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—3— AB 2378 1 of temporary disability payments or maintenance allowance 2 payments while the public safety officer or firefighter is recovering 3 from a disability arising out of and in the course of his or her duties. 4 (t) The Legislature, in enacting AB 338, did not intend to limit 5 or reduce the amount of payments made to a public safety officer 6 or firefighter during his or her period of temporary disability. 7 (g) In January 2013,California's Court of Appeal, First District, 8 Division 4, issued a ruling in County of Alameda v. Workers' 9 Compensation Appeals Board (Knittel) (2013) 213 Cal.App.4th 10 278,which linked the limitations on temporary disability indemnity 11 payments established by Section 4656 of the Labor Code and the 12 payments provided under Article 6 (commencing with Section 13 4800) and Article 7 (commencing with Section 4850) of Chapter 14 2 of Part 2 of Division 4 of the Labor Code. 15 (h) Knittel starkly contradicts a longstanding, prevailing 16 authority on this issue, including several Workers'Compensation 17 Appeals Board decisions,that determined that the leave of absence 18 afforded under Article 6 (commencing with Section 4800) and 19 Article 7 (commencing with Section 4850)of Chapter 2 of Part 2 20 of Division 4 of the Labor Code is not a temporary disability 21 indemnity benefit, and, therefore does not count against an 22 industrially injured public safety officer's allowable number of 23 compensable weeks of temporary disability indemnity payments. 24 (i) In rendering Knittel, the court attributed this new 25 interpretation aggregating both the temporary disability indemnity 26 payments and the salary in lieu payments to public safety officers 27 (Article 6 (commencing with Section 4800) and Article 7 28 (commencing with Section 4850)of Chapter 2 of Part 2 of Division 29 4 of the Labor Code) to the subtleties of the language changes 30 found in AB 338. 31 (j) This interpretation has also disenfranchised and potentially 32 created a disability bias against the small number of public safety 33 officers and firefighters who suffer severe industrial injuries as a 34 matter of course and rely upon the in lieu of salary payments in 35 addition to the temporary disability indemnity afforded to all 36 workers under the California system. 37 (k) It is imperative that the Legislature abrogate the holding in 38 Knittel and restore the Legislature's intent to limit aggregate 39 temporary disability indemnity payments under Section 4656 of 40 the Labor Code for a single injury causing temporary disability 98