(A) Employees injured in the course of and arising out of their employment under such circumstances as would cause such injury or disability to be compensable under the Worker's Compensation laws of the State of Ohio will be eligible to participate in the City's salary continuation program.
(1) Employees sustaining a work-related injury that requires medical attention at a medical treatment facility (i.e., sprains, simple fractures, etc.) will be transported to and treated by a program physician or medical facility. The program physician, along with rendering a diagnosis and prognosis, will determine if the employee is capable of returning to regular duties, whether a transitional work assignment is appropriate, and the necessary rehabilitation plan to be followed; this plan will include the duration of any transitional work assignment, not to exceed thirty (30) calendar days, and indicate any physical therapy the injured employee may require. The program physician(s) may require follow-up medical evaluations.
(2) Employees sustaining a work related emergency/trauma injury (i.e., life threatening, severe body injury) may be treated at any medical treatment facility to which emergency medical personnel transport them. The employee will subsequently be examined by the program physician. The designated program physician will determine if the employee is capable of returning to regular duties or if a transitional work assignment is appropriate and the necessary rehabilitation plan to be followed; this opinion will include the duration of any transitional work assignment, not to exceed thirty (30) calendar days, and indicate any physical therapy the injured employee may require. The program physician(s) may require follow-up medical evaluations.
(3) An employee may, after the initial evaluation by the program physician, elect to continue treatment with their personal physician. The employee will sign any necessary waivers to allow their personal physician(s) to release information to the program physician. The employee's personal physician will be the physician of record for Worker's Compensation purposes.
(B) Upon the program physician's determination that an injury requires the employee to be off work, wherein the employee reports said injury within twenty-four (24) hours of the incident of illness or injury, completes the injury packet, salary continuation shall be granted by the Department of Human Resources for up to sixty (60) calendar days. Should such disability exceed sixty (60) calendar days, the Director of Human Resources, on application therefor and proof of continued disability, may extend the period during which such person is carried on the regular payroll. The length of such extended period or periods shall not exceed two (2) years.
Salary continuation extension requests, accompanied by a "Statement of Attending Physician" setting forth the illness or injury and the need for additional time, must be presented to the Director of Human Resources prior to the expiration of the original sixty (60) day disability period. If the above requirements are not fulfilled, the request for injury pay extension will may not be considered.
(C) Worker's Compensation: At the expiration of the injury leave granted, if the employee is still unable to return to work, the employee may elect in writing to use accumulated sick and other accrued time. If the employee is still unable to return to work, payment of salary continuation will be stopped and the injured worker may apply to the Bureau of Workers' Compensation for compensation benefits.
(D) Employees who sustain injuries in the course of and arising out of their employment under such circumstances as would cause such injury or disability to be compensable under the Worker's Compensation laws of the State of Ohio who choose not to be evaluated by the program physician and go only to the physician of their choice are not entitled to any salary continuation benefits contained in this collective bargaining agreement. Any and all work-related injury claims will be processed through and conform with the Worker's Compensation Act.
(E) False Claim: The City reserves the right to recoup salary continuation benefit payments to any employee who is guilty of submitting a false claim, or abuse of the privileges covered in this section, or working for another employer while on injury leave, and may take disciplinary action.
(F) An employee working in a transitional work assignment will be compensated at their regular rate of pay. With regard to the rights of other employees, the employee in the transitional assignment will be deemed not to be working out of classification.
Transitional work assignments will be identified by the Chief/Director of the Department in consultation with the Department of Human Resources.