In counties with police departments, sheriff's deputies are not public safety employees and are not entitled to the same workers' compensation benefits that police officers can receive, the Court of Appeals ruled yesterday.
A deputy's duties -- escorting prisoners, providing courthouse security and serving warrants -- aren't those of a police officer under the state's Workers' Compensation Act, the court held. The decision means that Howard County Deputy Nancy Shah, who suffered injuries to her right foot on Dec. 30, 1988, and is partially disabled, is entitled to only $82.50 a week for 25 weeks instead of the $128 a week that a public safety employee can collect.
The unanimous decision upheld an Aug. 18, 1993, ruling by Howard County Circuit Judge James B. Dudley, who first rejected the claim of Ms. Shah, 35.
"Basically, our position was that in counties where there is a police department, the deputies are not public safety employees because there's somebody else entering the crack houses at midnight, somebody else investigating homicides and rapes and armed robberies and things like that," said Keri F. Kretschmann, a lawyer who represented the county. The ruling angered sheriff's deputies in the affected jurisdictions: Anne Arundel, Baltimore and Prince George's counties and Baltimore City.
Deputies go through the same training that county police officers receive and are certified by the same Maryland Police Training Commission, said Maj. Charles Cave, chief deputy in the Howard County Sheriff's Department.