Opinion ID: 1180801
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: sick leave

Text: Napier's employment contract provides in pertinent part: The firefighters will have the protection of either the provisions of sick leave in this Article of the contract, or the disability provisions of LEOFF I [RCW 41.26]. If the leave is of a long-term duration and if the LEOFF I provisions are reasonably available, applications must be made to the LEOFF I system. In such situations where benefits are not available under the LEOFF I system, sick leave provisions of this Article may be utilized. Exhibit A, at 1. The trial court and the Court of Appeals concluded that this provision made sick leave benefits available because the stay pending appeal halted the payment of disability benefits under RCW 41.26. Those benefits were, literally, not available. The City contends that this conclusion is in conflict with Longview v. Public Employees' Retirement Bd., 97 Wn.2d 521, 646 P.2d 768 (1982). Longview, however, says nothing about the meaning of the term not available in the contract at issue here. There is no reason to dispute the plain language construction of the courts below.