Episode 37: New State Law and Pool Coverage: First Responder Illness or Injury Leave of Absence at Full Pay Artwork

Local Officials: Stronger, Together Podcast

The Texas Municipal League Intergovernmental Risk Pool proudly introduces the Local Officials: Stronger, Together Podcast Series. The Pool is producing this regular podcast series, which has been dubbed STP, to help local officials (and managers and staff) understand key operational and legal concepts, and the services the Pool provides. After arming members with that information, each 15-minute episode will give easy action items to help keep your citizens, employees, volunteers, and property safe, all while saving public dollars. City council members can earn up to 19 Texas Municipal League Institute CEUs for listening to the podcasts. To receive CEUs for a particular episode, an elected official must provide a description of the episode, which must be educational in nature, pertain to municipal leadership, and should enhance your service as an elected official, for TML approval. Attorneys who listen to podcasts may be eligible for up to three hours of self-study CLE credit. Please refer to the State Bar CLE compliance rules for more information.

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Local Officials: Stronger, Together Podcast

Episode 37: New State Law and Pool Coverage: First Responder Illness or Injury Leave of Absence at Full Pay

September 20, 2024 • Scott Houston • Season 1 • Episode 37

In this episode, host Scott Houston – and guest TML General Counsel Bill Longley – explain H.B. 471 (effective September 1, 2023) and TML Risk Pool coverage designed to assist Members with compliance costs. The bill enacted a new state law (Local Government Code Chapter 177A) that requires a city (and any other political subdivision) to provide a firefighter, police officer, or emergency medical services employee a leave of absence for an illness or injury related to their line of duty. The leave is with “full pay” for a period “commensurate with the nature of the line of duty illness or injury,” up to at least one year. The complex bill also requires a city to provide additional benefits, including a light-duty return to work option.

The benefit required by the bill appears to be offset by indemnity benefits provided by the city’s workers’ compensation benefits. In other words, the bill doesn’t seem to require a city to pay a first responder’s full salary in addition to workers’ compensation income benefits. It presumably requires only that the city make up the differential or “gap” between workers’ compensation benefits and the first responders’ “full pay.”

Beginning October 1, 2024, the TML Risk Pool will provide a line of coverage that can assist Members with some of the costs to offset the pay gap. More specifically, a Pool Member with Workers’ Compensation and General Liability Coverage can elect to purchase the “Reimbursement of First Responder Injury/Illness Leave Supplemental Income Gap Expenses” Endorsement.

The Endorsement is designed to help a Member offset some of the “gap” using a pre-set formula based on workers’ compensation benefit calculations. To emphasize, the payment is to the Member entity, not the individual first responder. Depending on a first responder’s pay, how a city implements H.B. 471, and other factors, the endorsement may not fully cover the “gap” between a first responder’s workers’ compensation benefit and their “full pay.”

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Scott Houston

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