Workers Compensation Coverage of Search and Rescue Volunteers on Training Missions

To:

Michael P. Austin
Director, Emergency Management Division
Department of Emergency and Military Affairs

Question Presented

You have asked if time spent by volunteer State employees in training missions for search or rescue operations can be used to calculate workers' compensation benefits under the current version of Arizona Revised Statutes ("A.R.S.") § 32-901, despite a contrary conclusion in Arizona Att'y Gen. Op. I85-027 concerning an earlier version of this statute.

Summary Answer

Under A.R.S. §  23-901, time spent by volunteer State employees in training missions for search or rescue operations is eligible for inclusion in calculating workers' compensation benefits, and Ariz. Att'y Gen. Op. I85-027 is no longer correct to the extent it concludes otherwise.

In 1985, the Arizona Attorney General issued an opinion concluding that time spent in training missions for search and rescue operations cannot be used to calculate workers' compensation benefits.  Ariz. Att'y Gen. Op. I85-027.  At the time, A.R.S. § 23-901, the statute defining who is eligible for workers' compensation benefits, did not include time spent by volunteer State employees in training exercises for search or rescue operations.  Id.  However, shortly after that opinion was issued, the Legislature amended A.R.S. § 23-901 to include search or rescue training operations.  1985 Ariz. Sess. Laws ch. 349, § 1.  As a result of that change, the definition of "employee," "workman," "worker," and "operative" for the purposes of Arizona's workers' compensation laws now includes:

Personnel who participate in a search or rescue operation or a search or rescue training operation that carries a mission identifier assigned by the division of emergency management as provided in § 35-192.01 and who serve without compensation as volunteer state employees.  The basis for computation of wages for premium purposes and compensation benefits is the total volunteer man-hours recorded by the division of emergency management in a given quarter multiplied by the amount determined by the appropriate risk management formula.

A.R.S. §  23-901(5)(M) (emphasis added).

The legislative history of the 1985 amendments to A.R.S. § 23-901 indicates that those changes were intended to supercede Ariz. Att'y Gen. Op. I85-027:

Attorney General's opinions issued in 1979 and 1985 stated that volunteers who participated in training and drills were not covered by workers' compensation.  As a result, House Bill 2257 has been introduced to provide workers' compensation coverage to volunteers who participate in search and rescue training operations or emergency management training, exercises or drills.