerning government.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly:

Section 5. The Public Employee Disability Act is amended by changing Section 1 as follows:

(5 ILCS 345/1) (from Ch. 70, par. 91)

Sec. 1. Disability benefit.

(a) For the purposes of this Section, "eligible employee" means any part-time or full-time State correctional officer or any other full or part-time employee of the Department of Corrections, any full or part-time employee of the Prisoner Review Board, any full or part-time employee of the Department of Human Services working within a penal institution or a State mental health or developmental disabilities facility operated by the Department of Human Services, and any full-time law enforcement officer or full-time firefighter who is employed by the State of Illinois, any unit of local government (including any home rule unit), any State supported college or university, or any other public entity granted the power to employ persons for such purposes by law.

(b) Whenever an eligible employee suffers any injury in the line of duty which causes him to be unable to perform his duties, he shall continue to be paid by the employing public entity on the same basis as he was paid before the injury, with no deduction from his sick leave credits, compensatory time for overtime accumulations or vacation, or service credits in a public employee pension fund during the time he is unable to perform his duties due to the result of the injury, but not longer than one year in relation to the same injury. However, no injury to an employee of the Department of Corrections or the Prisoner Review Board working within a penal institution or an employee of the Department of Human Services working within a departmental mental health or developmental disabilities facility shall qualify the employee for benefits under this Section unless the injury is the direct or indirect result of violence by inmates of the penal institution or residents of the mental health or developmental disabilities facility.

(b-5) If an eligible employee covered by subsection (b) is medically released as capable of performing light duties, that employee may be reassigned light duties and return to employment. The employee's pre-injury duties shall be restored when that employee is medically released as capable of performing those pre-injury duties or when this Act no longer applies, whichever occurs earlier.

(c) At any time during the period for which continuing compensation is required by this Act, the employing public entity may order at the expense of that entity physical or medical examinations of the injured person to determine the degree of disability.

(d) During this period of disability, the injured person shall not be employed in any other manner, with or without monetary compensation. Any person who is employed in violation of this paragraph forfeits the continuing compensation provided by this Act from the time such employment begins. Any salary compensation due the injured person from workers' compensation or any salary due him from any type of insurance which may be carried by the employing public entity shall revert to that entity during the time for which continuing compensation is paid to him under this Act. Any disabled person receiving compensation under the provisions of this Act shall not be entitled to any benefits for which he would qualify because of his disability under the provisions of the Illinois Pension Code.

(e) Any employee of the State of Illinois, as defined in Section 14-103.05 of the Illinois Pension Code, who becomes permanently unable to perform the duties of such employment due to an injury received in the active performance of his duties as a State employee as a result of a willful act of violence by another employee of the State of Illinois, as so defined, committed during such other employee's course of employment and after January 1, 1988, shall be eligible for benefits pursuant to the provisions of this Section. For purposes of this Section, permanently disabled is defined as a diagnosis or prognosis of an inability to return to current job duties by a physician licensed to practice medicine in all of its branches.

(f) The compensation and other benefits provided to part-time employees covered by this Section shall be calculated based on the percentage of time the part-time employee was scheduled to work pursuant to his or her status as a part-time employee.

(g) Pursuant to paragraphs (h) and (i) of Section 6 of Article VII of the Illinois Constitution, this Act specifically denies and limits the exercise by home rule units of any power which is inconsistent herewith, and all existing laws and ordinances which are inconsistent herewith are hereby superseded. This Act does not preempt the concurrent exercise by home rule units of powers consistent herewith.

This Act does not apply to any home rule unit with a population of over 1,000,000.

(Source: P.A. 88-45; 89-507, eff. 7-1-97.)