However, if the district has failed to adopt a policy or bargaining agreement specifying the 60 days, there is no 60-day limit. Industrial leave does not accumulate from year to year. For certificated employees, industrial leave starts on the first day of absence after exhaustion of the annual allotment of 10 sick leave days. For certificated employees, the 5-month differential period does not begin until industrial leave has been exhausted. Pay for wages lost due to absence, when added to any workers compensation award, shall not exceed the normal daily wage.
Industrial leave is reduced by one day for each day of absence.
If the 60 days overlap into the next fiscal year, only the remainder is carried forward for the same illness or injury. For purposes of these additional benefits, the absence is deemed to have started at the end of the 60-day period. Since annual and accumulated leave is not charged against the employee during the 60 days of industrial accident leave, the result is that part of Education Code section 44984 is effectively superceded by newer and more specific language. If he is able to return to work during that period, he shall be returned to work in a position for which he is credentialed and qualified. Although the law does not specify what happens if this period expires before the employee may return, we believe he may be deemed to be terminated.