Q:  Is Labor Code §4850 pay owed if a safety person, who may be certified TTD, takes regular time off work?

A:  If there is no loss of salary, then no. Labor Code §4850 requires any person listed in subdivision (b), who is employed on a regular, full-time basis, and is disabled, whether temporarily or permanently, by injury or illness arising out of and in the course of his or her duties, shall become entitled to a leave of absence while so disabled without loss of salary in lieu of temporary disability payments.

So, as long as there is no loss of salary, §4850 time is not due or owing. Labor Code §4850 does not serve to establish either entitlement to sick leave beyond its own ambit nor the extent of such sick leave. It only provides that during the period of disability, there shall be no loss of salary, including sick leave benefits, but it does not create the salary or any other benefit, nor purport to continue entitlement to any benefit beyond the period of disability it defines. Campbell v. City of Monrovia (1978) 84 Cal.App.3d 341,148.

A deputy sheriff was not entitled to an additional payment even under a provision of a collective bargaining agreement that “an employee who is required to work on a day celebrated as a holiday… shall be compensated at one and one-half time rates.” The provision clearly meant an individual is entitled to time and one-half when he is required to work and does actually work, and it was not construed by the court as meaning scheduled to work or required to work but does not work for a justifiable reason. Mannetter v. County of Marin (1976) 62 Cal App.3d 518,133.

This answer must be qualified: if an entity has any collective bargaining agreements they must abide by its terms on this issue, so this is a general answer only.