July 01, 2008
Holding jobs for injured workers
Knowing their old job is waiting for them can provide a psychological boost to employees recovering from workplace injuries, but how long should a government employer be required to keep their positions unfilled?
Governor David Paterson will confront that question when a leave of absence bill hits his desk.
Currently, a public employee with a work-related disability is guaranteed his job if he returns to work within a year, provided he is physically and mentally capable and the job was not eliminated in the meantime. (If the employee was assaulted on the job, he is entitled to a leave of at least two years.)
The bill would extend the 12-month leave to 18 months, because, in the words of sponsors:
Workers who are injured in the performance of their duties should be allowed enough time to fully recover from their injuries without facing the loss of their right to return to work.
In vetoing the 2006 version of the bill, Governor Pataki wrote the sponsors failed to show the one-year period is "inadequate". He added the bill would:
...impose a burden on public employers, which could not permanently fill the employee's position until the end of the leave; and ... the benefits the bill would grant should be the subject of collective bargaining.
The state Association of Counties says the measure would:
...effectively render a municipality incapable of recruiting and retaining qualified individuals to provide essential services....[because prospective replacement employees would have to be told] they may be bumped out of that job by a former employee for periods ranging from 18 months to two years....
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