For City Council Meeting [November 15, 2022]
TO: Honorable Mayor and City Council
APPROVAL: Marcus Fuller, City Manager
FROM: Shama P. Curian, Director of Human Resources & Risk Management
Title
Request City Council to Adopt Resolution No. 7992 Approving the Industrial Disability Retirement of Justin Leysack.
Body
BACKGROUND
Justin Leysack is a 40-year-old Fire Engineer hired on September 22, 2009. Mr. Leysack has two workers' compensation claims that have been accepted and determined to have arisen out of employment with the City of Rialto.
Both workers' compensation claims involve upper extremities/shoulders: the most recent workers' compensation claim occurred on December 9, 2020, in which Mr. Leysack sustained injury to both shoulders when he tried to lift a heavy patient to perform CPR.
Mr. Leysack received right shoulder surgery on March 19, 2021. Independent Medical Examiner ("IME"), Dr. Bearman, determined that Mr. Leysack's surgery was not successful, and the injured worker developed Thoracic Outlet Syndrome as a result. Mr. Leysack has not reached Permanent and Stationary status, and on September 29, 2022, 1st rib resection surgery was approved which is medically reasonable for the thoracic outlet syndrome. On September 3, 2022, Mr. Leysack filed an Industrial Disability Application with the California Public Employees' Retirement System ("CalPERS").
ANALYSIS/DISCUSSION
For Local Safety Members enrolled in CalPERS, California Government Code 21156 sets forth the criteria for the City Council to decide that a public employee is incapacitated physically or mentally for the performance of their duties and is eligible to retire based on their disabling condition.
In accordance with the California Public Employees' Retirement Law ("PERL"), a local safety employee qualifies for an IDR if they 1) are determined, on the basis of competent medical opinion, to be substantially incapacitated from performing the usual and customary duties of their...
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