A volunteer safety officer is considered an employee of an agency that supervises the volunteer safety officer for the purpose of receiving workers’ compensation benefits under:
Terms Used In Utah Code 67-20-7
Agency: means :
(a)
a department, institution, office, college, university, authority, division, board, bureau, commission, council, or other agency of the state;
(b)
a county, city, town, school district, or special improvement or taxing district; or
State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes a state, district, or territory of the United States. See Utah Code 68-3-12.5
Volunteer: includes a juror or potential juror appearing in response to a summons for a trial jury or grand jury. See Utah Code 67-20-2
Volunteer safety officer: means an individual who:
(a)
provides services as a volunteer under the supervision of an agency; and
(b)
at the time the individual provides the services to the supervising agency described in Subsection (10)(a), the individual is:
(i)
exercising peace officer authority as provided in Section 53-13-102; or
(ii)
if the supervising agency described in Subsection (10)(a) is a fire department:
(A)
on the rolls of the supervising agency as a firefighter;
(B)
not regularly employed as a firefighter by the supervising agency; and
(C)
acting in a capacity that includes the responsibility for the extinguishment of fire. See Utah Code 67-20-2
In accordance with Section 34A-2-105, the workers’ compensation benefits described in Subsection (1) are the exclusive remedy against the supervising agency, or an officer, agent, or employee of the supervising agency, for all injuries and occupational diseases resulting from the volunteer safety officer’s services for the supervising agency as a volunteer safety officer.
(b)
For purposes of Subsection (2)(a), the supervising agency for whom the volunteer safety officer provides services as a volunteer safety officer is considered an employer of the volunteer safety officer.
(3)
To compute the workers’ compensation benefits for a volunteer safety officer described in Subsection (1), the average weekly wage of the volunteer safety officer shall be the state‘s average weekly wage at the time of the industrial accident or occupational disease that is the basis for the volunteer safety officer’s worker’s compensation claim.
Amended by Chapter 36, 2002 General Session Amended by Chapter 185, 2002 General Session Amended by Chapter 250, 2002 General Session
