City Council members unanimously approved a new public safety workers’ compensation policy with an ordinance during a Nov. 21 meeting.
The gist
The ordinance split the city’s existing compensation policy for city employees into two—one for public safety workers and one for other city employees, Director of Human Resources Lauren Safranek said.
Public safety workers are defined in the policy as police officers, firefighters and emergency medical services employees, according to meeting documents.
Nonpublic safety workers will continue using the original compensation policy.
“House Bill 471 requires two major changes for which we feel a separate policy would be best suited for the city of Frisco,” Safranek said.
The major changes were:
- Offering one year of paid leave to recover from an illness or injury related to the person’s line of duty
- Offering one year of light duty while recovering from a temporary disability
“These two items are required,” Safranek said. “However, we do not feel that they're in the best inference to have in place for the entire city [staff] and to just limit these provisions for the police and fire public safety population as required by HB 471.”
What else?
Public safety employees can be reinstated at their same rank and seniority after recovery if they can perform the same essential functions of the position with or without any reasonable accommodation, according to policy documents.
