A. Whenever any member currently working in a position identified by paragraph 6 of Section 2-300 of this title or Section 2-314 of this title and enrolled in the Oklahoma Law Enforcement Retirement System is injured in the line of duty, an Injury Review Board consisting of one member to be appointed by the member's employer, one member to be appointed by the Director of the Office of Management and Enterprise Services and one member to be appointed by the Governor shall convene to determine if the injured member was actually injured in the line of duty and whether the injured member should be granted leave because of the injury. The Injury Review Board may, in its discretion, grant the injured member leave when necessary, not to exceed one hundred sixty-five (165) working days for the illness or injury.

B. For the purpose of this section, "illness or injury" shall include any serious illness or serious injury caused by or contracted during the performance of the member's duty. Every state agency which employs persons eligible for membership in the Oklahoma Law Enforcement Retirement System shall participate in the joint promulgation of a rule which shall set out mutually agreeable guidelines for the categorization of an illness or injury as serious. Upon promulgation of the rule, each of the state agencies shall individually adopt the rule. The wording of the rule, as adopted and as amended by the agencies from time to time, shall remain in conformity for each of the state agencies.

C. The three-member Injury Review Board shall be convened following a written request submitted by the injured member to the injured member's employer. The employer shall forward the request to the Director of the Office of Management and Enterprise Services. The employer may submit the request on behalf of an injured member. The Director's appointee shall then convene and chair the Injury Review Board. The Injury Review Board may request the injured member to submit to an examination by a physician selected by the Board at the employer's expense to assist the Board in making a decision. A decision to grant or deny such paid leave shall be determined by concurrence in writing of not less than two Injury Review Board members. If granted, said leave shall be paid by the employing agency.

D. While such leave is being paid, the employee shall continue to accrue leave and service credit at the same rate as before the illness or injury. The employee's portion of health, dental, life and disability insurance premiums and the employee's contribution to the Oklahoma Law Enforcement Retirement System shall be deducted by the employing agency from the paid leave and remitted to the appropriate agencies, in the same manner as before the illness or injury.

Added by Laws 1988, c. 267, § 26, operative July 1, 1988. Amended by Laws 1995, c. 294, § 3, eff. July 1, 1995; Laws 2002, c. 399, § 7, eff. July 1, 2002; Laws 2003, c. 486, § 2, eff. July 1, 2003; Laws 2004, c. 418, § 7, eff. July 1, 2004; Laws 2006, 2nd Ex. Sess., c. 46, § 29, eff. July 1, 2006; Laws 2012, c. 304, § 173.