Title 9 of the Labor and Employment (“L&E”) Article of the Maryland Code, commonly referred to as a Workers’ Compensation Act (“the Act”), contains several favorable provisions for certain kinds of public safety employees.  Most notably, L&E § 9-628(h), which states that qualifying public safety employees shall receive permanent partial disability at least a tier two rate, even when entitled to less than 75 weeks of compensation.  Additionally, L&E § 9-503 presumes that certain types of occupational disease are causally related to the employment of qualifying public safety employees.

L&E § 9-628(a) defines public safety employees as follows:

(1) a firefighter, fire fighting instructor, or paramedic employed by:

(i) a municipal corporation;

(ii) a county;

(iii) the State;

(iv) the State Airport Authority; or

(v) a fire control district;

(2) a volunteer firefighter or volunteer ambulance, rescue, or advanced life support worker who is a covered employee under § 9-234 of this title and who provides volunteer fire or rescue services to:

(i) a municipal corporation;

(ii) a county;

(iii) the State;

(iv) the State Airport Authority; or

(v) a fire control district;

(3) a police officer employed by:

(i) a municipal corporation;

(ii) a county;

(iii) the State;

(iv) the State Airport Authority;

(v) the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission; or

(vi) the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority;

(4) a Prince George’s County deputy sheriff or correctional officer;

(5) a Montgomery County deputy sheriff or correctional officer;

(6) an Allegany County deputy sheriff;

(7) a Howard County deputy sheriff, but only when the deputy sheriff is performing law enforcement duties expressly requested, defined, and authorized in accordance with a written memorandum of understanding executed between the Howard County Sheriff and other law enforcement agencies; or

(8) an Anne Arundel County deputy sheriff.

 

Included in the definition of public safety employee under L&E § 9-503 are:

(a) A paid firefighter, paid fire fighting instructor, paid rescue squad member, paid advanced life support unit member, or sworn member of the Office of the State Fire Marshal employed by an airport authority, a county, a fire control district, a municipality, or the State or a volunteer firefighter, volunteer fire fighting instructor, volunteer rescue squad member, or volunteer advanced life support unit member

(b) A paid police officer employed by an airport authority, a county, the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, a municipality, or the State, a deputy sheriff of Montgomery County, a deputy sheriff of Anne Arundel County, deputy sheriff of Baltimore City, Montgomery County correctional officer, Prince George’s County deputy sheriff, Prince George’s County correctional officer, or deputy sheriff of Allegany County

(d) A paid law enforcement employee of the Department of Natural Resources and a park police officer of the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission

 

For the most part, L&E § 9-503 defines public safety employees similarly to L&E § 9-628(a).  That said, the two statutes are not identical, and thus it is imperative for all public safety employees to confirm that their particular position is expressly listed under § 9-503, in to order be sure that the presumption of compensability applies in a given case.

Lastly, effective October 1, 2015, included within the definition of public safety employees under L&E §§ 9-503(b) and (e), as well as 9-628(a) and (h), will be Anne Arundel County Detention Officers.